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Categories in Computer Science and Logic
June 14 - 20, 1987,
University of Colorado, Boulder
A Joint Summer Research Conference in the Mathematical Sciences, sponsored by
AMS-IMS-SIAM, and contingent on funding by the NSF.
Category theory has had important uses in logic since the invention of
topos theory sixteen years ago, and logic has always been an important
component of theoretical computer science. What is new is the increasing
direct interaction between category theory and computer science. The aim
of this conference is to bring together researchers who are working on the
interconnections between category theory and computer science or
between category theory and logic. The conference will emphasize how
the general machinery developed in category theory can be applied to
specific questions and utilized for category-theoretic studies of
concrete issues.
There is a kernel of topics relevant to all three fields. It includes, for
example, algebraic theories, Horn logic, lambda calculus, normal form
reductions, and categorical models for computability theory. Such topics
will be the central focus of the conference, but time will also be provided
for category-theoretic topics presently related either to logic or to
computer science. On the logic side, these include semantical (algebraic
or topos-theoretic) approaches to proof-theoretic questions, problems
concerning the internal properties of specific objects in (pre-) topoi and
their representations, and categorical sharpening of model-theoretic
notions. Category theory is useful in studying the proof theory and model
theory of various non-classical logics as well as classical first order
logic. At the base of many uses of topos theory is the fact that certain
involved mathematical objects (frequently described in terms of
equivariance or continuity in additional parameters) may be viewed as the
interpretation, in a suitable category, of objects of a simpler nature. On
the computer science side, it has recently been recognized that category
theory is appropriate for formalizing many aspects of computer
programming and program design. One reason for this is that in computer
science it is necessary to consider many different structures at the same
time. These structures must be viewed from different aspects and the
interactions between them are a central component of program design.
Category theory is specifically designed to deal with this kind of a
situation on an abstract level. Specific areas where active research is
going on include: semantics of programming languages, data type
specifications, categorical programming , and categorical logic.
The program will consist of invited lectures plus contributed talks that
will be arranged on the first day of the conference. The invited speakers
are
H. P. Barendregt M. Hyland
R. L. Constable J. Lambek
P. Freyd F. W. Lawvere
J.-Y. Girard A. Nerode
J. Goguen J. Reynolds
G. Huet
Organizing Committee:
A. Blass University of Michigan
J. W. Gray University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M. Makkai McGill University
A. Pitts University of Sussex
A. Scedrov University of Pennsylvania
D. Scott Carnegie-Mellon University
Those interested in attending should send the following information to Carole
Kohanski,
Summer Research Conference Coordinator
American Mathematical Society,
P.O. Gox 6248
Providence, RK 02940
Please type or print the following:
1. Title and dates of conference
2. Full name
3. Mailing address
4. Telephone number and area code for office and home.
5. Your scientific background relevant to the topic of the
conference
6. Financial assistance requested. Please estimate cost of travel.
7. Indicate if support is not required, and if interested in attending
even if support is not offered.
The deadline for receipt of applications in March 2, 1987.
For further information, see the October issue of the Notices of the
American Mathematical Society, p. 836. For information about the
scientific program, contact
John W. Gray
Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science
University of Illinois
1409 W. Green St.
Urbana, Il, 61801
Tel. (217) 333 1468
gray@a.cs.uiuc.edu