CMSA E-Newsletter 6

COMBINATORIAL MATHEMATICS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA (INC)

CMSA E-Newsletter Number 6 (June 2001)

INTRODUCTION:

Many thanks to the members who have sent information for this newsletter.

CLOSING DATE for Issue 7:  30 September 2001. Email ejb@maths.uq.edu.au with all your news and information.

CMSA WEB PAGE: http://www.math.fsc.qut.edu.au/cmsa/

NEWSLETTER WEB VERSIONS: http://www.maths.uq.edu.au/~ejb/cmsa-newsletter6.html

CONTENTS:

* AIMS of the newsletter * STUDENT PRIZE AT ANNUAL CMSA CONFERENCES * FUTURE WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS * RECENT NEWS OF CMSA MEMBERS * MEMBERS' (OR STUDENTS OF MEMBERS) RECENT RESEARCH DEGREES * MATHEMATICS GENEALOGY PROJECT * PREPRINTS/RECENT PUBLICATIONS BY MEMBERS (now discontinued) * AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF COMBINATORICS
 * WORKSHOP on COMBINATORIAL MATHEMATICS AND APPLICATIONS The University of Queensland, 12-13 JUNE, 2001.
 * SOUTH AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL GRAPH THEORY CONFERENCE 18-22 JUNE, 2001.
 * MATHEMATICS & DESIGN 2001 Deakin University, 3-5 JULY, 2001.
 * 18th BRITISH COMBINATORIAL CONFERENCE University of Sussex, 1-6 JULY 2001.
 * 2nd WORKSHOP ON ALGEBRAIC GRAPH THEORY, Edinburgh, 8-13 JULY 2001.
 * 26ACCMCC Curtin University of Technology, Perth, 9-13 JULY, 2001.
 * 2nd Lethbridge Workshop on DESIGNS, CODES, CRYPTOGRAPHY and GRAPH THEORY 9-14 JULY, 2001.
 * Workshop on GRAPHS AND COMBINATORIAL DESIGNS Hawaii, 13-27 JULY 2001.
 * DESIGNS, CODES, GRAPHS AND THEIR LINKS II Japan, 30 JULY - 1 AUGUST 2001.
 * APPLICATIONS OF DISCRETE MATHEMATICS AustMS 45th Meeting, ANU, 22-26 SEPTEMBER 2001.
 * VAC - 19th Victorian Algebra Conference, RMIT, 22-23 NOV 2001.
 * AAECC-14 RMIT, 26-30 NOV 2001.
 * 27ACCMCC Newcastle, 9-13 DECEMBER 2002.

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

STUDENT PRIZE

Starting with the 26th ACCMCC this July in Perth (see details below about this conference), there will be a Prize of $300 (Australian) awarded for the best student talk at the conference.

The aims of the prize are
 * 1) to foster student interest and involvement in the ACCMCC conferences, and
 * 2) to encourage good presentation of student talks.

For more details please contact the President of the CMSA, Professor Derek Holton, at dholton@maths.otago.ac.nz.

FUTURE WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS:

A WORKSHOP on COMBINATORIAL MATHEMATICS AND APPLICATIONS will be held in the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Computing in the Department of Mathematics at The University of Queensland, from JUNE 12-13, 2001.

The workshop will address both research and teaching issues, with particular emphasis on new applications of discrete mathematics, and emerging methods for teaching discrete mathematics in an effective manner. Invited Speakers include:

* Saad El-Zanati (Illinois State University, USA) * Heather Gavlas (Grand Valley State University, USA) * Barbara Maenhaut (The Open University, UK).

See the web page http://www.maths.uq.edu.au/~db/Workshop.

More details are available from Peter Adams, email pa@maths.uq.edu.au or Darry Bryant, email db@maths.uq.edu.au.

SOUTH AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL GRAPH THEORY CONFERENCE The South African International Graph Theory Conference is to be held during JUNE 18-22, 2001 and is dedicated to Professor Henda C. Swart and Professor Izak Broere, the pioneers of graph theory in South Africa.

The conference will be held at Ntshondwe Camp, Ithala Game Reserve, situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and hosted by the University of Natal. The main goal of the conference is to explore the most recent research in graph theory. The Principal Talks will be scheduled for 25 minutes and contributed talks for 15 minutes.

Special functions during the week includes a night drive in open safari vehicles, breakfast at the Bird Hide, sundowners overlooking the beautiful Phongola River, a night bush braai (alias barbeque) and a Zulu dancing exhibition.

