Aim and Scope: This edition will mark the 20-th birthday of the Lipari Summer Schools. The second edition, back in 1990, was dedicated to Algorithms and Complexity. In celebrating the achievement of mark-20, the topic goes back to Algorithms, Complexity as well as Engineering aspects of it, enriched by challenges coming from outside, like Economics and the Life Sciences. Since 1990, a few things have changed: Even NP got a new definition!!!

Courses

First week (July 14 - July 18)

Lecture Series One
“Experimental Methods for Algorithm Analysis”
Catherine McGeoch, Amherst College, USA

Lecture Series Two
“The Science behind LEDA and CGAL”
Kurth Melhorn, Max Plank Institute, Saarbrucken, Germany

Lecture Series Three
“Design and Engineering of String Algorithms”
Giovanni Manzini, University of Piemonte Orientale, Italy

Lecture Series Four
“On-line algorithms”
Susanne Albers, University of Freiburg, Germany

Lecture Series Five
“Cryptographic Game theory”
Silvio Micali, MIT, USA

Second week (July 21 - July 25)

Lecture Series Six
“Dynamic Graph Algorithms”
Giuseppe F. Italiano, University of Rome II, Tor Vergata, Italy

Lecture Series Seven
“Comparative Sequence Analysis in Molecular Biology”
Martin Tompa, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Lecture Series Eight
“Assessing Algorithmic Performance-The CASP (Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction) Experience”
Anna Tramontano, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy, and Istituto Pasteur Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Rome, Italy

Lecture Series Nine
“Hard Combinatorial Problems: Theory”
Luca Trevisan, UC Berkeley, USA

Lecture Series Ten
“Hard Combinatorial Problems: Engineering”
Cliff Stein, Columbia University in the City of New York, USA

Participants will be arranged in a comfortable hotel at very special rates. The conference room (in the same hotel) is air-conditioned and equipped with all conference materials. Special areas are reserved to students for the afternoon coursework and study. The island of Lipari can be easily reached from Milazzo, Palermo, Naples, Messina and Reggio Calabria by ferry or hydrofoil (50 minutes from Milazzo).
Two kinds of participants are welcome. Students: Participants who are expected to do afternoon courseworks and take a final exam. Auditors: Participants who are not interested in taking the final exam.
Up to 60 students and a limited number of additional auditors will be admitted.
Registration fee is 650 Euros all inclusive of: course material (memory stick), bus + hydrofoil Catania airport-Lipari-Catania airport, 2 social tours (Salina and Panarea) and the social dinner on the beach of Vulcano. Late registration is 750 Euros.
Deadline for application is March 31, 2008. Applicants must include a short curriculum vitae and specify two professors whom letters of recommendation will be asked to, if deemed necessary. Applicants will be notified about admission by April 15, 2008.
The official language is English.

Directors

Prof. Alfredo Ferro, (University of Catania), Co-Chair
Prof. Raffaele Giancarlo, (University of Palermo), Co-Chair
While electronic application is the preferred mean, applications by mail to the following address will also be accepted:

School Director:

Prof. Alfredo Ferro
Università degli Studi di Catania - Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica
Città Universitaria - Viale A.Doria, 6 - 95125 Catania - ITALY
Tel: +39 095 7383071
Fax: +39 095 7337032 / +39 095 330094
E-mail: ferro [at] dmi [dot] unict [dot] it