Conference on Designs, Graphs, and Codes

Auburn University, Auburn AL

Investigators

Abstract

The Auburn Conference on Designs, Graphs and Codes will be held at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, from January 29th to 31st, 2016. The conference will focus on the advancement of research in combinatorics, outreach in mathematics, and the scholarship of teaching and learning, with specific emphasis on graph theory, design theory, and coding theory. The conference will feature both invited and contributed research talks, as well as panel discussions on outreach and the scholarship of teaching and learning, and a problem session. This grant will be used to support travel for participants, especially for students, recent graduates, and traditionally underrepresented groups. More information may be found on the conference website, at https://sites.google.com/site/auburnconferencedgc15/. Design theory, graph theory, and coding theory are subjects at the forefront of modern day combinatorics. The traditional applications of designs reside in constructing statistical experiments, however designs can frequently be used to provide an alternative lens for problems in other areas of combinatorics, especially graph theory. Such graph theoretic problems include decompositions, embeddings, edge-colorings, and amalgamations. Amalgamations, in particular, take a difficult problem with little structure and simplify to a problem that is easier to handle. Coding theory is also connected to graph theory and design theory through mathematical objects like the Fano plane. Coding theory has boundless applications, many of which are related to sending and receiving electronic signals correctly. The interconnectivity of designs, graphs, and codes, strengthens the need to explore these subjects together. Furthermore, growth in the mathematics (and in sciences in general) comes not just from research, but also from outreach and teaching as well. To this end, this conference will draw together for collaboration both researchers in combinatorics and those involved with mathematics outreach and the scholarship of teaching and learning.