ICES98: Second Call for Papers

[Moshe Sipper]

                         Second Call for Papers

          +-------------------------------------------------------+
          | Second International Conference on Evolvable Systems: |
          |          From Biology to Hardware (ICES98)            |
          +-------------------------------------------------------+

          The 1998 International EPFL-Latsis Foundation Conference

        Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland
                           September 23-26, 1998


                     +-------------------------------+
                     | http://lslwww.epfl.ch/ices98/ |
                     +-------------------------------+


                            In Cooperation With:
                        IEEE Neural Networks Council
   EvoNet - The European Network of Excellence in Evolutionary Computing
          Societe Suisse des Informaticiens, Section Romande (SISR)
                    Societe des Informaticiens (SI)
        Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA (CSEM)
              Swiss Foundation for Research in Microtechnology
 Schweizerische Gesellschaft fur Nanowissenschaften und Nanotechnik (SGNT)



The idea of evolving machines, whose origins can be traced to the
cybernetics movement of the 1940s and the 1950s, has recently resurged in
the form of the nascent field of bio-inspired systems and evolvable
hardware. The inaugural workshop, Towards Evolvable Hardware, took place in
Lausanne in October 1995, followed by the First International Conference on
Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Hardware (ICES96), held in Japan in
October 1996. 

Following the success of these past events, ICES98 will reunite this
burgeoning community, presenting the latest developments in the field,
bringing together researchers who use biologically inspired concepts to
implement real systems in artificial intelligence, artificial life,
robotics, VLSI design, and related domains. Topics to be covered will
include, but not be limited to, the following list:

   * Evolving hardware systems.
   * Evolutionary hardware design methodologies.
   * Evolutionary design of electronic circuits.
   * Self-replicating hardware.
   * Self-repairing hardware.
   * Embryonic hardware.
   * Neural hardware.
   * Adaptive hardware platforms.
   * Autonomous robots.
   * Evolutionary robotics.
   * Bio-robotics.
   * Applications of nanotechnology.
   * Biological- and chemical-based systems.
   * DNA computing.

o General Chair: Daniel Mange, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Lausanne

o Program Chair: Moshe Sipper, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Lausanne

o International Steering Committee

   * Tetsuya Higuchi, Electrotechnical Laboratory (Japan)
   * Hiroaki Kitano, Sony Computer Science Laboratory (Japan)
   * Daniel Mange, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * Moshe Sipper, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * Andres Perez-Uribe, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)

o Conference Secretariat
     Andres Perez-Uribe, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Lausanne
     Inquiries: Andres.Perez at di.epfl.ch, 
                Tel.: +41-21-6932652, Fax: +41-21-6933705.

o Important Dates

   * March 1, 1998: Submission deadline.
   * May 1, 1998: Notification of acceptance.
   * June 1, 1998: Camera-ready due.
   * September 23-26, 1998: Conference dates.

o Publisher: Springer-Verlag       Official Language: English

o Submission Procedure

     Papers should not be longer than 10 pages (including figures and
     bibliography) in the Springer-Verlag llncs style (see Web page for
     complete instructions). Authors must submit five (5) complete
     copies of their paper (hardcopy only), received by March 1st, 1998, to
     the Program Chairman:
           Moshe Sipper - ICES98 Program Chair
           Logic Systems Laboratory
           Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
           CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

o The Self-Replication Contest

   * When: The self-replication contest will be held during the ICES98
     conference.
   * Object: Demonstrate a self-replicating machine, implemented in some
     physical medium, e.g., mechanical, chemical, electronic, etc.
   * Important: The machine must be demonstrated AT THE CONFERENCE site.
     Paper submissions will not be considered.
   * Participation: The contest is open to all conference attendees (at
     least one member of any participating team must be a registered
     attendee).
   * Prize:
        + The most original design will be awarded a prize of $1000 (one
          thousand dollars).
        + The judgment shall be made by a special contest committee.
        + The committee's decision is final and incontestable.
   * WWW: Potential participants are advised to consult the self-replication
     page: http://lslwww.epfl.ch/~moshes/selfrep/
   * If you intend to participate please inform the conference secretary
     Andres.Perez at di.epfl.ch.

o Best-Paper Awards

   * Among the papers presented at ICES98, two will be chosen by a special
     committee and awarded, respectively, the best paper award and the best
     student paper award.
   * The committee's decision is final and incontestable.
   * All papers are eligible for the best paper award. To be eligible for
     the best student paper award, the first coauthor must be a full-time
     student.

o Invited Speakers

   * Dr. David B. Fogel, Natural Selection, Inc. Editor-in-Chief, IEEE
     Transactions on Evolutionary Computation
   * Prof. Lewis Wolpert, University College London

o Tutorials

     Four tutorials, delivered by experts in the field, will take place on
     Wednesday, September 23, 1998 (contingent upon a sufficient number of
     registrants).
        * "An Introduction to Molecular and DNA Computing," Prof. Max H.
          Garzon, University of Memphis
        * "An Introduction to Nanotechnology," Dr. James K. Gimzewski, IBM
          Zurich Research Laboratory
        * "Configurable Computing," Dr. Tetsuya Higuchi, Electrotechnical
          Laboratory
        * "An Introduction to Evolutionary Computation," Dr. David B. Fogel,
          Natural Selection, Inc.

o Program

   * To be posted around May-June, 1998.

o Local arrangements

   * See Web page.

o Program Committee

   * Hojjat Adeli, Ohio State University (USA)
   * Igor Aleksander, Imperial College (UK)
   * David Andre, Stanford University (USA)
   * William W. Armstrong, University of Alberta (Canada)
   * Forrest H. Bennett III, Stanford University (USA)
   * Joan Cabestany, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (Spain)
   * Leon O. Chua, University of California at Berkeley (USA)
   * Russell J. Deaton, University of Memphis (USA)
   * Boi Faltings, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * Dario Floreano, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * Terry Fogarty, Napier University (UK)
   * David B. Fogel, Natural Selection, Inc. (USA)
   * Hugo de Garis, ATR Human Information Processing Laboratories (Japan)
   * Max H. Garzon, University of Memphis (USA)
   * Erol Gelenbe, Duke University (USA)
   * Wulfram Gerstner, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * Reiner W. Hartenstein, University of Kaiserslautern (Germany)
   * Inman Harvey, University of Sussex (UK)
   * Hitoshi Hemmi, NTT Human Interface Labs (Japan)
   * Jean-Claude Heudin, Pole Universitaire Leonard de Vinci (France)
   * Lishan Kang, Wuhan University (China)
   * John R. Koza, Stanford University (USA)
   * Pier L. Luisi, ETH Zentrum (Switzerland)
   * Bernard Manderick, Free University Brussels (Belgium)
   * Pierre Marchal, Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA
     (Switzerland)
   * Juan J. Merelo, Universidad de Granada (Spain)
   * Julian Miller, Napier University (UK)
   * Francesco Mondada, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * J. Manuel Moreno, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (Spain)
   * Pascal Nussbaum, Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA
     (Switzerland)
   * Christian Piguet Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA
     (Switzerland)
   * James Reggia, University of Maryland at College Park (USA)
   * Eytan Ruppin, Tel Aviv University (Israel)
   * Eduardo Sanchez, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * Andre Stauffer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * Luc Steels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
   * Daniel Thalmann, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
   * Adrian Thompson, University of Sussex (UK)
   * Marco Tomassini, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
   * Goran Wendin, Chalmers University of Technology and Goeteborg University
     (Sweden)
   * Lewis Wolpert, University College London (UK)
   * Xin Yao, Australian Defense Force Academy (Australia)