July 2021 - Categories - categories.org.au

Re: "First" use of 'Category theory' to describe our field
by David Roberts 24 Feb '24

24 Feb '24

Dear Ross, no, that's pretty good! It's mildly surprising that it took ~20 years for the name to 'stick', but maybe less so given that the field grew slowly to start. Thanks, David David Roberts Webpage: https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/David+Roberts Blog: https://thehighergeometer.wordpress.com On Thu, 11 Jul 2019 at 08:21, Ross Street <ross.street(a)mq.edu.au> wrote: > > Dear David > > From memory, the Pure Mathematics Honours (USyd) course that Max Kelly taught in 1965 > was called ``Category Theory''. It concentrated on different kinds of morphisms > and factorizations in a category, and finished with adjoint functors. > Also John Gray's (UIllinois) 1968-69 graduate course had that name. > > From Eilenberg I heard that each person using categories should have their own category of expertise. > I told this to John Gray who said that was fine; the time had come for that category to be Cat. > > I would suggest that the first category theorists to think of themselves as such were Eilenberg's students at Columbia. > However, Mac Lane was definitely a category theorist. > > This is probably not the verifiable stuff you were seeking. > > Ross > > > On 10 Jul 2019, at 10:01 PM, David Roberts <droberts.65537(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi all, > > the (idle) question is: when did the phrase 'category theory' catch on > for the field? Clearly it didn't leap from either of the heads of > Eilenberg or Mac Lane full-grown, since they used the phrase 'General > theory of natural equivalences'. There are the old 'Reports of the > Midwest Category Seminar' lecture notes (the first in 1967), which > hints that 'category theory' wasn't quite the name in use. > > Even more interesting: who was the first "category theorist", by that name? > > Answers referring to verifiable sources would be best. > > Thoughts? > > David > > > > David Roberts > Webpage: https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/David+Roberts > Blog: https://thehighergeometer.wordpress.com > [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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PhD position on coalgebra and semantics at Radboud University
by Jurriaan Rot 29 Jul '21

29 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. There is a 4-year PhD position in theoretical computer science available at Radboud University. Project: As a PhD candidate on this project, you will conduct research at the intersection of semantics, category theory and coalgebra. Coalgebra is an elegant mathematical theory of state-based systems (transition systems, various kinds of automata, probabilistic models), based on category theory. In this context, distributive laws capture the interaction between coalgebra and algebra, and have shown to be very useful as a general way of modelling programming language semantics, as well as automata constructions and powerful co-inductive proof techniques. The aim of the project is to investigate distributive laws in their own right, and build a toolkit for constructing, combining and analysing them. You can build on several existing approaches, but will have plenty of freedom to define your own direction and focus. If you wish to learn more about the project, don't hesitate to get in touch via jrot(a)cs.ru.nl We ask: • You hold an MSc or equivalent degree in computer science, mathematics or a closely related field. • You are able to work both independently and as part of a team. • You are proficient in English. (Dutch is not required.) • Prior knowledge of coalgebra is not required; basic knowledge of category theory will be helpful. Most important is that you are excited about abstract structures in theoretical computer science. Application deadline: 10 September 2021. Starting date: flexible, but 1 January 2022 the latest. Application and further info: https://www.ru.nl/english/working-at/vacature/details-vacature/?recid=11619… All the best, Jurriaan [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Nico Pumplün
by Walter P Tholen 22 Jul '21

22 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. Many readers of this list will remember Dieter („Nico“) Pumplün. He passed away yesterday (July 20, 2021) at the age of 88. Nico received his doctoral degree in 1960 at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Germany, with a thesis in algebraic number theory, written under the direction of Hans Petersson. He turned his attention to category theory during a stay in the U.S. and was an early promoter of the theory in Germany in the 1960s. Later on, he became particularly interested in the applications of category theory to analysis, as evidenced by his extensive collaborative work with Helmut Röhrl and Diethard Pallaschke. Among many others, he also collaborated with his friend Heinrich Kleisli. Nico served his institutions in various important administrative positions, first at the WWU and then at Fernuniversität in Hagen, a newly founded university specializing in distance education, where in 1975 he had assumed the inaugural professorial position in mathematics. He was instrumental in establishing the mathematics curriculum at Fernuniversität, and his enthusiasm for research and the education of his graduate students were extraordinary and very inspiring. Nico very much mourned the death of his wife Hannelore a few years ago. His two daughters, Susanne and Constanze, are both professional mathematicians, and there is a prospect that some of his four grandsons will follow a similar career path. I will miss a teacher, mentor and life-long friend. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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CT20->21 Fourth Announcement
by unipa 20 Jul '21

