Applied Combinatorics: 2014-2017

Overview 

The CRG in Applied Combinatorics will address problems at the interface of discrete mathematics and the physical sciences. The key objects are beautiful and subtle combinatorial models, which are of interest to both pure and applied mathematicians and increasingly, play a deep role in a variety of phenomena in the sciences. This CRG will tie together researchers working in this area across Western Canada to form a self-sustaining research network.

 

Topics to be considered include the combinatorics associated to: lattice models of polymers, quantum field theory, the statistical mechanics of jamming phenomena, models of RNA and DNA, nesting structures and secondary RNA structures, ancestral genome reconstruction, 3D lattice paths and the kernel method.

 

Activities envisaged include a 2015 summer school and workshop on physical combinatorics, a flagship research conference in 2016 and inter-university seminars connecting the three sites. A large number of visitors are anticipated, including the scientific committee members as well as F. Brown (CNRS; Jussieu), J. de Gier (Melbourne), E. Fusy (CNRS; Polytechnique), M. Kauers (Johannes Kepler), D. Kreimer (Humboldt University), C. Krattenthaler (Vienna), Y. Le Borgne (CNRS; Marne-la-Vallee), N. Madras (York), A. Owczarek (Melbourne), K. Raschel (CNRS; Tours), B. Janse van Rensburg (York), O. Schnetz (Erlangen), D. Sumners (Florida State) and M. Vazquez (San Francisco State). Several postdoctoral fellows will be associated with the CRG as well.

 

Participants 

CRG Organizing Committee:

Marni Mishna (Simon Fraser University)

Karen Yeats (Simon Fraser University)

Andrew Rechnitzer (University of British Columbia)

Chris Soteros (University of Saskatchewan)

CRG Scientific Committee:

M. Bousquet-Melou (Bordeaux)

F. den Hollander (Leiden)

A. Guttmann (Melbourne)

T. Prellberg (Queen Mary)

S. Whittington (Toronto)

 

Planned Scientific Activities

2014-2015 Events

- April 15- 16, 2014: PIMS Analytic RNA Combinatorics Workshop (PARC) at SFU

- June 21, 2014: Combinatorial Applications to Biology, Chemistry and Physics at the University of Saskatchewan

2015-2016 Events

- May 18-29, 2015: Applied Combinatorics graduate summer school at the University of Saskatchewan

2016-2017 Events

-  March 21 2016: Combinatorial Structures in Perturbative Quantum Field Theory at SFU 

-  June 29- July 1, 2016: Sage Days at UBC 

-  July 4-8, 2016: The 28th International Conference on Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics, (FPSAC) 

- July 11- 12, 2016: Journées Combinatoires Franco-Vancouveroises at UBC

2017- 2018 Events

-  June 12 -14, 2017: Conference on Means, Methods and Results in the Statistical Mechanics of Polymeric Systems II at the FIELDS Institute

-  March 23 -25, 2018: Workshop on Approximate Enumerations of Polygon at UBC

-  March 31, 2018: Pacific Northwest Combinatorics Day at the University of Washington

    

Ongoing Events

SFU Discrete Math Seminar

 

 Full scientific report for 2015 Discrete Math Seminar available here