CMSA E-Newsletter 14

COMBINATORIAL MATHEMATICS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA (INC) E-Newsletter 14 (February 2004) INTRODUCTION:

Thank you to the members who have sent information for this newsletter. Please send news as soon as you have anything of possible interest to CMSA members and the Combinatorial Community, even if no newsletter is imminent! Please email the Newsletter Editor at:  p.manyem at ballarat.edu.au

CLOSING DATE for Issue 15:  May 30, 2004. (Please email items to me ONLY in plain text.)

CMSA WEB PAGE:  http://www.maths.uq.edu.au/~db/CMSA/cmsa.html

NEWSLETTER WEB VERSIONS:  http://uob-community.ballarat.edu.au/~pmanyem/cmsa/

CMSA CONFERENCE HISTORY PAGE (all past conferences organised under the CMSA; thanks to Kevin McAvaney for starting this page) http://www.maths.uq.edu.au/~ejb/history.html

CONTENTS:

* AIMS of the newsletter

* FUTURE WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS
 * The 15th Australasian Workshop on Combinatorial Algorithms (AWOCA 2004)  Ballina Beach Resort, New South Wales, Australia, JULY 7-9, 2004.
 * Symposium on Polynomial-Based Cryptography  Melbourne, Australia, JULY 7-12, 2004.
 * 29ACCMCC and the 2004 NZIMA Conference in Combinatorics  Copthornes-Manuels, Lake Taupo, New Zealand, DECEMBER 13-18, 2004.
 * A few useful conference webpages.

* RECENT NEWS OF CMSA MEMBERS and VISITORS
 * Vicky Mak joins the mathematics group at Deakin.
 * R. N. Pinnawala passed his Master of Applied Science (Research) from RMIT.
 * News from Rebecca Gower, Lawson Software, UK.

* Six-month thematic programme on COMBINATORICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS, New Zealand Institute of Mathematics & its Applications (NZIMA),  July-Dec, 2004.

* Job opening: Open post-doctoral position associated with the above thematic programme.

* AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF COMBINATORICS

AIMS of the newsletter:

* to promote combinatorics within Australasia * to provide a forum for sharing combinatorial and related information * to keep CMSA members informed and in touch with combinatorial and related matters

FUTURE WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS AWOCA 2004, Ballina Beach Resort, NSW, Australia The 15th Australasian Workshop on Combinatorial Algorithms, July 7-9, 2004.

Topics include: Algorithms and Data Structures, Complexity Theory, Graph Theory and Combinatorics, Cryptography, Algorithms on Strings, Graph Algorithms, Graph Drawing, Computational Algebra and Geometry, Computational Biology, Communications Networks, Probabilistic and Randomized Algorithms, and New Paradigms of Computation.

Organising Committee: Peter Eades, Seokhee Hong, Barbara Munday, and Prabhu Manyem.

Program Committee: Diane Donovan, Peter Eades (co-chair), Seokhee Hong (co-chair), Andrei Kelarev, Thierry Lecroq, Prabhu Manyem, Mirka Miller, Kunsoo Park, Jamie Simpson, Josef Siran, Bill Smyth, and a few others.

Important dates:

Submission: April 30, 2004

Accept/reject: May 21, 2004

Final version date: June 11, 2004

Conference dates: July 7-9, 2004.

Conference Location: Ballina Beach Resort, NSW, Australia.

Please see the webpage at http://linus.levels.unisa.edu.au/~pmanyem/awoca for details.

Peter Eades (Chairman, Organising Committee):  awoca2004@nicta.com.au

Symposium on Polynomial-Based Cryptography, Melbourne, Australia http://www.it.deakin.edu.au/cryptography2004  July 7-12, 2004.

Topic: The topic of this symposium is the study of cryptographic schemes based on polynomial algebras.

Organisers: Lynn Batten (Deakin), Kathy Horadam (RMIT), Igor Shparlinski (Macquarie), Andreas Stein (Illinois), Hugh Williams (Calgary).

Invited speakers (partial list): John Cannon (Australia), Gary Carter (Australia), Kwangjo Kim (Korea), Bill Millan (Australia), Josef Pieprzyk (Australia), Alf van der Poorten (Australia), Andreas Stein (USA), Hugh Williams (Canada).

Format: The symposium will be Oberwolfach-style - casual, with talks of various lengths from invited participants. However, there will be some space for contributed talks, abstracts for which should be submitted by June 4. There will be a student day on June 11 and an industry workshop on June 12.

Additional information is available from Lynn Batten ( lmbatten@deakin.edu.au) or Hugh Williams (williams@math.ucalgary.ca) and from http://www.it.deakin.edu.au/cryptography2004.

The 2004 NZIMA Conference in Combinatorics and The 29th Australasian Conference in Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing (29th ACCMCC) (Joint Conferences) Copthornes-Manuels, Lake Taupo, NZ, DECEMBER 13-18, 2004.

Topics include:  Graph Theory, Matroid Theory, Design Theory, Coding Theory, Enumerative Combinatorics, Combinatorial Optimisation, and Combinatorial Computing and Theoretical Computer Science.

Organising Committee:

* ACCMCC:  Brendan McKay   and   Ian Wanless, * NZIMA:  Geoff Whittle   and   Paul Bonnington.

Accommodation options range from Backpackers/lodge-style (~FREE to NZ$30 per night), 1 and 2 bedroom Motels units (~NZ$90-$120 twin share per night) through to Luxury Studio (~NZ$160 per night)

All enquiries to Paul Bonnington.

Conference Webpage: http://www.nzima.auckland.ac.nz/combinatorics/conference.html.