20 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. CT20->21 Fourth Announcement This is the fourth announcement for the Category Theory Meeting, Genoa (Italy) and online, 30 August to 4 September 2021. Deadline for registration has been extended: both online and onsite participants are required to register before 20th August. The list of confirmed speakers is now available on the conference website: https://sites.google.com/view/ct2021/speakers The current situation of the pandemic in Italy allows us to confirm the event in its hybrid form. Here follows a brief description of how the hybrid form will be implemented. The conference will be held at DiMa, the Department of Mathematics at the University of Genoa. There are two large lecture rooms available, where it will be possible to attend talks. For safety reasons, in order to ensure safe distancing, the number of onsite participants is strictly limited to 99 people; please consider that registration for onsite attendance is handled on a first-come-first-served basis. As of now, many presentations will be delivered from one of the lecture rooms in Genoa and broadcast online, but a number of others will be delivered online from the speakers locations. Large screens, loudspeakers and wireless microphones in the lecture rooms will make possible the interaction between the speaker and both online and onsite participants. Unfortunately, due to the strict measures to contrast the pandemic, we cannot handle parallel sessions. Therefore, some of the talks will be pre-recorded and made available to participants. Live Q&A sessions will be organized in order to allow discussion with the authors of such presentations. There will be 50 live talks and 29 recorded ones. As we already stressed in our last announcement, despite the high level of uncertainty determined by the pandemic worldwide, we strongly believe that the scientific communities must commit themselves to relaunch research activities with physical meetings whenever possible. And we need the collaboration of the whole community to make it work. We thank you all for the support. For specific queries, please write to info.ct2021(a)gmail.com. Best regards, ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Sandra Mantovani, Giuseppe Metere, Eugenio Moggi, Andrea Montoli, Giuseppe Rosolini (chair) .ƸӜƷ.•°*”˜˜”*°•.ƸӜƷ.•°*”˜˜”*°•.ƸӜƷ.•°*”˜˜”*°•.ƸӜƷ. Giuseppe Metere, PhD Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica Università degli Studi di Palermo [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Postdoctoral position at Masaryk University
by bourkej 19 Jul '21

19 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. Dear all, The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Masaryk University invites applications for the following postdoctoral position in category theory https://www.muni.cz/en/about-us/careers/vacancies/64237 The deadline for applications is 31.08.2021. If you have any queries, feel free to send an email to bourkej(a)math.muni.cz. Another possibility for researchers whose Phd has been approved by October 12th are the Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdocs https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/postdoctoral-fellow… Anyone interested in applying for one of these with our group should get in touch with me asap. Best regards, John Bourke. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Re: Invitation: GReTA online seminar, July 16 at 15:00 CEST
by Heckel, Reiko (Prof.) 14 Jul '21

14 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. Dear colleagues, It is our great pleasure to invite you to the next seminar of the “GReTA - Graph Transformation Theory and Applications” series: Friday, July 16, 15:00 CET “Picturing Quantum Software”, A. Kissinger (abstract, Zoom and YouTube links attached below) The GReTA seminar series aims to serve as a platform for the international graph rewriting community, to promote recent developments and trends in the field, and to permit a regular networking and interaction between members of this community. Seminars are scheduled twice a month (cf. https://www.irif.fr/~greta/#talks<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irif.…> for a list of upcoming events). With best regards, Nicolas Behr, Jean Krivine and Reiko Heckel (GReTA organisers) ___________________________________________________ Date and time: Friday, July 16, 15:00 CET Title: Picturing Quantum Software Speaker: Aleks Kissinger (Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, UK) Abstract: Quantum circuits give a de facto "assembly language" for quantum computation. Hence, the design, optimisation, and verification of quantum circuits is an important task in developing efficient, correct software to run on quantum computers. In this talk, I will survey some of the latest developments in applying the ZX-calculus - a graphical theory of interacting quantum processes - to three important problems in quantum software: the optimisation of quantum circuits, functional verification of circuits, and development of heuristics for efficient classical simulation. Zoom registration link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUqce-hqz4vGtcHtQLLAVxbYgeHG8lnaFNN<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fzoom.us%2…> Link to YouTube live stream: https://youtu.be/G8uTHBMV918<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%…> ___________________________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GReTA - Graph TRansformation Theory and Applications International Online Seminar Series --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Publication of Volume LXII-3 of the Cahiers
by Andrée Ehresmann 12 Jul '21

12 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. Dear colleagues, We are pleased to inform you that Volume LXII-3 (3rd quarter 2021) of the Cahiers is now freely downloadable from the website of the Cahiers: http://cahierstgdc.com both as a whole issue and as separate articles. Best regards, Andree Ehresmann, Marino Gran and Rene Guitart [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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ETAPS 2022 1st joint call for papers
by Tarmo Uustalu 10 Jul '21

