Brian Alspach, one of the most influential graph theorists of the past
four decades, will be 65 years old on May 29, 2003.
Brian's pioneering works, fundamental discoveries and celebrated results
have had significant impact on several mainstream subjects of graph theory
and, most importantly, have led the research direction of many mathematicians
of the younger generation. He has dedicated significant effort and resources
to the mentoring of talented young researchers. In addition to
the many students whose work he has supervised directly, Brian has taken
an active interest and been an
influential force in the careers of numerous young graph theorists around
the world.
His very early work (in the 1960's) about
pan-cyclic properties of tournaments
initiated the major research direction of hamiltonian connectivity
in directed
graphs
which is now a fruitful subject area with hundreds of papers.
He did seminal research on the conjecture about the existence of Hamilton
cycles in Cayley graphs, one of the most well-known open problems in graph
theory and algebraic graph theory.
His leadership and contributions in this area have had a significant
impact on results and the work of others.
The reduction methods and the
quotient graph expanding technique developed by Brian have provided one
of the most fundamental approaches in the study of the structure of
vertex-transitive graphs.
The development of metacirculant graphs by Alspach and Parsons has played
a central role in many algebraic graph theory problems.
A fundamental result of Alspach (jointly with others in 1990's) about cycle
cover problems and Petersen minors is one of the most significant
works in the study of vertex-transitive graphs that are not
Cayley graphs. This fundamental work has led to solutions of several
open problems and has important impacts far beyond the graph decomposition
area, in such fields as graph embedding, cycle cover optimization,
flow problems
and graph colorings.
Finding a method for decomposing a complete graph into cycles of some fixed
lengths
has been a long standing problem studied by many mathematicians.
The origin of
this
problem can be traced back to the 19th century. There were many partial
results beginning in the 1960's. Brian (jointly with others) has recently
completely solved this long-open problem.
The deadline for submitting papers for the special issue of Discrete
Mathematics honouring Brian Alspach on his 65th birthday is August 31,
2003.
Papers may be submitted either to:
Alex Rosa
Dept. of Math. & Statistics
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario,
Canada, L8S 4K1
rosa@mcmaster.ca
or:
Hadi Kharaghani
Dept. of Math. & Computer Science
University of Lethbridge
Lethbridge, Alberta
Canada, T1K 3M4
kharaghani@uleth.ca
either in electronic or paper version
but an electronic version is preferable.
The deadline for abstract submission has passed but in case you
were wondering about the forms we used:
Submit abstract for contributed talk.
Submit abstract for invited talk.
PDF file of abstracts submitted.
Here is the program (part 1) and
the revised program (part 2).
The registration fee will be Canadian $150 ($1 Canadian is about 0.73 US
and rising),
with a reduced rate of $50 for students until May 5 inclusive. After
May 5 the fee will be $200 with a reduced rate of $80 for students.
Some support is available for postdocs and graduate students.
Registered participants.
The banquet will be held on campus at the
Diamond University Center (DUC)
on May 27 from 6:30 - 10:00 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the conference.
Ticket prices are as follows:
| Including Alcohol | No alcohol |
Registered participants | $40 | $30 |
Graduate students | $25 | $15 |
Tickets to the banquet are also available to guests, at a cost of $50,
which includes alcohol.
All the conference events will be held at the campus of
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada.
See PIMS's visitor
information.
Other useful information is at these sites:
SFU campus map
and
"How to get to SFU".
Simon Fraser University Conference Accommodations
offers excellent rates on
accommodation in either the dormitory-style McTaggart Cowan Hall, or 4-bedroom
townhouses. The accommodations are on campus, attractively close to conference
meeting facilities. Both the townhouses and the dormitory include shared
kitchens (kitchenware not supplied).
Rate is $40 CAD/night plus taxes
for the townhouses,
approx. $28 CAD/night for a single dormitory room, or approx.
$48 CAD/night for a dormitory room with twin beds (taxes not included). A block
of townhouses has been set aside for the conference, but bookings for the
dormitory will also be accepted while space is available.
Parking is $3.50 CAD per day for guests in the residences.
Conference Photos
The local contact is:
Olga German
Administrative Assistant
Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS)
East Academic Annex Tel: (604)268-6655
Simon Fraser University Fax: (604)268-6657
8888 University Drive Room: EAA #120-1205
Burnaby B.C. Email: ogerman@pims.math.ca
V5A 1S6 www.pims.math.ca
If you have questions or wish to be put on our mailing list,
please send e-mail to
Hadi Kharaghani
at kharaghani@uleth.ca
or write to:
Graph Theory of Brian Alspach,
Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science,
University of Lethbridge,
Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4
CANADA
FAX: (403) 317-2882