Workshops on the Computational Worldview and the Sciences
Report on the two workshops

Workshop 1: Nassau Inn, Princeton NJ (link to workshop 2)

Overview
The National Science Foundation has provided funding for two workshops that aim to identify and pursue novel insights that may be obtained by applying a computational worldview to the Natural, Social and Mathematical Sciences (including but not limited to Biology, Neuroscience, Physics, Nanotechnology, Control Theory, Mathematics, Ecology, Economics). These workshops will be held in Princeton (Dec 11-12, 2006) and Pasadena (Mar 15-16, 2007).
Leading experts from various fields will be invited to make presentations and hold informal discussions to identify major research problems that may benefit from such an approach. The goal will be to not just identify areas of scientific computation where new algorithms are needed, but also instances where computational concepts play a role in understanding the underlying phenomena. The hope is to have a lively exchange of ideas in a multidisciplinary setting, possibly sparking new collaborations and research directions. This new research agenda will be described in a technical report to be submitted to NSF.

Monday December 11, 2006
8:45
Breakfast
9:10
Richard Karp (Berkeley): Welcoming remarks
9:15
Leslie Valiant (Harvard): Examples of computational models for neuroscience and evolution. Slides, Video
10:15
Peter Dayan (University College London): Computational neuromodulation. Slides, Video.
11:15
Coffee
11:30
Adam Arkin (Berkeley): Signaling, uncertainty and design of natural and artificial cellular networks. Video.
12:30
Lunch
1:30
Ned Seeman (NYU): DNA: not merely the secret of life. Slides 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Video.
2:30
Christina Smolke (Caltech): Engineering molecular control systems for programming biological systems. Video.
3:30
Coffee
4:00
Lou Gross (U. Tennessee): Synchrony, parallelism and multimodeling. Slides; Link 1; Link 2. Video.
5:00
Panel/Working Groups. Video.
6:00
End
7:00
Dinner at Mehek, Indian restaurant
Tuesday December 12, 2006
8:45
Breakfast
9:15
James Heath (Caltech): The current status and future opportunities for ultra-dense nanoelectronic circuitry. Video.
10:15
Phil Kuekes (HP Labs): Nanoscale self-assembly -- a computational view. Slides. Video.
11:15
Coffee
11:30
Terry Sejnowski (Salk Institute): In search of the brain's independent components. Slides. Video.
12:30
Lunch
1:30
Gill Bejerano (Stanford): Deciphering the human genome - computational insights & opportunities. Slides. Video.
2:30
Dannie Durand (CMU): Graphs, trees and the evolution of gene families. Slides. Video.
3:30
Coffee
4:00
David Botstein (Princeton): Metabolic homeostasis and growth rate control in yeast: a challenge for data analysis. Video.
5:00
Panel/Working Groups
6:00
End

Tentative list of participants

Dimitris Achlioptas (UC Santa Cruz), Adam Arkin (Berkeley), Sanjeev Arora (Princeton), Boaz Barak (Princeton), Gill Bejerano (Stanford), Avrim Blum (CMU), David Botstein (Princeton), Moses Charikar (Princeton), Bernard Chazelle (Princeton), Peter Dayan (University College London), Dannie Durand (CMU), Martin Farach (Rutgers), Mike Foster (NSF), Ashish Goel (Stanford), Michel Goemans (MIT), Lou Gross (Tennessee), James Heath (Caltech), Richard Karp (Berkeley), Phil Kuekes (HP Labs), Stanley Leibler (Rockefeller), Adi Livnat (Princeton), Elchanan Mossel (Berkeley), R. Ravi (CMU), Michael Saks (Rutgers), Rob Schapire (Princeton), Leonard Schulman (Caltech), Ned Seeman (NYU), Terry Sejnowski (Salk Institute), Rocco Servedio (Columbia), Alistair Sinclair (Berkeley), Mona Singh (Princeton), Christina Smolke (Caltech), William Steiger (NSF), Olga Troyanskaya (Princeton), Leslie Valiant (Harvard), Vijay Vazirani (Georgia Tech), Avi Wigderson (IAS), Angela Yu (Princeton), Wei Zhao (NSF), Manfred Zorn (NSF).

Travel information

The nearest airports are Newark (EWR) and Philadelphia (PHL), both about an hour away. (Other airports in the region are JFK and LGA, though getting to them involves navigating New York's congestion.) From PHL the best way to get to Princeton is probably a car rental (taxi is about $80-90 each way). From EWR you can take NJ Transit trains to Princeton Junction (look for signs to AIRTRAIN in the terminal for the shuttle train to the NJ transit station) and then take a taxi to downtown Princeton (total cost about $55-60 for the round trip). Princeton is also serviced by Amtrak. All Amtrak trains in the Boston <--> Washington corridor make a stop at Trenton, which is 20 min by taxi. Some trains also stop at Princeton Junction, which is much closer. Finally, the Nassau Inn has parking.
Princeton taxi companies: lots of names here. (To go to the airport, it is best to reserve one in advance.)
There are also two taxi stands near the Nassau Inn:
"A Local Taxi Cab", 188 Nassau St, Princeton, NJ 08542, (609) 924-7300
"Associated Taxi Stand", 80 Nassau St, Princeton, NJ 08542, (609) 924-1222
There's also a shuttle from PHL to the Nassau Inn.

Steering committee

David Haussler - UC Santa Cruz
Richard Karp - ICSI and UC Berkeley
Leslie Valiant - Harvard University
Avi Wigderson - Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Organizing committee

Sanjeev Arora - Princeton University
Avrim Blum - Carnegie Mellon University
Leonard Schulman - California Institute of Technology
Alistair Sinclair - UC Berkeley
Vijay Vazirani - Georgia Institute of Technology