CALL FOR PAPERS - COLT 2005

[Ron Meir]

[Apologies to multiple recipients of this announcement ]

                    CALL FOR PAPERS

        The Eighteenth Annual Conference on Learning Theory
            Bertinoro, Italy, June 27-30, 2005
            http://learningtheory.org/colt2005

The Eighteenth Annual COLT (Conference on Learning Theory,
formerly Workshop on Computational Learning Theory) will be held
in Bertinoro, Italy, June 27-30, 2005

We invite submissions of papers addressing the theoretical
modeling and analysis of all aspects of learning and empirical
inference. We strongly support a broad definition of learning
theory, including:

* Analysis of learning algorithms and their generalization ability
* Computational complexity of learning
* Bayesian analysis
* Statistical mechanics of learning systems
* Optimization procedures for learning
* Inductive inference
* Boolean function learning
* Inductive logic programming
* Unsupervised and semi-supervised learning
* On-line learning and relative loss bounds
* Learning in planning and control (including reinforcement learning)
* Mathematical analysis of learning in related fields (e.g. game
  theory, neuroscience)

We welcome theoretical papers about learning that do not fit into
the above categories. We are particularly interested in papers
that include viewpoints that are new to the COLT community. While
the primary focus of the conference is theoretical, papers can be
strengthened by the inclusion of relevant experimental results. We
also welcome experimental and algorithmic papers provided they are
relevant to the focus of the conference by elucidating theoretical
results in learning.

All papers will appear in the proceedings, to be published in the
Springer Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence series. The
proceedings will appear both as a printed book and in a full-text
electronic version, thus we require electronic submissions. Papers
that have previously appeared in journals or at other conferences,
or that are being submitted to other conferences are not
appropriate for COLT.

PAPER FORMAT: Submissions should include the title, authors'
names, postal and email addresses, and a 200-word summary of the
paper suitable for the conference program. They should be no
longer than 15 pages using the Springer LNCS style file (see
http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html). Your paper should
include a clear definition of the theoretical model used and a
clear description of the results, as well as a discussion of their
significance, including comparison to other work. Submit papers
electronically in pdf or ps format (for details see conference
website).

While it is not expected that all full proofs can be included in
the paper, authors should strive to at least present partial
proofs which will enable the reviewers to understand the main
ideas and methods used. The paper should also attempt to be as
self-contained as possible.

OPEN PROBLEMS SESSION: We also invite submission of open problems
(see separate call). These should be constrained to two pages
using the same formatting as for the full papers. There is a
shorter reviewing period for the open problems. Accepted
contributions will be allocated short presentation slots in a
special open problems session and will be allowed two pages each
in the proceedings.

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Will become available in early
December at http://learningtheory.org/colt2005

PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS: Peter Auer (U of Leoben) and Ron Meir
(Technion)

PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Shai Ben-David (Waterloo), Avrim Blum (Carnegie
Mellon), Peter Bartlett (Berkeley), Nader Bshouty (Technion), Ran
El-Yaniv (Technion), Yoav Freund (Columbia), Ralf Herbrich
(Microsoft), Marcus Hutter (IDSIA), Tony Jebara (Columbia),
Vladimir Koltchinskii (New Mexico), Phil Long (Columbia), Gabor
Lugosi (Barcelona), Shie Mannor (McGill), Shahar Mendelson (ANU),
Massimiliano Pontil (University College), Daniel Reidenbach (U
Kaiserslautern), Dan Roth (U Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Michael
Schmitt (Ruhr University Bochum), Rocco Servedio (Columbia), Hans
Ulrich Simon (Ruhr University Bochum), Volodya Vovk (Royal
Holloway), Manfred Warmuth (UC Santa Cruz), Tong Zhang (IBM)

CONFERENCE AND LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS CHAIRS: Nicolo Cesa Bianchi
(Universita di Milano) and Claudio Gentile (Universita
dell’Insubria)

OPEN PROBLEMS CO-CHAIRS: Adam Klivans (Toyota Institute) and Rocco
Servedio (Columbia)

MARK FULK AWARD: This awards is for the best paper authored or
coauthored by a student. Eligible authors who wish to be
considered for this prize should indicate this on their
submission's title page.

INVITED SPEAKERS: Sergiu Hart (Hebrew University), Wulfram
Gerstner (EPFL), Satinder Singh (Michigan)