9301504 Mullen The theory of finite fields can be traced back to Gauss and Galois and it currently plays an important role in several branches of mathematics. In recent years there has been a resurgence of research in finite fields due to the wide variety of applications of the theoretical aspects of finite fields. Many exciting new theoretical results have been obtained by a growing number of mathematicians world wide. Many new applications and algorithms of finite fields have been discovered. Even though there have been special conferences devoted exclusively to applications or algorithms of finite fields, there are no conferences devoted to the combination of the theory, algorithms and applications. It is clear that there is an increasing interaction among the three different groups of people. The proposed conference encourages this interaction. It is anticipated that the conference will result in many more fruitful applications of finite fields and at the same time provide new problems and motivation for fintie field theory.
