We are rapidly approaching the 6th Canadian Discrete and Algorithmic Mathematics Conference here at Ryerson University. I’m the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee and things are hectic, but we are excited to host the conference. In honor of the event, I am reblogging an older post about the event.

Enjoy, and see you soon at CanaDAM.

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CanaDAM

The sixth Canadian Discrete and Algorithmic Mathematics conference (or CanaDAM) will be held June 12-15, 2017 at my home institution of Ryerson University in Toronto.

CanaDAM focuses on the theory and application of discrete mathematics. This includes areas such as graph theory and networks, coding theory, enumeration, combinatorial designs and algorithms, and many others. The meeting attracts over three hundred participants from Canada and beyond. There are invited speakers such as Tanya Berger-Wolf (U. Illinois at Chicago),  Shubhangi Saraf (Rutgers), and Julia Wolf (Bristol), as well as invited and contributed minisymposia. The public lecture will be given by Jordan Ellenberg (Wisconsin).

History

CanaDAM emerged out of the recognition that discrete mathematics is an area of strength within Canadian mathematics. There are a number of groups across the country actively researching and training graduate students and post-docs.  From Victoria to St. John’s and in between, every major university in the country has a group working on some aspect of discrete mathematics.

An established discrete mathematical conference in North America is the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Discrete Mathematics meeting, which take place every even year. For example, in 2016 the SIAM Discrete Mathematics conference was at Georgia State University in Atlanta. About a decade ago, a group of Canadian discrete mathematics researchers pitched the idea of starting a conference held in the odd years.

CanaDAM was born.

CanaDAM showcases Canadian discrete mathematics on a world stage; the first meeting was held at BIRS in beautiful Banff, Alberta.

Since then, there have been four meetings: ones at CRM, Université de Montréal, University of Victoria, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and University of Saskatchewan.

The call for host institutions for CanaDAM’17 came out during the summer of 2015, and our research group Graphs at Ryerson (G@R) put in a bid with the support of our Department Chair and Faculty Dean. Happily, we were awarded the event.

Ryerson and Toronto

Ryerson Mathematics is an emerging Canadian academic success story. In recent years, we’ve hired a host of terrific researchers and started a PhD program this September. We have flourishing undergraduate programs with hundreds of students. I often get queries from colleagues about the potential of joining our Department.

Ryerson is a rapidly expanding university, with over 40,000 undergraduates and 2,500 graduate students. Our President Mohamed Lachemi is an experienced academic (and past Canada Research Chair in Civil Engineering), and our Dean of Science is a renown cell biologist and advocate for women in STEM. In our new academic plan Our Time to Lead, there is a renewed focus on research, innovation, and experiential learning for all of our students. We are a place where mind and action intersect.

Toronto is the fourth largest in North America, and is safe, clean, and very diverse. There are many things to do here, ranging from visiting the CN tower and Toronto Island, browsing the Royal Ontario Museum and Art Gallery of Ontario, to taking in a musical or Blue Jays game.

Please come visit us at CanaDAM. June is beautiful here in Toronto, with its long days and terrific weather.

Anthony Bonato