Penn Computational Biology Conference, May 17-19, 1996

[Tandy Warnow]

              PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS
        

    The University of Pennsylvania Conference on Computational Biology
             to honor the 50th anniversary of the ENIAC,

                            sponsored by: 

  The University of Pennsylvania Training Program in Computational Biology, 

   DIMACS - The NSF Center for Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science, 

                  and the National Science Foundation. 
  


The conference will be held at DIMACS and Princeton University, May 17-19, 
1996.  (The timing of the conference enables attendees to attend this 
and the FCRC, which will take place in Philadelphia, one hour away,
the following week.)


Historical Note:

    The University of Pennsylvania Training Program in Computational 
Biology and DIMACS are pleased to jointly host this conference on 
computational biology as part of the ENIAC Symposium.  This conference 
will be one of the activities in the Commemorative, Technical and 
Historical Symposium on the occasion of 50th anniversary of the Moore 
School Lectures.  These Lectures were held during the summer of 1946 
to bring together the leading specialists in high-speed digital 
computation in order to lay the foundations of the yet-to-be-defined 
fields of computer engineering and computer science.  With this 
symposium, we again hope to assemble researchers in current computer
science disciplines to advance the state of the field.  On this 
occasion we also invite historians of technology and computing, in 
order to understand the past so that we may proceed more knowingly 
into the future.


About the Conference:

The conference will have invited and contributed talks, and will be 
based around sessions focusing on important research areas within 
the field.  There will be ample time allocated for discussions 
and interactions among biologists, computer scientists and mathematicians.  

This year's special research topics will include: Structure Prediction, 
Tandem Repeats, Databases, Sequencing and Mapping, and Genome 
Rearrangements.  There also will be a special session on 
interdisciplinary education in computational biology, in which directors 
and students in various training programs throughout the country will 
participate.  

Invited speakers include: 

    Craig Benham (Biomathematics, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine),
    Gary Benson (Biomathematics, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine),
    Bonnie Berger (Math, MIT), 
    Susan Davidson (CIS, Penn),
    Sampath Kannan (CIS, Penn),
    Rob Lipschutz (Affymetrix),
    Joshua Lederberg (Rockefeller),
    Pavel Pevzner (Math, USC), and
    Jeanette Schmidt (Brooklyn Polytechnic)
    Peter Shor (AT&T)
    Michael Waterman (Math and Molecular Biology, USC).


REGISTRATION:  A registration form is appended at the end of this 
announcement.  Participants should submit their registration applications 
by e-mail, using this form, to Sandy Barbu at barbu at cs.princeton.edu.  
There is no charge for registering, but registration will be limited to 
150 applicants.  

GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS: Funds are available to partly defray 
the costs of attending this conference for graduate students and 
postdocs.  Please arrange for a letter of recommendation to be sent 
by your advisor or other appropriate senior scientist.  Students and 
postdocs will also be expected to participate either by giving a 
contributed talk or presenting a poster.

DISCUSSANT AWARDS: Awards to help cover travel to the conference are 
available, primarily for biologists.  All recipients of these awards 
are expected to participate either through a poster or through a 
contributed talk.  To apply for a discussant award, please send a 
CV and a letter describing your intended contribution to the 
Conference Organizer.  (See information below.)  Awards will be 
announced by mid-April. 

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:  To apply for a discussant or travel award, 
please send a vita, a one page abstract of a poster of contributed 
talk, and a letter of recommendation to the Conference Organizer 
(see below).

BANQUET:  A banquet will be held Firday evening at the University of 
Pennsylvania as part of the ENIAC celebration.  This will include a 
distinguished lecture on the History of Science.  There will be a moderate 
charge for the banquet, reduced for students.  Transportation to Penn and 
back will be provided.

PROCEEDINGS: A proceedings will be published.

SUBMISSIONS:  We are limiting the contributed talks so as to leave 
sufficient time for general and technical discussion.  However, we 
will have a poster session as part of the wine and cheese reception 
Saturday evening.  If you are interested in contributing either a 
short talk or a poster, please send a short abstract by April 1, 1996 
to Tandy Warnow (address below).  Selection of posters and contributed 
talks will be made and announced by April 20, 1996.  Simultaneous 
submission to conferences or journals is acceptable.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS:  Craig Benham and Tandy Warnow

            send correspondence to:
                        Tandy Warnow
                        Department of Computer and Information Science
                        University of Pennsylvania
                        Philadelphia, PA  19105-6389
                        tandy at central.cis.upenn.edu



PROGRAM COMMITTEE:      Craig Benham (Mount Sinai)
                        Martin Farach (Rutgers)
                        Sampath Kannan (Penn)
                        Tandy Warnow (Penn)
                        


LOCATION:  Nassau Inn, Princeton NJ, and the Computer Science Building of
           Princeton University, located at 35 Olden Street.

