Discrete and Computational Geometry Workshops at MSRI

在2003年秋季学期，位于加利福尼亚州伯克利的数学科学研究所(MSRI)将发起一个特殊的项目--《离散与计算几何》。这个为期一学期的项目的组织者是：Jesse de Loera(加州大学戴维斯分校)、HerbertEdelsbrunner(杜克大学)、Jacob E.Goodman(纽约城市大学)、Janos Pach(纽约大学)、Micha Sharir(特拉维夫大学)、Emo Welzl(苏黎世理工学院)和Guenter Ziegler(柏林理工大学)。该计划将有许多活动，包括公开讲座、本科生研究、迷你课程、每周研讨会和三个研讨会。该奖项提供资金，以帮助支付研讨会参与者的住宿和旅费。介绍性研讨会旨在向广泛的计算机科学家、数学家、相关领域的科学家和其他对该计划主题感兴趣的人介绍这些领域的当前研究。第二期讲习班是关于几何算法的数学基础，更多的目的是为计算机科学和数学研究人员提供一个论坛，与其他积极研究人员讨论他们最近的工作。本次研讨会将集中于几何算法的设计和分析，以及使这些算法高效所需的数学和算法技术。第三个研讨会，关于组合和离散几何，将研究离散几何对象(多面体、几何图、球面填充、瓦片、格子等)及其组合结构，强调离散几何与代数、组合学和拓扑学之间的联系。特别是介绍性研讨会将使该计划的影响远远超出这一特定领域公认的研究人员的核心。MSRI的人力资源咨询委员会于1992年建立了入门研讨会，作为向广大科学受众提供MSRI主要项目材料的工具，特别是在科学事业中仍然太少代表的妇女和少数群体。通过外展活动，例如2002年9月在霍华德大学举办的几何学特别周末，MSRI从代表性不足的群体中招募参与者参加其2003-04年的计划，特别是入门研讨会，并将与这些参与者合作，帮助使工作坊的材料对他们在本国机构的努力具有参考价值。这笔赠款的PI和共同PI已经为这些研讨会招募了几名参与者，他们来自历史上的黑人学院和大学，他们表示有强烈的兴趣将这些研讨会的材料带到他们的本科生研究项目和课堂上与学生接触。

During the Fall semester of 2003 the Mathematical Sciences ResearchInstitute (MSRI) in Berkeley, California will sponsor a special program inDiscrete and Computational Geometry. The organizers for this semester-longprogram are Jesus De Loera (University of California at Davis), HerbertEdelsbrunner (Duke University), Jacob E. Goodman (City University of NewYork), Janos Pach (New York University), Micha Sharir (Tel AvivUniversity), Emo Welzl (ETH Zuerich), and Guenter Ziegler (TechnischeUniversitaet Berlin). The program will have many activities, includingpublic lectures, research for undergraduates, mini-courses, weeklyseminars, and three workshops. This award provides funding to help coverlodging and travel expenses for participants in the workshops.The Introductory Workshop is designed to introduce a broad range ofcomputer scientists, mathematicians, scientists working in related fields,and others interested in the topics of the program to current research inthese areas. The second workshop, on Mathematical Foundations of GeometricAlgorithms, is intended more as a forum for researchers in computerscience and mathematics to discuss their recent work with other activeresearchers. This workshop will focus on the design and analysis ofgeometric algorithms, and on the mathematical and algorithmic techniquesneeded to make these algorithms efficient. The third workshop, onCombinatorial and Discrete Geometry, will study discrete geometric objects(polyhedra, geometric graphs, sphere packings, tilings, lattices, and soforth) and their combinatorial structure, stressing the connectionsbetween discrete geometry and algebra, combinatorics, and topology.The Introductory Workshop in particular will extend the impact of theprogram well beyond the core of recognized researchers in this particulararea. MSRI's Human Resources Advisory Committee established theintroductory workshops in 1992 as a vehicle for making the material ofMSRI's major programs available to a broad scientific audience,particularly women and minorities who are still much too underrepresentedin the scientific enterprise. Through outreach activities such as aspecial weekend on geometry at Howard University in September 2002, MSRIhas recruited participants from underrepresented groups to participate inits 2003-04 programs and particularly the introductory workshops, and willwork with these participants to help make the material of the workshopsuseful for their endeavors at their home institutions. The PI and co-PIfor this grant have already recruited several participants for theseworkshops who are from historically Black colleges and universities, andwho have expressed a strong interest in bringing material from theseworkshops into contact with students in their undergraduate researchprograms and classrooms.