The Principal Speakers are:

* Lowell Beineke, Indiana University-Purdue University, USA * Izak Broere, Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa * Odile Favaron, Universite' Paris-Sud, France * Johan Hattingh, Georgia State University, USA * Martyn Mulder, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Netherlands * Ortrud R. Oellermann, The University of Winnipeg, Canada * Michael Plummer, Vanderbilt University, USA * Peter J. Slater, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA * Henda C. Swart, University of Natal, South Africa

For more information, please see the web site http://www.maths.unp.ac.za/ Michael Henning    Henning@nu.ac.za

MATHEMATICS & DESIGN 2001 The Schools of Computing and Mathematics, and Architecture and Building at Deakin University are combining to organize MATHEMATICS & DESIGN 2001, at Deakin University, Victoria, Australia, JULY 3-5, 2001. For more information see http://rosassa.deakin.edu.au/MD2001

18th BRITISH COMBINATORIAL CONFERENCE This conference will take place at the University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom from Sunday 1 to Friday 6 JULY, 2001. You are warmly welcome to participate. For all information and registration, see http://www.maths.susx.ac.uk/TAGG/Confs/BCC/

James Hirschfeld Richard Lewis (Organisers)

SECOND WORKSHOP ON ALGEBRAIC GRAPH THEORY INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND 8-13 JULY 2001

Registration closed on 28 April 2001. Abstracts of the key lectures, registration forms and further information are available at http://www.ma.hw.ac.uk/icms/current/graph/index.html

For other events (including the 18th British Combinatorial Conference in the previous week and a Durham Symposium on Groups, Geometry and Combinatorics in the following week) see http://www.maths.qmw.ac.uk/~pjc/bcc/conf2001.html

From Peter Rowlinson p.rowlinson@maths.stir.ac.uk

The 26th ACCMCC The 26th Australian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing will be held at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia from 9 - 13 JULY, 2001. See the conference web page at http://www.maths.curtin.edu.au/conf/accmcc.htm. The Conference aims to bring together researchers in all areas of combinatorial mathematics and combinatorial computing from Australia, New Zealand and overseas to exchange ideas and information on their work. The 26th ACCMCC will feature a special session on Optimization. The following invited speakers are confirmed :

* Richard Anstee   UBC * Curt Lindner   Auburn * John Moon   Alberta * Tank Aldred   Otago * Elizabeth Billington  UQ    * Cheryl Praeger    UWA * Wal Wallis;   Southern Illinois

For those not familiar with Western Australia, Perth is a modern city, located on the banks of the picturesque Swan River, with a population of around 1.4 million. Although July is winter, the weather can be very nice. Perth is ideally located as Australia's gateway to Asia and Europe and is in fact the closest Australian State Capital city to those countries.

Registration includes : the pre-conference reception to be held on the evening of Sunday 8th July; the full day excursion which will be a bus trip through Perth, Fremantle and the Swan Valley (includes lunch and wine tasting) on Wednesday 11th July; and the conference dinner to be held on Thursday 12th July.

Professor Louis Caccetta Department of Mathematics and Statistics School of Applied Science Curtin University of Technology email : caccetta@cs.curtin.edu.au phone : (08) 9266 7672 fax : (08) 9266 7672

The Second Lethbridge Workshop on DESIGNS, CODES, CRYPTOGRAPHY and GRAPH THEORY SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT, CALL FOR PAPERS

The Second Lethbridge Workshop on DESIGNS, CODES, CRYPTOGRAPHY and GRAPH THEORY will be held 9 - 14 JULY, 2001 at University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta. The workshop builds on the success of the Workshop on Coding Theory, Cryptography and Computer Security held at the University of Lethbridge, August 3 - 7, 1998. Sponsors are the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, MITACs, the University of Lethbridge and VeriSign Inc.

The workshop web site is http://www.cs.uleth.ca/dccg.

Abstracts of papers and first registration due by 15 June 2001.

INVITED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

* B. Alspach, University of Regina * C. Colbourn, University of Vermont * C. Rodger, Auburn University * D. Stinson, University of Waterloo * V. Tonchev, Michigan Technical University * K. Arasu, Wright State University * R. Craigen, University of Manitoba * W. deLauney, Institute for Defense Analysis, San Diego. * G.B. Khosrovshahi, IPM and Tehran University * D. Kreher, Michigan Technological University * A. Ling, Michigan Technological University * M. Yamada, Kanazawa University

SUPPORT: There is some financial support available for graduate students and postdocs. Those working in any area of combinatorics are encouraged to apply as soon as possible to be considered for financial support.