LODGING:  A block of 50 rooms has been set aside for conference 
          participants at the Nassau Inn, and another 25 rooms have been 
          set aside at the Palmer Inn.  These rooms are available at reduced 
          rates for participants registering before April 14th.  Be sure to 
          inform the registration desk that you are registering for the 
          Penn/DIMACS Computational Biology Conference in order to receive 
          the reduced rate.

	 Nassau Inn		Dbl/Single	$105
	 1 Palmer Square
	 Princeton, NJ	
	 Phone: (609) 921-7500
	 FAX: (608) 921-6530
	 (800) 243-1166

The Nassau Inn is located in the center of downtown Princeton within walking 
distance of the Computer Science Building.  

	 Palmer Inn		Single		$ 64
	 3499 Rt. 1 South	Double		$ 66
	 Princeton, NJ 
	 Phone: (609) 452-2500
	 FAX: (609) 452-1371
	 (800) 688-0500

The Palmer Inn is not within walking distance, but they do provide van
service.  The above rate includes a continental breakfast.

 	Bed and Breadfast of Princeton
 	P. O. Box 571
 	Princeton, NJ  08542
 	Phone:  (609) 924-3189  FAX: (609) 921-6271
 	Email:  CompuServe 71035.757 at compuserve.com (John Hurley)

 	Single:$40-$50, Dbl. $50-$60

Please make reservations directly with hotels or bed & breakfast.  When making 
reservations at either hotel, specify it is a DIMACS reservation.  (This isn't 
necessary at the B & B.)

___________________________________________________________________
  *Watch the DIMACS WWW page for updates in the schedule

Tentative Schedule:

Friday, 5/17

    9-10 Introductory talk
        
    10-12:30 Session on Molecular Structure Prediction
           
           Invited talks:
              
              Craig Benham (DNA structure)
             
              Bonnie Berger (protein structure)
           
           Discussion and short talks by participants

    12:30-2 lunch break 

    2-4:30 Session on Tandem Repeats
            
           Invited talks:

              Jeanette Schmidt and 
             
              Gary Benson (algorithms)
            
           Discussion and short talks by participants

    5:00  Bus to Penn 

    6:00 - 7:00 Cocktail Reception

    7:00 - 9:00 Banquet

    9:00 Bus back to Princeton


Saturday 5/18

    9-11:30 Session on Sequencing and Mapping 

           Invited talks:

              Rob Lipschutz 

              Mike Waterman
             
           Discussion and short talks by participants

    11:30-1 lunch

    1-3 Session on Databases
           
           Invited talk:

              Susan Davidson
             
           Discussion and short talks by participants

    3-3:30 tea break  
            
    3:30-5 Discussion Session on Education in Computational Biology

           Representatives of currently existing training programs will
           discuss their approaches and experiences.  These will include
           DIMACS, Penn, Mount Sinai and Washington.

    4:30-6 Poster Session and Reception (champagne, wine, cheese)


Sunday 5/19

       
    9-9:45      Sampath Kannan  (Trees)
    
    9:45-10:30  Peter Short (Viral Shell Assembly)
 
    10:30-11    Coffee Break

    11-12       Computational Neurobiology 

    12-1:00     lunch 

    1:00-3:00   Session on Genome Rearrangements
           
                  Invited talk:

                    Pavel Pevzner
                    
                  Discussion and short talks by participants

    3-5       Past and Future of the field

                  Invited talks:

                     Joshua Lederberg

                     Craig Benham
    
    5  Conclusion of the Conference



*************************************************************************

Send registrations to barbu at cs.princeton.edu and include the following 
information:

	Subject: Computational Biology Workshop registration

	
	lastname:
	firstname:
	email address:
	affiliation:
	address:
	city:
	state:
	zip:
	phone:
	fax:
	talk topic:
	software demo: (yes or no)
	special needs:
	your position: (student, faculty, researcher)
	home institution:  university, corporate lab, or Government lab
	   (if other, describe)
	how did you hear about this workshop:


		WWW:http://dimacs.rutgers.edu