Convex Sets and their Applications

The main objective of this Workshop was to bring together in Banff eminent and emerging researchers from the three main branches of Convex Geometry: Discrete, Analytical and Applied. There has not been such a unifying conference in the past fifteen years. The organizers believe that this objective was met during the week of March 4 9. First, of the thirty-nine participants, one third represented the current group of emerging researchers in the field; furthermore, five of these thirteen participants were graduate students. Specifically, three (Langi, Naszodi and Papez) from the University of Calgary, one (Jimenez) from the University of Alberta, and one (Garcia-Colin) from the University College, London. Next, a common feature of many of the lectures was an expository component. This reflected the acknowledgement and approval of the participants of the unifying aspect of the Workshop. The prevailing intent of the lectures was to present the major problems and recent advances of their particular branch of Convexity. Of particular note were the expository lectures on the combinatorics of polytopes, the lectures introducing some of the current topics of interests in linear and convex optimization, and the lectures concerning the various measures associated with convex bodies. Finally, the consensus of the participants was that such a unifying convexity workshop was not only timely but also overdue. Their enthusiasm for the meeting is well evidenced by the full program of thirty six lectures, and by a very faithful attendance at these lectures. The smallest number of listeners at any lecture was thirty, and that number was attained only at the last lecture on Thursday.