Further information about the workshop including accommodation information is available at the web site http://www.cs.uleth.ca/dccg.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Wolf Holzmann, University of Lethbridge Hadi Kharaghani, University of Lethbridge Jim Liu, University of Lethbridge

If you have questions or wish to be put on our mailing list, please send e-mail to Hadi Kharaghani at hadi@cs.uleth.ca or write to: DCCG Workshop, Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4 CANADA

FAX: (403) 329-2519      email: hadi@cs.uleth.ca       Dept. Phone: (403) 329-2470

Summer 2001 Workshop on GRAPHS AND COMBINATORIAL DESIGNS, Hawaii Organized by the Department of Mathematics, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Sponsored by: the National Security Agency of the U.S.Department of Defense, the University of Hawaii Office of the Senior V.P. for Research, and the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences.

The workshop will take place Friday, JULY 13 to Friday, JULY 27 2001 on the Manoa campus of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii

The Invited Speakers are (all confirmed):

* Ralph Faudree, Memphis State University * Curt Lindner, Auburn University * Vera Sos, Hungarian Academy of Sciences * Robin Thomas, Georgia Tech * Carsten Thomassen, The Technical University of Denmark

The aim of the Workshop is to gather people interested in discussing recent advances and open problems in the following areas of graph theory and combinatorial designs: Cycles, Colorings, and Extremal problems.

More information, including the Registration Form, Scientific Program, Social Events, Accommodations, and Abstracts of the Invited Talks may be found at our Website http://www.math.hawaii.edu/bertram. If you intend to take part in the 2001 Workshop it is necessary to fill in and mail, Fax, or e-mail the Registration Form below even if you have submitted a Preregistration form, which we used for planning purposes.

The Registration Fee is US$70 ($50 for students) if paid by June 13, 2001 and is US$80 ($60 for students) thereafter.

DESIGNS, CODES, GRAPHS AND THEIR LINKS II, Japan There will be workshop entitled "Designs, Codes, Graphs and their Links II", from Monday 30 JULY to Wednesday 1 AUGUST 2001, at the Research Institute of Mathematical Sciences (RIMS) of Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.

See http://www.jim.info.gifu-u.ac.jp/~miwako/RIMS/01/index.html.

Organisers are: Miwako Mishima and Ying Miao.

Miwako Mishima Department of Information Science Gifu University 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193 Japan Tel & Fax: +81-58-293-2761 E-mail: miwako@info.gifu-u.ac.jp

Ying Miao Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences University of Tsukuba 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8573 Japan Tel & Fax: +81-298-53-5009 E-mail: miao@sk.tsukuba.ac.jp.

APPLICATIONS OF DISCRETE MATHEMATICS At the 45th Annual Meeting of the Australian Mathematical Society, to be held at the Australian National University, Canberra, Saturday 22 SEPTEMBER to Wednesday 26 SEPTEMBER 2001, inclusive, a special session entitled APPLICATIONS OF DISCRETE MATHEMATICS is being organized by Lynn Batten (Deakin University) and Ian Roberts (Northern Territory University). The session will accommodate about twenty speakers over the four and a half day period, including presentations by students. The focus of the session will be on all applications of discrete mathematics.

Contact Ian Roberts at iroberts@darwin.ntu.edu.au or Lynn Batten at lmbatten@deakin.edu.au for details on the special session. More information about the meeting is available on the Australian Mathematical Society website; see http://www.austms.org.au/People/Conf/AustMS45/ or else http://room.anu.edu.au/conferences/AustMS2001/. Some financial support is available for students presenting a paper who are members of the Australian Mathematical Society.

VAC - 19th Victorian Algebra Conference This immediately precedes AAECC-14 (see immediately below); it is 22-23 NOVEMBER, 2001, and is also at RMIT. For details contact Graham Clarke at the Department of Mathematics, RMIT: g.clarke@rmit.edu.au.

AAECC-14 AAECC-14, the 14th International Symposium on Applied Algebra, Algebraic Algorithms and Error-Correcting Codes, will be held from 26-30 NOVEMBER, 2001, in Melbourne at RMIT.

Invited Speakers:

* Robert Calderbank, AT&T Labs (Coding Techniques), * James Massey, Copenhagen (Cryptography), * Vera Pless, U. Illinois at Chicago (Coding Theory), * Amin Shokrollahi, Digital Fountain Inc. (Coding Theory) * Madhu Sudan, MIT (Algebraic Algorithms)

Contact: Kathy Horadam horadam@rmit.edu.au, Serdar Boztas serdar@rmit.edu.au or Asha Baliga asha@rmit.edu.au.

