SWAT 2004

Press release

Algorithmists meet in Denmark

SWAT 2004 (the 9th Scandinavian Workshop on Algorithm Theory) and its satellite events, the Workshop on On-Line Algorithms 2004 and the Summer School on Experimental Algorithmics, attract more than 120 algorithmists and computer scientists to Denmark. The events are organized jointly by three universities: the University of Copenhagen (Department of Computing), the University of Southern Denmark (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science), and the IT-University of Copenhagen (Department of Theoretical Computer Science).

SWAT is a biennial international conference, held since 1988 and rotating between the five Nordic countries. This year it is organized in Denmark for the second time. SWAT 2004 will be held at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk from the evening of 7 July through 10 July 2004. The two satellite events will be held immediately before SWAT at the Rungstedgaard conference centre in Rungsted Kyst from the evening of 4 July through 7 July 2004.

A total of about 80 talks will be given during the six days. Some of the keynote speakers are

Anna Karlin
University of Washington (known for work involving both theoretical and applied algorithmics)

Charles E. Leiserson
MIT (one of the authors of the widely-used algorithm textbook "Introduction to Algorithms")

Alexander Stepanov
Adobe Systems Incorporate (principal designer and the original implementor of the C++ Standard Template Library).

Algorithmics is at the core of computing. It is an important ingredient of all modern computing curricula. Algorithmic thinking is needed in challenging programming tasks. Algorithmics also plays a vital role in applied fields like bioinformatics and medical data processing. Many applications involve data processing tasks that are computationally daunting and involve massive amounts of data. How to solve such problems, and how to solve them efficiently and elegantly, if at all possible, are key questions addressed at the meetings.

Strong algorithm research in Denmark

In the universities organizing the meetings, as well as in other Danish universities, there are research groups specialized in algorithm theory. The University of Copenhagen is well-known for its research on experimental algorithmics and combinatorial optimization. On-line algorithms are a specialty of the University of Southern Denmark. The IT-University of Copenhagen has a strong research group working on efficient algorithms and data structures.

Additional information

http://www.imada.sdu.dk/~kslarsen/Events/ola/
http://www.diku.dk/~jyrki/Sommerskole/
Jyrki Katajainen (e-mail: jyrki@di.ku.dk, telephone: (+45) 35 32 14 16)