DIMACS

Reconnecting Two Year College Faculty
to the Mathematical Sciences Enterprise

Series of Two Two-Day Workshops for Two-Year College Teachers
Dates: May 18 & 19, 1998, November 14, 1998 and February 6, 1999


A G E N D A


  9:30 - 10:15    Continental breakfast

 10:15 - 11:00    Professor Fred S. Roberts, Director - DIMACS,
                  "From Genes to Archaeological Digs and from Traffic
                  Lights to Childhood Development: The Many Applications
                  of Interval Graphs"

 12:00 -  1:00    Lunch

  1:00 -          Group Presentations



Fred S. Roberts

Director, DIMACS

"From Genes to Archaeological Digs and from Traffic Lights to Childhood Development: The Many Applications of Interval Graphs"

Abstract: The concept of interval graph was introduced by the Hungarian mathematician Hajos in connection with a scheduling problem and independently by the Nobel-prize-winning geneticist Seymour Benzer in connection with the problem of understanding the makeup of the fine structure inside the gene. Since then, this one simple idea has had applications in archaeology, develop mental psychology, utility theory in eceonomics, traffic light phasing, ecology, and many other areas, and has given rise to some fascinating mathematical theories and algorithms. This talk will introduce the concept of interval graph and describe a variety of its applications.