[CSDM] Welcome to IAS

[Avi Wigderson]

Hi,

Welcome to the Institute and the school of Mathematics!

This message is sent to everyone who will be somehow affiliated with the
CSDM (computer science and discrete math) program this year.  This list 
is in
http://www.math.ias.edu/csdm/12-13/members
and will probably grow.
Below is  some information you will find useful during your stay here. 
These is a special part for the IAS postdocs among you.

Please feel free to contact me or Ran Raz(who will be at the Institute 
for term I),if you need help with anything at all, and certainly 
whenever you want  to talk about research. We will shortly send e-mails  
about the coming seminar season.
(Apropos e-mail. If you don't use regularly your ias.edu address, please 
forward it to the one you do use, as many IAS emails will be sent there.)

Institute staff is extremely helpful - assistants, computing staff, 
library and housing.  Don't be shy about asking for something.

The CSDM website, www.math.ias.edu/csdm <http://www.math.ias.edu/csdm> 
has lots of useful information
especially on our seminars, seminars at neighboring institutions and how to
join their mailing lists, past members, activities and papers.
Any suggestions about the organization of this website are welcome. The 
website also gives the schedule of our own seminars on Monday and 
Tuesday of each week.  For the seminar schedule see 
http://www.math.ias.edu/csdm/seminars.

Those of you supported by the school are partially supported by one of 
these two NSF grants below. We will send periodic reminders to 
acknowledge them on the papers you write while here. Our group received 
two large NSF grants in 2008.  The first grant is for a "Center on 
Intractability" with
Princeton University, Rutgers and New York University. All members (you 
are all included) will meet  every month for a day of tutorials, 
surveys, brainstorming and open problems.  More info is on the center's 
website http://intractability.princeton.edu/
The second grant is related to pseudorandomness and awarded to the 
school -  some info about it is here http://www.math.ias.edu/Pseudo

Library:  we have built a decent collection of CS and combinatorics
books, but want to expand it. Anything you'd like there or you feel is 
missing, just request from the librarian, Momota Ganguli or her 
assistant, Judy Wilson-Smith, (or me) and they will purchase it.

Food:  I recommend our dining hall (best restaurant in Princeton) and 
going to tea/coffee each weekday from 3-4 p.m. in the Fuld Hall common 
room.

*For those of you who are IAS postdocs this year: *

1)  Travel must be approved in advance of planning your trip by a 
faculty member (I am your best shot).  Travel authorization forms are 
available from Marilyn Magder in Simonyi-116.  Shortly after your 
arrival you will receive a letter from Mary Jane Hayes, the School's 
administrative officer, with reimbursement  guidelines.  In order to be 
reimbursed, you must follow the guidelines.  The Institute is very 
particular about residency.  It allows 1 week of
travel per term, but we are flexible if you have conferences and/or job
interviews.  Please try to plan collaborations requiring travel between 
terms and after the end of April.

2)  We hope to see all of you at the Monday and Tuesday seminars unless 
you are away from the Institute.  On Mondays we typically have outside 
speakers, and on Tuesdays we usually teach each other at a moderate pace 
(or sometimes outsiders teach us). The seminar list is here 
http://www.math.ias.edu/csdm/seminars

3)  Beginning  September 24, there will be a series of short postdoc 
presentations in the School's seminar room on the entry-level floor of 
Simonyi Hall.  It would be good to  try to attend as many of these as 
possible.  The School has the best math postdocs anywhere, and you'll 
get an idea of what they do.  For your own presentations, feel free to 
consult us if you have questions.

Have a fun and productive year!

Avi

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