Mathematical and Computational Sciences
Homepage

After a long and distinguished career, Dr. Christoph Witzgall retired from the Mathematical and Computational Sciences Division (MCSD) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland, in October, 2003. In honor of his many contributions to Operations Research, Optimization, and Numerical Analysis, MCSD is sponsoring a symposium on "Topics in Operations Research". It will be held at NIST on May 13, 2004 in Lecture Room B, Admin from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The featured speakers at the symposium will be Christoph Witzgall (NIST), Jack Edmonds (University of Waterloo), Saul Gass (University of Maryland), Alan Goldman (Johns Hopkins University), Karla Hoffman (George Mason University), Jim Lawrence (George Mason University), Doug Shier (Clemson University), Josef Stoer (Universitaet Wuerzburg), William Stone (NIST), Francis Sullivan (IDA CCS), and Paul Boggs (Sandia National Lab).

Attendance at the symposium is open to all with an interest in Operations Research and the career of Dr. Christoph Witzgall, subject only to space limitations. To make up proper name badges we will need to know names and affiliations of all symposium attendees by May 5, 2004. Names and affiliations can be submitted after May 5 but only stick-on name badges will be available. May 11, 2004 is the final day for submitting non-NIST attendee names, affiliations, and citizenship. This information will be provided to the NIST security force at the main gate visitor center. All non-NIST attendees will have to register at the security office at the main gate where you will pick up your name badge. You will have to provide a picture ID. Please identify yourself as an attendee to the symposium in honor of Dr. Witzgall. There will also be a dinner in the evening for Dr. Witzgall (see below). Those interested in attending the symposium should contact Dave Gilsinn as soon as possible. Please indicate whether you wish to attend the dinner.

8:00 - 8:30	Registration	Lecture Room B, Admin
8:30 - 8:40	Introduction	Dave Gilsinn
8:40 - 8:50	Welcome	Dr. Susan Zevin	Actg. Information Technology Lab Director
8:50 - 9:00	Welcome	Ron Boisvert	Division Chief, Mathematical and Computational Sciences Division
9:00 - 9:30	Lecture 1	Christoph Witzgall, Dave Gilsinn	Nonoscillatory Splines and Gauss-Seidel
9:30 - 10:00	Lecture 2	Karla Hoffman, Christine Villa	Solving the bandwidth packing problem by column generation
10:00 - 10:30	Break	Link initiated to Boulder teleconference room 4550
10:30 - 11:00	Lecture 3	Doug Shier	The Size Assortment Problem
11:00 - 11:30	Lecture 4	William Stone, Christoph Witzgall	Evaluation of Aerodynamic Drag and Torque for External Tanks in Low Earth Orbit
11:30 - 12:00	Lecture 5	Francis Sullivan, Isabel Beichl	Counting by Sampling
12:00 - 1:30	Lunch	(On your own)
1:30 - 2:00	Lecture 6	Paul Boggs	Rapid Source Location in Chemical/Biological Attacks
2:00 - 2:30	Lecture 7	Saul Gass	Encounters with Chris
2:30 - 3:00	Lecture 8	Jack Edmonds	If it's easy to recognize, and you know it's there, can it be hard to find?
3:00 - 3:30	Break
3:30 - 4:00	Lecture 9	Jim Lawrence	Counting, Geometrically
4:00 - 4:30	Lecture 10	Alan Goldman	Optimal facility-location
4:30 - 5:00	Lecture 11	Josef Stoer	Analysis of interior point paths
6:30 +	Dinner	The Flaming Pit Restaurant	Gaithersburg, Maryland

The symposium will be held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD, USA campus (This is the NIST located at 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899. See map; the main gate is on Route 117 at Bureau Drive). Visitors to NIST should bear right just beyond the main gate and proceed to the visitor center to obtain a badge. Note that you must be pre-registered for the meeting (see below) or you will not be allowed to enter. The technical program will take place in Lecture Room B of the Administration Building (101). From the main gate, take a left and follow the signs to Visitor Parking. The Administration Building is the tall building adjacent to the large visitor parking lot.

A dinner will be held in honor of Dr. Christoph Witzgall at 6:30 PM at the Flaming Pit Restaurant, 18701 N. Frederick Ave. (Route 355), Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20879 see map. The price will be $35 per person, which includes choice of entree, tossed salad, homemade bread and butter, vegetable du jour, baked potato, dessert, coffee, tea, soft drinks, tax, and gratuity. Pre-ordering of entree is not necessary. A cash bar will be available. Please feel free to bring a guest. The Flaming Pit Restaurant will need a final head count of all those attending the dinner by Wednesday, May 12, 2004. If you have not already done so please contact Dave Gilsinn with the number in your party.

Lodging is available at a local Holiday Inn where a limited block of rooms has been reserved from Wednesday May 12, 2004 through Friday May 14, 2004 for symposium attendees at a rate of $99 for singles and doubles. The rate does not include a 7% county tax and 5% state tax. Attendees desiring a room must call the Holiday Inn before April 28, 2004 at (301) 948-8900 and identify themselves as an attendee of the "NIST/Symposium in Honor of Chris Witzgall". The address of the Holiday Inn is

Holiday Inn Gaithersburg
2 Montgomery Village Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20879

(see map)

Documentation requirements for visitors from outside the US are in transition. Visitors from some countries not previously requiring visas will soon be required to have machine-readable passports. While this rule was originally planned to take effect on October 2003, its implementation has been deferred until October 2004. For details see information provided by the US State Department.

Washington is served by three airports:

Airport	Distance from NIST	Web page
Dulles International Airport (IAD)	33 miles	Link
Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI)	46 miles	Link
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)	28 miles	Link

Ground transportation options for getting from airports to Gaithersburg, MD include taxis (all airports, but expensive from Dulles and BWI), shuttle vans (Dulles and BWI), Metro (Reagan National), and rail (BWI). Details are provided on the airport web pages.

Driving directions from local airports can be found at directions to NIST from local airports

There is no formal registration for the symposium but we ask attendees to contact Dave Gilsinn by e-mail or by phone at (301) 975-3491, if they have not already. We have to arrange for visitor passes for non-NIST attendees to be available at the main gate visitor center. Again, a reminder that all non-NIST attendees must have some form of picture ID to obtain a visitor pass.

The workshop organizer is Dave Gilsinn of NIST. Please contact him directly if you have further questions regarding the symposium.

The symposium is sponsored by

• National Institute of Standards and Technology (Mathematical and Computational Sciences Division)