Announcement (slightly under construction....)

West Coast Number Theory Conference 2009

December 16 (Evening Banquet) through December 20 (Lunch)

Asilomar Conference Center in Monterey (Pacific Grove), California


  • 1. Contact Information
  • 2. How to Register
  • 3. Directions to Asilomar
  • 4. Financial Support (WE'RE FUNDED!!!)
  • 5. Problem Sets
  • 6. Program from 2005
  • 7. Format of the Conference
  • 8. Service and Thanks
  • 9. Asilomar's Webpage

    1. Contact Information:

    Organizer: Bart Goddard
    University of Texas at Austin
    Mathematics Department
    1 University Station C1200
    Austin, TX 78712-0257

    goddardb@newsguy.com


    2. How to register:

    A. Please register as soon as possible. It helps me plan and it helps us get the space we need (large enough conference room). Rooms are on a first come basis. A few people stay off grounds in local motels. (It helps the conference in general if you stay on grounds.) It would help me if the off-grounds people would also register promptly, since Asilomar is hounding me for accurate head counts already.

    B. If you are planning on staying on grounds, print this Word document, or this PDF document fill it out and send it with your payment directly to Asilomar (note that this includes four nights and all meals). Note that vegetarian meals and other dietary options are available. We have learned a little about kosher meals: They are apparently supplied frozen by an outfit called "Amy's Kitchen" which operates under the "Baltimore Rabinic". We are learning more, so e-mail me if you've become intrigued.

    C. Whether you are staying on grounds or off grounds, download and print this Word document or this PDF documentand send it with your registration fee to me. Please note that this means that you need to write two checks and send them to two different places. Asilomar takes credit cards, but I do not. Attendees from out of the country who won't have U.S. funds until they get to the U.S. should feel free to pay the registration fee upon arrival. The registration fee is $70 per number theorist. Plus...

    Please note that Asilomar charges an $9.00 per day "daily use fee" for those staying off grounds. On-grounds people shouldn't pay this fee. If you're staying off grounds, but will not be there for the entire 5 days, then feel free to make your own adjustment to this fee, by pro-rating for the number of days you'll be present. (Attending the banquet counts as a day.)

    The upside to the daily use fee is that it buys off-grounds people the right to eat in the Asilomar dining hall. Having paid the fee, prices for meals four years ago were: (Adult) Breakfast: $7.16, Lunch $9.72, Dinner $15.54 (Child 3-12 years old) Breakfast: $6.05, Lunch $6.94, Dinner $12.22, all including tax. A non-number theorist staying off grounds needs to pay the fee only on days that he eats in the dining hall.

    Another NOTE: This year, we reserved no "standard" or "deluxe" rooms, so Asilomar's form gives options for only "historic" rooms, which are the least expensive. If you want to upgrade to a fancier room (these often have fireplaces, and are more modern) then contact me for a phone number so that you can arrange this directly with Asilomar.

    3. How to get there.

    By Air: Monterey has an airport serviced by major airlines. Taxis, rental cars and public transportation are available from there to the Asilomar Conference Grounds.

    Driving directions and maps are avialable on Asilomar's website:     Directions

    Peter Montgomery, our resident expert on California's train system, has provided these directions for getting to Asilomar without driving (caveat: These directions are now at least 8 years old): Those coming from San Francisco and San Jose airports can take the Monterey-Salinas Airbus to Monterey Transit Plaza in downtown Monterey for $30. Reservations are recommended. Greyhound also serves Monterey Transit Plaza (N.B. this is separate from the Monterey Greyhound station). Amtrak has connecting buses to Salinas and San Jose Amtrak stations. Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) route A connects Monterey Transit Plaza to the Asilomar entrance (and to Monterey Aquarium) for $2.00. MST route 21 serves Monterey airport but does not run on Sunday.

    4. Support:

    To apply for funding, download this PDF document, which is five pages including instructions, and follow the directions therein. Hard copies of this document will be available at the conference. If you can get it together and turn all the stuff in to Jeff Achter at the conference, that's A-OK. But most folk won't have all their receipts until sometime in January. The soft deadline for applying for funds at January 31st. The sooner we all get our stuff in, the sooner we can disburse the funds. BUT, if someone needs more time, it's easy to push the deadline back.

    The NSA has given us approximately $10K to distribute to US citizens. Normally this money is used for graduate students and non-tenure/track faculty without support. This is reimbursement, so you won't need forms until December. We're usually able to reimburse at least 90% of students travel and lodging.
    The Number Theory Foundation (NTF) has given us $1000 to distribute to non-US citizens. Typically, that means 2 or 4 students share this money.


    5. The Problems Sets:


    Here are PDF's of the problems sets from previous meetings.

    2008 Fort Collins, Colorado

    2007 Asilomar

    2006 Ensenada

    2005 Asilomar

    2004 Las Vegas

    2003 Asilomar

    2002 San Francisco

    2001 Asilomar and 2001 Cover Page

    2000 San Diego and 2000 Cover Page

    6. Program from 2007 Conference

    Here is the Word document listing the speakers and their titles from the 2007 West Coast Number Theory Conference which was held at Asilomar. I make it available to give an idea of the participant list and the wide variety and level of talks one can expect at this conference. (This document may not reflect last minute changes that were made to the program.)

    2007 Schedule of Talks


    7. Format of the Conference:

    We will begin with an opening banquet on the evening of Dec. 16 at 6 pm. Attendence at the banquet is optional, and there is an additional surcharge of $9 for the meal (which means that the cost for off-grounds attendees is $24.) After dinner, we will retire to the meeting room, where we'll have a quick meeting where titles are submitted and a schedule of talks is hastily assembled. People who skip the banquet are welcome to meet the rest of us at the meeting room. Tentatively we'll schedule this meeting for 7:30 pm.

    (The surcharges for the special entrees for banquets are quite pricy. I'm most likely to choose "Chicken Asilomar" yet again, because it's half the price of the others. I think the idea is more the commeraderie than paying $20 +$9 daily use fee +$17 dinner fee = $46 for a plate of Asilomar's version of smoked salmon. So chicken will be the "meat entree", and there will be a vegetarian option, which is currently listed as "Vegetarian Wellington" involving white beans and fontina cheese. People wanting Kosher or Vegan or other options should contact Asilomar directly.

    The length allowed for all talks is usually about 15 or 20 minutes, including time for questions. Dec. 17 and 19 will be full days of talks, while Dec. 18 will have talks in the morning, leaving the afternoon for our "afternoon off" for sightseeing and recreation. Dec. 20 will be another half day. Two problem sessions will be scheduled during the conference, where unsolved problems are presented. The results from previous problem sessions are given above. The second problem session will most likely be on the morning of Dec. 20.

    An overhead projector is provided for talks. The chalkboards that have been available in the past have been woefully inadequate. NEW! Pante Stanica is a regular attendee and now works at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. He has promised to provide a computer project for the conference, so you may now count on computer projection. Huzzah!

    I do bring a small supply of blank transparencies and markers, but they get snarfed up quickly by non-self-sufficient attendees. I'll try to get you whatever you need if I have enough lead time, but I recommend that you bring your own stuff, and not rely on my limited resourcefulness.

    8. Service and Thanks:

    I am happy to help in any way. If downloading the forms doesn't work, then I can e-mail or snail mail them. If you know of someone who wants to be added to the e-mail or snail mail list, then please let me know or have them mail me.

    Corrections and additions to this page are welcome.