Participant Testimonials

Nov 08 - Nov 13, 2015

This workshop proportioned to me the possibility to meet colleagues from different areas as Ramsey theory, topological dynamics and model theory. This is what I liked the most. The talks were in general very good, and well prepared. This is a sign, I think, of the interest the participants had. There were several open problems sessions, each one of them full of problems and possible projects. Some of my collaborators, postdocs, had the opportunity of meeting senior colleagues, and as a result of this, if I am not mistaken, they have got offers for short post-doctoral visits.

Jordi Lopez-Abad Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas. CSIC

The meeting certainly did stimulate thought by making connections in a number of different ways. Potential post-doctoral scholars got a chance to meet us and explore work. Our graduate student was able to meet some of the leaders in CSP's and get a better sense of where his work fits in, and everyone left with potential new collaborations. A special number of Contributions to Discrete Mathematics, the journal for which I am managing editor, is being organized (Largely by Lionel and Claude), with a deadline of next July for submissions. Submissions will be refereed. And Lionel is working on a set of problems that came up during the meeting. All in all, I would think the meeting exemplified how the workshop structure of BIRS facilitates bringing researchers who were not in the exactly the same area together on interesting projects. One colleague commented to me that it was very good to have a number of young people giving cutting edge results, rather than a meeting dominated by the established old guard.

Robert Woodrow Mathematics and Statistics, University of Calgary