See the conference website http://www.ma.rmit.edu.au/aaecc/index.html Registration/accommodation details will soon be posted on the web.

The 27th ACCMCC The 27th Australasian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing (27ACCMCC) will be held at Newcastle University, NSW, from 9-13 DECEMBER 2002. It is usually very nice and warm in Newcastle around that time, and Nick [ed: is this Nick in Melbourne?!] suggested we include a surfing session... (we are also considering a wine-tasting session in the nearby vineyards). The confirmed invited speakers at the moment are

* Mirka Miller (University of Newcastle, NSW), * Alex Rosa (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada) * Jozef Siran (Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia).

We are still looking for speakers, so please let me know if you plan to have international visitors at that time

Ljiljana Brankovic lbrankov@cs.newcastle.edu.au.

A very useful website giving upcoming conferences in Coding, Cryptography and Effective Algebra AND their deadlines is http://www-rocq.inria.fr/codes/Anne.Canteaut/annonces.html.

RECENT NEWS OF CMSA MEMBERS:

Peter Adams and Darryn Bryant, at The University of Queensland, have been awarded funding for a high-performance combinatorial computing cluster. The new system comprises 128 computers from Sun Microsystems, and builds upon an existing 66 CPU cluster. The computers will be used primarily to run large combinatorial searches for projects on DNA sequence assembly and virtual screening in drug design. They will also be used on a variety of graph decomposition problems.

The old MATH ANNEX at Auburn University

Those of you who have visited the Department of Discrete and Statistical Sciences at Auburn University, which until recently was housed in a building called the Math Annex, very close to the football stadium on campus, may be interested in looking at some final photographs... http://www.dms.auburn.edu/faculty/lindnerpics.html

OVERSEAS VISITORS

(Please send in details of future visitors and dates in time for contacts to be made with the visitors.)

The University of Newcastle has two visitors:

* Wal Wallis, from Southern Illinois University, is visiting from now to mid-July * Roger Eggleton, from Normal University, Illinois, is visiting from early June until mid-August.

The University of Queensland has the following visitors:

* Malcolm Greig (Greig Consulting) now to mid-June * Barbara Maenhaut (Open University) now to mid-June * Heather Gavlas (Grand Valley State University, Michigan) June * Saad El-Zanati (Illinois State University) June * Ebad Mahmoodian (Sharif University) June

MEMBERS' (OR STUDENTS OF MEMBERS) RECENT RESEARCH DEGREES :

Congratulations to Mirka Miller's student at the University of Newvastle, on obtaining his PhD: DR MARTIN SUTTON, thesis title "Summable Graph Labellings and Their Applications". Martin has also just been promoted to Senior Lecturer in the School of Management at the University of Newcastle. Congratulations, Martin!

MATHEMATICS GENEALOGY PROJECT

Jason C. Rouvel is the Project Administrator for the Mathematics Genealogy Project. He has asked for help, via Jennie Seberry, to update Australian information; he says:

I'm hoping, Professor Seberry, that you might help us with our project. We have very few records from Australia, and you have a rather impressive list of students. We would very much appreciate any additional records from any of the universities in Australia. Complete records can be sent as an attached Excel file, or one-by-one on the data submission form on our web page.

See the web page http://hcoonce.math.mankato.msus.edu/.

PREPRINTS/RECENT PUBLICATIONS BY MEMBERS:

[Note from Ed: In CMSA E-News3 it was decided to shelve this section, as no one was sending in details. So there was no such section in CMSA E-News4. It was resurrected in CMSA E-News5, but no details have been received for this issue, so it is once again closed!]

The AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF COMBINATORICS :

There is now a web page for the Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, and it has a search facility for past authors and for keywords in paper titles. See http://ajc.math.auckland.ac.nz/. Instructions to authors are also available from this web site.

Submissions to the AJC may be sent to either of the addresses below. Paul Bonnington will mainly deal with papers in graph theory, and Elizabeth Billington will deal with all other areas of combinatorics. However, a paper may be submitted to either address below, or indeed (as in the past) to any member of the Editorial Board, or emailed to ajc@maths.uq.edu.au. Electronic submissions are encouraged.

Dr E.J. Billington, Editor-in-Chief, Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, Department of Mathematics, The University of Queensland, Qld 4072 Australia

Dr C.P. Bonnington, Managing Editor, Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, Department of Mathematics, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.

REMINDER: Deadline for next issue 30 September, 2001. Elizabeth Billington, Dept Maths, University of Queensland, Qld 4072. Fax: +61 7 3365 1477 ejb@maths.uq.edu.au