"Combinatorics and Graph Theory" Session
[FIGURE]

--Aseem Sood, Math 574, Y2K

"Combinatorics and Graph Theory" Session

March 16--18, 2001

Organized by Jerry Griggs


February 10, 2001 Update

Here is an update on the special session, titled "Combinatorics and Graph Theory", that I am organizing for the 2001 Southeastern Section Meeting (#963) of the American Math Society, to be held here at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, on March 16-18. This event is part of the University's Bicentennial celebration. Information on the meeting is being posted gradually on the AMS conference website.

Our session will feature 25 invited speakers, each presenting a 20 minute research talk, over the three days. We plan to cover a broad range of topics in combinatorics and graph theory, emphasizing extremal and structural results, including combinatorial number theory. Experts from the Southeast and around North America will be invited, with a some coming from abroad. Recent Ph.D.'s as well as senior researchers have been included.

Our session starts Friday at 9:30am (the conference talks begin at 8:30), and concludes Sunday at 12:30pm. Several related contributed papers will be presented Saturday morning at 8:30am, with the invited talks resuming at 9:30am. There will be an open problem session in our special session on Saturday at 5:30pm. The full program has already been posted on the Web at the AMS meeting website.

The invited speakers will be:

    • Richard Anstee
    • Bela Bajnok
    • Christian Bey
    • Sergei Bezrukov
    • Rod Canfield
    • Lenore Cowen
    • Eva Czabarka
    • Tristan Denley
    • Pavol Hell
    • Gyula Katona
    • Hal Kierstead
    • Sasha Kostochka
    • Andre Kundgen

    • Bruce Landman
    • Renu Laskar
    • Jeno Lehel
    • Daphne Liu
    • Stephen Locke
    • Mirka Miller
    • Dhruv Mubayi
    • Attila Sali
    • Shahriar Shahriari
    • David Sumner
    • Doug West
    • Bing Zhou

There is a slate of invited addresses, including ones to be given by

The nine special sessions besides ours include most notably the one organized by my colleague, Laszlo Szekely, together with Farhad Shahrokhi, titled "Discrete and Computational Geometry and Graph Drawing". Their session and ours are to be scheduled in nearby rooms.

Other Special Sessions are planned in Universal Algebra, Analytic Number Theory, Mathematical Biology, Approximation and Wavelets, Geometry, and other areas.

The January, 2001, issue of the Notices of the AMS contains a lot of information about the conference, including registration fees, blocks of hotel rooms, airfare discounts, parking, maps.

TRAVEL:

Meeting, hotel, and travel information has been published in the Notices (January issue) and should also be available on the Website.

UPDATE ON HOTELS: The Clarion Town House Hotel, located about three short blocks north of the meeting site (Gambrell Hall), says it is fully booked (as of Feb. 9) for the Friday night, March 16. There is a big festival that Saturday (March 17) in the nearby Five Points Shopping District, including a parade, rock bands, lots of green beer, presumably all in honor of the conference. (These events coincide with the lectures, unfortunately.)

Across campus, roughly 8 blocks west of the meeting site, the Holiday Inn only has rooms left at $99 and above.

I have learned that the Department has had very good luck putting up visitors at the StudioPlus, located at the first exit west of downtown on I-26 (Greystone Blvd. exit). It is fairly new, and all rooms come with full kitchen facilities. One can book a regular queen studio for one person, for $49 plus tax (10%). A deluxe queen studio, with a separate kitchen and a sitting area that includes a sofa-bed, is $59 for one, $64 for two adults. Their weekly rates are cheaper for stays of 5 nights. Check their website to see the floor plans. The phone number is (803) 771-0303 or nationally toll-free (888)788-3467.

The StudioPlus is less than 3 miles from the conference by car, without any bus service available. No shuttle service. Pedestrians cannot use the I-26 bridge to cross the nearby Broad River, so walking is not an option. (One can walk down to the scenic Saluda River, however, adjacent to the nationally-recognized Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens.) Others at the conference can help with rides, or else one can take a taxi.

Other hotel options: A new Hampton's Inn should be open by then on Gervais Street in the Congaree Vista, about 12 blocks away. Claussen's Inn B&B is convenient and highly rated, though it may be pricey. For those with cars, there are many other lodging options near I-26 to the northwest of downtown, especially near Harbison Blvd. (Most of the mathematicians live on this side of town, though not in hotels.)

Some participants may be interested in sharing accomodations. Let me know if you are looking to do this.

Columbia is served by several major airlines. Delta offers the most connections, through Atlanta and Cincinnati. Delta and several other airlines offer direct flights between Columbia and Newark, New York-La Guardia, Washington-Dulles, Houston, Boston, Dallas, and Philadelphia. A major hub, Charlotte, is a 90-minute drive to the north of Columbia.

Columbia is located on Interstates 20, 26, and 77.

For info. on the city, including hotels, check this Columbia city website.

A large variety of nearby dining options is available in the Five Points shopping district a few blocks east of campus; just west of campus south of the State Capitol; and a few blocks farther west in the trendy and heavily-subsidized Congaree Vista district.

The meeting occurs at what is typically the most beautiful time of year here. A side trip to see the 18th Century gardens and streets of Charleston is recommended. The barrier islands and beaches are very nice as well, all a 2-3 hour drive from here. In Columbia, the Congaree Swamp National Monument, part of the National Park System, is recommended. The Yellow-throated Warblers should be returning by then to the Monument's old-growth floodplain forest.