The Graduate Student Combinatorics Conference (GSCC) is a weekend-long conference organized and attended by graduate students in combinatorics and related fields. The fourth annual GSCC will be held at the University of California, Davis, on April 12-13, 2008.
Students all across North America will participate in an intensive weekend of student talks and meetings about current mathematical research in discrete mathematics. Student talks will be complemented by two keynote addresses given by Arun Ram of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ron Graham of the University of California, San Diego. The GSCC reaches a broad range of students in part due to the special nature of the field of combinatorics, which spans both pure and applied mathematics. Pure research topics include algebra, computational biology and string algorithms, enumerative combinatorics, poset and graph theory, probabilistic combinatorics, and topological and geometric combinatorics.
Combinatorics-related research leads to advances in all parts of science, including computer science, biological systems, and theoretical physics. For example, recent advances in combinatorics have resulted in both approximation algorithms and randomized algorithms for computational problems which had no previously known practical solutions.
There are two main ways the GSCC facilitates advances in combinatorics and its applications. One way is by giving graduate students the opportunity to present their research to peers from other universities, the first such opportunity for many students. This develops students' ability to give interesting and cutting-edge research talks. The other way is by fostering professional relationships which carry on into post-graduate careers, bolstering communication and peer mentorship at all levels. The GSCC is an invaluable tool for students who study combinatorics at all levels in their graduate careers. It vertically integrates students finishing their dissertations in combinatorics with students who are new to the field. It also alerts students to the current work being done by researchers, all in an accessible environment.
