Connectionists: Biological Distributed Algorithms (BDA) 2017

[Saket Navlakha]

Updated: invited speakers, Q&A panel with program officers, and travel fellowships for students/post-docs.

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The 5th Workshop on Biological Distributed Algorithms (BDA 2017)
July 28, 2017 in Washington, DC, USA. Co-located with PODC 2017
http://www.snl.salk.edu/~navlakha/BDA2017/
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We are excited to announce the 5th workshop on Biological Distributed
Algorithms (BDA). The aim of the workshop is to foster collaborative research
between biologists and distributed computing theory researchers, with the hope
of producing better understanding of the behavior of distributed biological
systems, as well as new ideas for design of algorithms for engineered or
computational networks.

BDA 2017 will include presentations on distributed algorithms related to a
variety of biological systems, with special attention to communication and
coordination in insect colonies (e.g. foraging, navigation, task allocation,
construction) and networks in the brain (e.g. learning, decision-making,
attention).

This is a one-day workshop.


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SUBMISSIONS
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We solicit submissions of extended abstracts describing recent results
relevant to biological distributed computing. We especially welcome extended
abstracts describing new insights and / or case studies regarding the
relationship between distributed computing and biological systems even if
these are not fully formed. Since a major goal of the workshop is to explore
new directions and approaches, we especially encourage the submission of
ongoing work. Selected contributors would be asked to present, discuss and
defend their work at the workshop. By default, the submissions will be
evaluated for either oral or poster presentation, though authors may indicate
in their submission if it should be only considered for one of the
presentation types. Submissions should be in PDF and include title, author
information, and a 4-page extended abstract. Shorter submissions are also
welcome, particularly for poster presentation.


Please use the following EasyChair submission link:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=bda17


Note: The workshop will not include published proceedings. In particular, we
welcome submissions of extended abstracts describing work that has appeared or
is expected to appear in other venues.


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Support for students and postdocs
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To encourage the participation of researchers at the early stages of their career, we will provide financial support for student and postdoc participants. Specifically, for each accepted (oral or poster) presentation, we will reimburse the registration fee and at least $100 of additional travel expenses (the exact amount will be determined later on but it is expected to be higher) of one student/postdoc author.


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IMPORTANT DATES
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May 5, 2017 – Extended abstract submission deadline (23:59 Honolulu time)
May 28, 2017 – Decision notifications
July 28, 2017 – Workshop


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INVITED SPEAKERS [more coming]
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Timothy Horiuchi (University of Maryland)
Srinivas Turaga (Janelia Research Campus)
Zeeshan Rasheed/Khurram Hassan-Shafique (Novateur Research Solutions)

The workshop will also include talks and a Q&A panel with program officers from various granting agencies, including NSF and ONR, that will discuss funding opportunities for BDA-related research.


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PROGRAM COMMITTEE
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Ziv Bar-Joseph - CMU
Anna Dornhaus - University of Arizona
Yuval Emek - Technion (co-chair)
Amos Korman - CNRS and University of Paris Diderot
Nancy Lynch - MIT
Melanie Moses, University of New Mexico
Saket Navlakha - Salk Institute (co-chair)
Merav Parter, MIT
Andrea Richa, Arizona State University
Nir Shavit, MIT