CALL FOR PAPERS     

43rd Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science
http://www.mitacs.math.ca/focs02

Vancouver, Canada
  November 16-19, 2002

The 43rd Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS 2002), sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Mathematical Foundations of Computing, will be held in Vancouver, Canada, on November 16-19, 2002. Papers presenting original research on foundational aspects of computer science are sought. Typical but not exclusive topics of interest include: algorithms and data structures, computational complexity, cryptography, computational geometry, algorithmic graph theory and combinatorics, parallel and distributed computing, machine learning, applications of logic, algorithmic algebra and coding theory, theoretical aspects of databases, information retrieval, networks, computational biology, robotics, and quantum computing. More information on the conference will be available on the FOCS 2002 web site: http://www.mitacs.math.ca/focs02 .
 

IMPORTANT DATES:
 - Submission deadline: Paper must be received by Thursday April 25, 2002 (16:59 EST) or postmarked by April 15.
 - Notification: Accept/reject decisions will be made by July 2, 2002.
 - Final versions: Final versions of accepted papers due August 20, 2002.
 

Abstract format: Authors should submit an extended abstract (not a full paper). The submission should contain a scholarly exposition of ideas, techniques, and results, including motivation and a clear comparison with related work. The length should not exceed ten  (10) letter-sized pages (not including the bibliography and figures, and using 11-point or larger font, with ample spacing and margins all around).  More details may be given in an appendix, but any material beyond the 10-page limit may be ignored at the discretion of the Program Committee.  Abstracts deviating significantly from these guidelines risk rejection without consideration of their merits.

Abstract submission: Authors are strongly encouraged to submit their extended abstracts electronically.  A detailed description of the electronic submission process is available at http://www.mitacs.math.ca/focs02/elsub.html . Authors who are unable to submit electronically must send seventeen (17) printed copies (double-sided preferred) of an extended abstract, together with a cover letter, to:

                Bernard Chazelle
                FOCS 2002 Program Chair
                Department of Computer Science
                Princeton University
                35 Olden Street
                Princeton, NJ 08544
                USA

To facilitate notification, authors submitting printed copies should also send an e-mail to jchaz@cs.princeton.edu indicating that they are submitting in this manner. The abstract, in either form, MUST be received by 16:59 EST April 25, 2002 or postmarked by April 15.  Late  submissions will be rejected.  Simultaneous submission of the same (or essentially the same) abstract to FOCS and to another conference with published proceedings is not allowed.

Notification: Authors will be sent notification of acceptance or rejection by e-mail on or before July 2, 2002. A final copy of each accepted paper is required by August 20, 2002. Again this is a firm deadline. An author of each accepted paper must attend the Symposium and present the paper, or make alternative arrangements to have it presented.

Machtey award: This prize will be given to the best paper written solely by one or more students. An abstract is eligible if all authors are full-time students at the time of submission. This should be indicated through the electronic submission process or by email to the program chair. The program committee may decline to make the award, or may split it among several papers.
 
 

Program Committee:
 
Dorit Aharonov (Hebrew U)
Maria Luisa Bonet (UPC, Barcelona)
Bernard Chazelle (Chair)  (Princeton & NEC Research)
Edith Cohen (AT&T Labs)
Lance Fortnow (NEC Research)
Anna Gal (UT Austin)
Venkatesan Guruswami (UC Berkeley & U Washington)
Piotr Indyk (MIT)
Ravi Kannan (Yale)
Claire Kenyon (U Paris-Sud)
Yuval Rabani (Technion)
Tal Rabin (IBM Research)
Omer Reingold (AT&T Labs)
Ronitt Rubinfeld (NEC Research)
David B. Shmoys (Cornell)
Dan Spielman (MIT)
Emo Welzl (ETH Zurich)

Information about local arrangements can be obtained from the Local Arrangements Chair:

        Prof. Arvind Gupta
        School of Computing Science
        Simon Fraser University
        Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6
        Canada
        arvind@mitacs.math.ca