DIMACS - Program Overview

DIMACS , the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, is a consortium of researchers from Rutgers University, Princeton University, AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bellcore operating as an NSF Science and Technology Center. DIMACS mission is to promote research, enhance education, and transfer knowledge to technology and industry sectors in the areas of discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science. The models, methods, data representations, and algorithms that comprise discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science increasingly drive progress in science, business and industry which DIMACS is uniquely positioned to stimulate.

DIMACS leverages the resources of its four institutions to act as a national resource for research in discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science and to spur timely initiatives in research, human resources, and outreach to support the HPCC goals.

Research Programs:

DIMACS conducts research through a number of coordinated and mutually reinforcing programs:

• The special year programs focus on emerging research areas. In a typical special year, DIMACS sponsors 6 to 10 workshops, has 2 to 4 postdoctoral fellows in the specific research area, and hosts 25 to 50 research visitors to DIMACS for periods of 2 weeks to a year. Recent special years have also had tutorial programs to introduce graduate students, postdocs and researchers to new areas, distinguished lecturer series and implementation challenges that produce research implementations of state of the art theoretical algorithms. Recent and current years are:
  • Massively Parallel Computing (1993-1994) brought together experts in DIMACS areas with the engineers who build parallel supercomputers and the physical scientists designing solutions to what are known as ``Grand Challenge'' problems, such as earthquake prediction or the analysis of protein folding. Particular attention was focused on ``unstructured and dynamic'' problems whose computation solutions do not fit neatly onto current supercomputer architectures.

  • Mathematical Support for Molecular Biology (1994-1996) is currently looking at problems in molecular biology that can be addressed through discrete mathematical models and computation. These problems include genome sequencing, database methods, phylogeny reconstruction as well as applications to protein folding, HIV and drug discovery.

• Postdoctoral Fellows in the special year topic and other research areas spend a year at one of the DIMACS institutions and can be mentored by a world class assemblage of researchers concentrated in New Jersey.
• Research Visitors in all areas of DIMACS interest share their expertise with fellows, other visitors and permanent members.
• Workshops in all areas of DIMACS research serve as a national focus for timely initiatives. Recent workshops have included:
  • Coding and Quantization (1992). One of the results at this workshop gave algorithmic improvements to modem hardware to transmit data faster without changing the underlying hardware.
  • Geometric Group Theory (1994) in cooperation with the Geometry Center has been part of a sequence of workshops on computing and groups at DIMACS. These have stimulated both research in group theory and improvements in implementations.
• Research publications play an important role in disseminating DIMACS results. A technical report series is available both on paper and by WWW. Refereed books in the AMS-DIMACS Series document workshops and implementation challenges.

Education and Outreach:

• Postdoctoral training and workshop tutorials provide opportunities for active researchers to refocus their work onto emerging, grand challenge areas such as massively parallel computing and molecular biology and rapidly build capability for research. DIMACS has 16 current affiliated postdoctoral fellows including 4 in molecular biology; will host about 100 visitors during the year; and will have 500-1000 workshop participants who range from graduate students to academic researchers to industry practitioners.
• The Leadership Program in Discrete Mathematics, operating since 1989, has directly trained over 330 teachers in the Northeast US in learning discrete mathematics and adapting it to their classrooms. This program began with high school teachers, extended to middle school teachers in 1992 and will initiate programs for elementary teachers in 1995. Program alumni have incorporated discrete mathematics in their classrooms, trained other teachers, and developed curriculum materials for wider use.
• The Young Scholars Program in Discrete Mathematics, since 1990, has reached a diverse group of New Jersey students each summer to enrich their mathematical studies and promote their retention in math and science careers.