This grant will support an international conference on geometric and combinatorial methods in group theory and semigroup theory. The conference will be held on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during the period May 17 - May 21, 2009. Groups are a useful mathematical tool which originated in the study of symmetry, including research on symmetries of crystal lattices in chemistry. Many of the applications of work in semigroup theory also lie in the study of local (instead of global) symmetries of objects, as well as their use as an algebraic tool in computer science for studying the operation of finite state machines.
The aim of this conference is to stimulate cooperative research among group theorists and semigroup theorists who are using related techniques. Research in both group theory and semigroup theory has burgeoned in recent years, with many new tools and ideas connecting these areas to topology, geometry, dynamical systems, symbolic computation, and combinatorics. The new methods developed in each of group theory and semigroup theory have great potential for further applications in both areas. The conference will highlight recent developments in these fields, with a focus on asymptotic and algorithmic properties. In addition to the dissemination of recent ideas on topics in group theory and semigroup theory, the conference will provide a setting for the participants to collaborate and establish connections with each other, bridging group theory and semigroup theory. The conference will also help recent Ph.D.'s and graduate students to interact with leading researchers in the area and gain a broader knowledge of their research field.
