Conference: Contemporary Combinatorics, Memphis, TN

当代组合学2008年3月28日，田纳西州孟菲斯--29这次会议的目的是将一群与组合学松散联系在一起的杰出数学家聚集在一起，从最广泛的意义上理解他们。今年的重点将是群论和数论。这次会议将为来自中南部的数学家提供一个机会，不仅可以从讲座中受益，还可以从与演讲者的个人接触中受益。会议的主要演讲者是当今最杰出的数学家之一，佛罗里达大学的约翰·汤普森教授，菲尔兹奖获得者和沃尔夫奖获得者。会议上还将有其他几位令人兴奋的演讲者；他们之所以被选中，是因为他们不仅是优秀的数学家，而且还是出色的演讲者和非常平易近人的人。在其他发言者中，我们将有布达佩斯Eotvos大学的Andras Sarkozy，他是Paul Erdos最频繁的合作者之一，他对加法数论做出了重大贡献；Emory大学的Vojtech Rodl，他是当今最强大的组合学家之一，他极大地推广了Szmeredi的正则性引理；滑铁卢大学的Cameron Stewart，他在组合数论方面做出了重要工作；墨西哥国立大学的Florian Luca，他在数论中证明了Paul Erdos的几个猜想；多伦多大学的Balazs Szegedy，他在图序列极限的研究方面取得了深刻的成果，这是由Lovasz、Borgs、Chayes、SOS和Vesztergombi发起的一个重要项目。Andras Sarkozy在教授本科生和研究生方面有丰富的经验，他将针对非常广泛的听众做一次特别的“公开”演讲，其中包括该地区一些最优秀的高中生。与东海岸或西海岸的湾区不同，中南部地区不能夸耀有很多高级别的数学会议；2008年在孟菲斯举行的当代组合数学会议在某种程度上扭转了这种平衡。到目前为止，非常鼓励讲师和其他参与者之间的个人接触的模式非常成功，所以这也是我们今年计划的。毫无疑问，聆听约翰·汤普森、安德拉斯·萨科齐、Vojtech Rodl等人的演讲，特别是在会议期间与他们交谈，对年轻的和知名的数学家来说都是非常鼓舞人心的。NSF的拨款对会议的成功绝对至关重要；其中大部分将用于帮助研究生和高级数学家来到孟菲斯，这样他们就可以从讲座和与演讲者的个人接触中受益。

ABSTRACTContemporary Combinatorics 2008Memphis, TN, March 28--29The aim of this conference is to bring together a group of outstanding mathematicians loosely connected to combinatorics, understood in the widest sense. This year the emphasis will be on group theory and number theory. The meeting will give a chance to mathematicians from the Mid-South to benefit not only from the lectures but also from personal contacts with the speakers.The main speaker at the conference is one of the most distinguished mathematicians today, Professor John Thompson of the University of Florida, Fields Medalist and Wolf Prize winner. There will be several other exciting speakers at the meeting; they have been chosen because they are not only excellent mathematicians, but also wonderful expositors and very approachable people. Among other speakers, we shall have Andras Sarkozy of the Eotvos University of Budapest, one of the most frequent collaborators of Paul Erdos, who has made major contributions to additive number theory; Vojtech Rodl of Emory University, one of the most powerful combinatorialists today, who has greatly extended Szemeredi's Regularity Lemma; Cameron Stewart of the University of Waterloo, who has done important work on combinatorial number theory; Florian Luca of the National University of Mexico, who has proved several conjectures of Paul Erdos in number theory; Balazs Szegedy of the University of Toronto, who has been proved deep results in study of the limits of graph sequences, a substantial project started by Lovasz, Borgs, Chayes, Sos and Vesztergombi. Andras Sarkozy, who has had a vast experience teaching undergraduates and graduates, will give a special `public' lecture aimed at a very wide audience, including some of the best high school students from the area.Unlike the East Coast or the Bay Area on the West Coast, the Mid-South cannot boast of many high-level mathematical conferences; the Contemporary Combinatorics 2008 meeting in Memphis goes some way towards redressing the balance. The formula whereby personal contacts between the lecturers and the other participants is greatly encouraged has been found very successful so far, so this is what we are planning for this year as well. There is no doubt that listening to lectures by John Thompson, Andras Sarkozy, Vojtech Rodl, and others, and, especially, talking to them during the conference will be very inspiring for young and established mathematicians alike. The NSF grant is absolutely vital for the success of the meeting; most of it will be used to help graduate students and senior mathematicians come to Memphis so that they can benefit from the lectures and the personal contact with the speakers.