# Welcome to Combinatorics and Optimization

Spring 2019 Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program (URA)Applications for the Spring 2019 program are now closed.

Tutte's Distinguished Lecture Series

The very successful Tutte's 100th Distinguished Lecture Series has now completed. That success has led to a Tutte Distinguished Lecture once per term. The next lecture will happen in the Spring term.

*Recordings of occurred talks are all available on C&O's YouTube Channel

Grad Studies: Fall 2019 applications now open

1. July 14, 2019Crypto 2019 Best Young Researcher Award

C&O graduate students Samuel Jaques and John Schanck have won the Best Young Researcher Paper Award at Crypto 2019, the 39th Annual International Cryptology Symposium. Their paper, Quantum cryptanalysis in the RAM model: Claw-finding attacks on SIKE, will be presented on August 20 in Santa Barbara.

2. July 9, 2019Chaitanya Swamy appointed Chair of C&O

Professor Chaitanya Swamy has been appointed to a ten-month term as chair of the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization. His term begins on September 1, 2019.

3. June 26, 2019SAC 2019 (August 12-16, 2019)

The Selected Areas in Cryptography (SAC) conference will be held at the University of Waterloo from August 14-16, 2019. The conference co-chairs are Kenneth Paterson (University of London/ETH Zurich) and C&O professor Douglas Stebila

1. July 23, 2019Algebraic Combinatorics Seminar - Hugh Thomas

Title: Reverse plane partitions via quiver representations

 Speaker: Hugh Thomas Affiliation: Université du Québec à Montréal Room: MC 5417

Abstract:

Let $\lambda$ be a partition. The reverse plane partitions of shape $\lambda$ are a kind of filling of the Ferrers diagram of $\lambda$ by non-negative integers. Richard Stanley found the generating function which enumerates them according to the sum of the entries.

2. July 24, 2019Joint C&O/PureMath Colloquium - Soffia Arnadottir

Title: Graphs in algebra and algebra in graphs

 Speaker: Soffia Arnadottir Affiliation: University of Waterloo Room: MC 5501

Abstract:

How do algebraic properties of a graph relate to its graph theoretic properties? What are algebraic properties of graphs? What does the spectrum of a graph tell us about its structure? What is a Cayley graph?

3. July 25, 2019Algebraic Graph Theory Seminar - Steve Kirkland

Title: Kemeny's Constant for Markov Chains

 Speaker: Steve Kirkland Affiliation: University of Manitoba Room: MC 5479

Abstract:

Markov chains are a much-studied class of stochastic processes, and it is well-known that if the transition matrix A associated with a Markov chain possesses a certain property (called primitivity), then the long-term behaviour of the Markov chain is described by a particular eigenvector of A, known as the stationary distribution vector.

All upcoming events