Professor Dalibor Froncek was the conference chair and explained, “Combinatorics investigates patterns and symmetries of mathematical objects. Its subfield graph theory and studies properties of all kinds of networks. It also helps with schedules of all types from classroom schedules to sports tournaments to flight schedules.”
Froncek is excited about this year’s lineup of speakers. He said, “Four of the five keynote presenters were female, so we’re being cognizant of the need to represent the contributions of women in mathematics and help inspire a typically underrepresented group to pursue this field.”
The five keynote speakers were: Steve Butler from Iowa State University in Iowa; Sylwia Cichacz from AGH Krakow in Poland; Melissa Keranen from Michigan Tech in Michigan; Jo Ellis-Monaghan from S. Michael’s College in Vermont; and Rinovia Simanjuntak from the Institut Teknologi Bandung in Indonesia.
This 32nd annual conference held October 5-7, was sponsored by The Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications and the organizers included UMD Math faculty members Richard Buckalew, Bryan Freyberg, Bethany Kubik and Aaron Shepanik. Many graduate and undergraduate students also helped with to make the conference a success.
For more details on the conference, go to: https://scse.d.umn.edu/mcccc