A few useful conference webpages:

http://www.combinatorics.org/Conferences/

http://www.maths.qmw.ac.uk/~pjc/bcc/conferences.html

http://www.maths.qmw.ac.uk/~pjc/bcc/conferences.html#main

Upcoming conferences in Coding, Cryptography and Effective Algebra:  http://www-rocq.inria.fr/codes/Anne.Canteaut/annonces.html.

RECENT NEWS OF CMSA MEMBERS and others

Vicky Mak, PhD (University of Melbourne, 2002), has joined the optimisation group at Deakin this January as a Lecturer on a continuing appointment. Vicky's work is in the area of combinatorial optimisation and integer programming. We are delighted to have her join our optimisation group. (News from Lynn Batten)

R. Nimalsiri Pinnawala passed his Master of Applied Science (Research) from RMIT University, Melbourne, in January 2004. The title of his thesis was Simplex and Other Cocyclic Codes. (News from Asha Rao)

News from Rebecca Gower:  Numbercraft, the company for which I was working, was bought out last August by an American software company called Lawson. Thus, I have a new email address for work/mathematical matters:  Rebecca.Gower@Lawson.com. I am now part of their retail team, which does not mean that I work in their sales department, but that I work in the team producing software and providing consulting in the retail sector. On a personal note, I got married last October in the UK. I have not changed my name.

SIX-MONTH THEMATIC PROGRAMME ON COMBINATORICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS New Zealand Institute of Mathematics & its Applications (NZIMA), July-Dec, 2004

Last year the New Zealand government established five Centres of Research Excellence. This initiative was to encourage world-class research by establishing centres of research excellence to contribute to New Zealand's development. The New Zealand Institute of Mathematics & its Applications (NZIMA) is one of the new Centres of Research Excellence, formed as a partnership between the University of Auckland (its host) and the NZ Mathematics Research Institute (Inc.), with the aim of promoting mathematical research in NZ.

The key activity of the NZIMA is the organisation of 6-monthly programmes on themes drawn from a range of fields of significant interest. The programmes are modelled on similar programmes conducted by the Fields Institute in Toronto. These programmes include
 * participation by overseas experts and mathematical scientists in NZ
 * associated workshops held at various locations around New Zealand
 * postdoctoral fellowships in the theme area
 * postgraduate research scholarships in the theme area.

We are pleased to announce that the NZIMA will run a special 6-month thematic programme in Combinatorics and its Applications, July-December 2004. This programme will involve a concentrated period of activity centred around a workshop at the University of Auckland in July (12-17 July 2004) and a conference in December (see announcement elsewhere in this newsletter), participation by visiting lead experts, and the appointment of a two-year postdoctoral fellow and a number of postgraduate research students.

The focus will be on major recent advances in combinatorics and will aim to enhance and develop linkages with the world's best combinatorial researchers and their institutions. Additional points of focus will be applications to computational biology, complexity theory, theoretical computer science and abstract algebra -- areas that are already well developed in New Zealand.

All enquiries to the two co-directors of the NZIMA programme: Paul Bonnington: p.bonnington@auckland.ac.nz,  or Geoff Whittle:  geoff.whittle@vuw.ac.nz.

Webpage: http://www.nzima.auckland.ac.nz/combinatorics/.

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP(S) Combinatorics and its Applications

Applications for post-doctoral fellowships in the thematic programme described above are welcome. The NZIMA will contribute financial support for one 2-year fellowship or two 1-year fellowships for this thematic programme.

Post-doctoral fellow(s) will be placed either in Auckland or Wellington, whichever location that will most suit their strengths. The University of Auckland has a research focus on algebraic, computational and topological graph theory, and well quasi-ordering theory. Victoria University of Wellington has a research focus on matroid theory, algebraic combinatorics, logic, complexity and well quasi-ordering theory.

Each fellowship will include a stipend of at least NZ$50,000 per year. A small amount of additional funding may be available to cover relocation costs at the beginning and completion of his/her tenure. Fellows will be required to submit an annual report to the NZIMA and a final report within two months of completion of the Fellowship.

Applications are open to appropriately qualified individuals who hold a doctoral degree of not more than five years standing, irrespective of their nationality, or the university where the PhD was conferred. Each application should include the following details about the candidate: 1) Name and contact details 2) Academic record 3) Research record and list of publications to date, and 4) Names and contact details of two referees who can attest to the candidate's academic/research abilities and potential to undertake successful work in the theme area.

Application closing date:  February 28, 2004. Job commencement date:  No later than October 31, 2004.

Applications to be sent to: Margaret Woolgrove, NZ Institute of Mathematics & its Applications, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND Email:  nzima-admin@nzima.auckland.ac.nz

The AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF COMBINATORICS :

The web page for the Australasian Journal of Combinatorics is at http://ajc.math.auckland.ac.nz/. This has a search facility for past authors and for keywords in the titles of papers. Instructions to authors are also available at this web site.

The contents of all volumes, 1 to 28, are listed at the above web page. We also now have free public access to the full contents of Volumes 1 to 20 inclusive. A new volume will be added each six months, so that all but the last four years are available free.

Volume 29 is currently being printed and will be mailed to subscribers in March'04.

Submissions to the AJC may be sent to ajc@maths.uq.edu.au. Electronic submissions are encouraged. For paper submissions, please check the web page.

The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics is published by the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia Inc.

REMINDER: Deadline for the next issue of this Newsletter: May 30, 2004. Please email items to me ONLY in plain text format.

Prabhu Manyem, School of Maths and Stats,  University of South Australia. Phone:  +61 8 8302 3966. Fax:  +61 8 8302 5785. Email: p.manyem at ballarat.edu.au