Annual Report 2008.pdf - SAMSI

• MSRI Summer Workshop on Mathematical Methods in Computational Biology, MSRI, Berkeley,
June 2006; Organizers: R. Laubenbacher and L. Pachter
(http://www.msri.org/calendar/workshops/WorkshopInfo/330/show_workshop);
• IMA Special Year on Applications of Algebraic Geometry 2006-2007; Organizers: D.
Bertsimas, P. Parillo, M. Stillman, B. Sturmfels, M. Sudan, R. Thomas
(http://www.ima.umn.edu/2006-2007/);
• Second International Conference on Algebraic Biology, Linz, July 2007; Organizers:
conference chairs: H. Anai, B. Buchberger, H. Hong, K. Horimoto
(http://www.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/about/conferences/ab2007/);
• Program on Phylogenetics, Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Sept.-Dec. 2007
(http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/programmes/PLG/).
The IMA program included a small component on algebraic statistics, and applications to
biologywere included in one of the workshops. In total, these events are helping to create a
community of researchers working on these topics, both senior as well as postdoctoral faculty
and graduate students. It is anticipated that the SAMSI program will bring together theoreticians
and “end-users” in biology and statistics in a substantive way that will help further crystallize the
key problems to be solved. Another important aspect of the program is cultural. Algebraists,
geometers, biologists and statisticians need to develop a common language. While several of the
mathematicians involved in this research area already have close collaborations with people in
other fields, many others do not. A year-long program provides this opportunity.
1.3 Organization and Program Leadership
Organizing Committee: Peter Beerli (School of Computational Sciences and Department of Biological
Sciences, Florida State University), Andreas Dress (Director, CAS-MPG Partner Institute
for Computational Biology, Shanghai), Mathias Drton (Department of Statistics, University of
Chicago), Ina Hoeschele (Department of Statistics, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Bioinformatics
Institute), Christine Heitsch (School of Mathematics, Georgia Tech), Serkan Hosten (Department
of Mathematics, San Francisco State University), Reinhard Laubenbacher, Committee Chair
(Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Bioinformatics Institute), Bud Mishra
(Departments of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Cell Biology, Courant Institute, NYU),
Don Richards (Department of Statistics, Pennsylvania State University), Seth Sullivant
(Department of Mathematics, North Carolina State University), Brett Tyler (Department of Plant
Pathology and Weed Science, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Bioinformatics Institute), Ruriko
Yoshida (Department of Statistics, University of Kentucky).
1.4 Major Participants
Long-Term Visitors: The following individuals are presently scheduled to spend between a
month and semester at SAMSI participating in the program: Edward Allen (Wake Forest
University), Elizabeth Allman (University of Alaska), Alicia Dickenstein (University of Buenos
Aires), Stephen Fienberg (Carnegie Mellon University), Luis Garcia-Puente (Sam Houston State