Workshop on
Recent Developments in Discrete Metric Spaces: Theory and Algorithmic Applications

May 27 - June 4, 2004
Haifa, Israel

SUPPORTED BY:
* Caesarea Rothschild Institute;
* University of Haifa.

General Information

Finite metric spaces have emerged in recent years as a new and influential branch of discrete mathematics, with deep and surprising applications in Computer Science. The aim of this workshop is, on one hand, to bring together the leading people in the area, and have a slow, in-depth discussion of the new developments in the field. On the other hand, equally important, the goal is to allow people present their working directions, their global/local understanding of the field, and, ultimately, to encourage people to sit and work together in a pleasant leisurely atmosphere.

The workshop will include a number of invited talks, as well as many informal presentations. Ample time will be left free for informal discussions, open problems and just thinking. The participants will include several key invitees, but the workshop is open to all those who wish to attend and learn about the area.

The workshop will run May 27 - June 4, 2004, (Thursday to Friday), in the University of Haifa (mostly in the Education and Sciences Building, 5th floor). Accommodation of the invitees will be at the beautiful Holiday Inn Hotel in Haifa.

There will be no registration fee for the workshop. Local expenses will be covered for the invitees, and light refreshments between sessions will be provided to all participants.

For any additional information or questions related to the workshop, please contact Yuri Rabinovich yuri@cs.haifa.ac.il. Our administrative coordinator is Ms. Libi Oded libi@cs.haifa.ac.il, and she will be happy to assist.

The Invitees:

• Yair Bartal (Hebrew Univ., Israel) yair@cs.huji.ac.il.
• Moses Charikar (Princeton Univ., NJ) moses@cs.princeton.edu.
• Uriel Feige (Weizmann Institute, Israel) feige@wisdom.weizmann.ac.il.
• Piotr Indyk (MIT, MA) indyk@theory.lcs.mit.edu.
• William Johnson (Texas A&M Univ., TE) johnson@math.tamu.edu.
• Robert Krauthgamer (IMB Research (Almaden)) robi@almaden.ibm.com.
• James Lee (UC Berkeley, CA) jrl@cs.berkeley.edu.
• Joram Lindenstrauss (Hebrew Univ., Israel) joram@math.huji.ac.il.
• Nathan Linial (Hebrew Univ., Israel) nati@cs.huji.ac.il.
• Manor Mendel (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana) mendelma@uiuc.edu.
• Assaf Naor (Microsoft Research, USA) anaor@microsoft.com.
• Ilan Newman (Haifa Univ., Israel) ilan@cs.haifa.ac.il.
• Yuri Rabinovich (Haifa Univ., Israel) yuri@cs.haifa.ac.il.
• Satish Rao (UC Berkeley, CA) satishr@cs.berkeley.edu.
• Gideon Schechtman (Weizmann Institute, Israel) gideon@wisdom.weizmann.ac.il.

Important dates

• May 27- June 4, 2004: the Workshop.

Further information

• (TENTATIVE) WORKSHOP PROGRAM

  
  

• LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS:
  Our local arrangements coordinator is Ms. Libi Oded, libi@cs.haifa.ac.il; please do not hesitate to address her directly with any general question.

  
  

• Transportation
  Getting from the Airport to Holiday Inn Hotel: is easy. You take either a "sherut taxi" or a private taxi. Sherut taxi is about $20.00 one way, the passenger has to wait until the taxi is filled with 7 persons before travel (which, normally, does not take a long time). Drop-off at the hotel will be at the descretion the taxi driver, depending on other passangers and the destination. Private taxis charge about $75.00 one way. 1$ = 4.7 NIS.

  
  

• The map of the University of Haifa Campus (pdf 1,270kb). The Education and Sciences Building is slightly to the left of the center of the picture; it is the block of 3 builings marked in red on the map. Just get to the 5th floor, and go straight, with the elevators at your back. Our main lecture hall is 570.

  
  

• Israel / Haifa Information. There is also a plenty of information at the hotel's Lobby.

TILL SOON!