Supporting Students Attending the Second Annual North American School of Information Theory

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

The Second Annual School of Information Theory to be held on August 9-13 at Northwestern University. Information theory provides the theoretical foundations for modern communication systems. This rich foundation has enabled dramatic performance improvements in both wire-line and wireless communication systems. In recent years, there has been much interest in building on these successes and extending information theoretic ideas to provide fundamental insight into the design of increasingly complex networks that are of critical importance both for military and civilian uses. Examples include communication systems such as Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs), wireless mesh networks and sensor networks as well as biological and social systems. With the goal of developing the next generation of information theorists, the first Annual School of information theory was held on June 2-5, 2008 at Penn State University. The school was very successful and provided nearly 100 graduate and postdoctoral students with an excellent platform where they were exposed to the state of the art in information theory. The Second Annual School of Information Theory will build on this success by exposing students to leading research in information theory through lectures by four leading figures in information theory and also by providing students the opportunity to discuss their own work and interact. This grant is providing travel support to make attending the school an affordable opportunity for graduate students and post docs from across the US.