"We need people with math maturity"

The main topics in this workshop included Algebraic Complexity, Algebraic Methods in Algorithms, and Algebra in Coding Theory. The idea of the workshop was to get researchers using similar techniques in different areas to interact with each other and find inspiration in each other's work and/or common research goals to collaborate on.

The area of theoretical computer science has traditionally been the backbone of developments in many other practical areas of Computer Science. The last session on the first day was a panel discussion on “Future Trends in Theoretical Computer Science and its connection to other areas in Computer Science and Engineering”. The panel consisted of Johan Håstad (KTH), Shubhangi Saraf (University of Toronto, Canada), Amir Spilka (Tel Aviv University, Israel) and Madhu Sudan (Harvard University, USA). Håstad received the Gödel Prize in 1994 and 2011, and the Knuth Prize in 2018, and is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Madhu Sudan received the Nevalinna Prize (since called the IMU Abacus Medal) in 2002 and the Gödel Prize in 2001 and is a Fellow of the AMS and a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The panel was moderated by GENIE guest faculty Nutan Limaye (IT University, Copenhagen).

The atmosphere amongst the participants was cheerful and enthusiastic. They were united in their view of the  Beauty of Theory and although it is difficult to predict the future, theory will always be valuable and important for research. All panelists recognized the importance of maintaining the conversation with the outside world. Machine learning and AI came up, and it was not seen as a threatening specter, but something that was important to connect with. Venkat Guruswami from University of California, Berkeley commented from the audience that the vision of the workshop was shared by the Simons Institute, Berkeley, where he is affiliated as a senior scientist and that they are also keen on organizing events like this.

The panel discussion will be available on the Chalmers Youtube channel.

The workshop was made possible by generous funding from GENIE and ICT Area of Advance at Chalmers.