10 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. Why choose ETAPS? - ETAPS is one of the world's leading fora for research on software science, with a history of more than 25 years. - ESOP, FoSSaCS, TACAS are CORE 2021 rank A conferences. - The proceedings of ETAPS appear in gold open access, with no article processing charge for the authors specifically. - ETAPS has low participation fees for all and for students in particular. New in 2022: - Like FASE for several years already, ESOP will also use double-blind review this time. - FASE has a new paper category of new ideas and emerging results (NIER) papers. - The pre-paper-acceptance artifact submission deadline for TACAS is now a little later than the paper submission deadline. - ESOP and FASE welcome voluntary submission of artifacts for evaluation after paper acceptance; the outcome will not change the paper acceptance decision. - Among the satellite events, there is a PhD student mentoring workshop. ****************************************************************** JOINT CALL FOR PAPERS 25th European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software ETAPS 2022 Munich, Germany, 2-7 April 2022 https://etaps.org/2022 ****************************************************************** -- ABOUT ETAPS -- ETAPS is the primary European forum for academic and industrial researchers working on topics relating to software science. ETAPS, established in 1998, is a confederation of four annual conferences, accompanied by satellite workshops. ETAPS 2022 is the twenty-fifth event in the series. -- MAIN CONFERENCES (4-7 April) -- * ESOP: European Symposium on Programming (PC chair: Ilya Sergey, Yale-NUS College and National University of Singapore, Singapore) * FASE: Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering (PC chairs:Einar Broch Johnsen, University of Oslo, Norway, and Manuel Wimmer, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria) * FoSSaCS: Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures (PC chairs: Patricia Bouyer, CNRS, LMF, France, and Lutz Schröder, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany) * TACAS: Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems (PC chairs: Dana Fisman, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and Grigore Rosu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) TACAS '22 will host the 11th Competition on Software Verification (SV-COMP). -- INVITED SPEAKERS -- * Unifying speakers: Alexandra Silva (University College London, UK / Cornell University, USA) Tomáš Vojnar (Brno University of Technology, Czechia) * FoSSaCS invited speaker: Nathalie Bertrand (Inria Rennes, France) * TACAS invited speaker: TBA * Tutorial speakers: TBA -- IMPORTANT DATES * Paper submission: 14 October 2021 23:59 AoE * Pre-paper-acceptance artifact submission (TACAS): 4 November 2021 23:59 AoE * Rebuttal (ESOP, FoSSaCS and, partially, TACAS): 7 December 00:01 AoE - 9 December 2021 23:59 AoE * Paper notification: 23 December 2021 * Post-paper-acceptance artifact submission (ESOP, FASE, TACAS): 5 January 2022 23:59 AoE * Paper final versions: 26 January 2022 * Artifact notification: 16 February 2022 -- SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS -- The four main conferences of ETAPS 2022 solicit contributions of the following types. All page limits are given **excluding the bibliography**. * ESOP: regular research papers of max 25 pp * FASE: regular research papers and empirical evaluation papers of max 18 pp, new ideas and emerging results (NIER) papers of max 8 pp, tool demonstration papers of max 6 pp (+ mandatory appendix of max 6 pp), * FoSSaCS: regular research papers of max 18 pp * TACAS: regular research papers, case study papers and regular tool papers of max 16 pp, tool demonstration papers of max 6 pp For definitions of the different paper types and specific instructions, where they are present, see the webpages of the individual conferences. All accepted papers will appear in the proceedings and have presentations during the conference. A condition of submission is that, if the submission is accepted, one of the authors attends the conference to give the presentation. We plan ETAPS 2022 as a hybrid conference; remote attendance and presentation will be possible. Submitted papers must be in English presenting original research. They must be unpublished and not submitted for publication elsewhere. In particular, simultaneous submission of the same contribution to multiple ETAPS conferences is also forbidden. Submissions must follow the formatting guidelines of Springer's LNCS (use the llncs.cls class) and be submitted electronically in pdf through the Easychair author interface of the respective conference. Submissions not adhering to the specified format and length may be rejected immediately. ESOP and FASE will use **double-blind reviewing**. Authors are asked to omit their names and institutions; refer to prior work in the third person, just as prior work by others; not to include acknowledgements that might identify them. ESOP and FoSSaCS will use an **author rebuttal phase**. TACAS will use rebuttal for selected submissions (those in the gray zone). Artifact submission and evaluation Regular tool paper and tool demonstration paper submissions to TACAS must be accompanied by an artifact submitted shortly after the paper. The artifact will be evaluated and the outcome will be taken into account in the acceptance decision of the paper. For research paper and case study paper submissions, pre-paper-acceptance submission of an artifact is optional; if an artifact is submitted at this point, it will be handled like described above. Alternatively, authors of papers of these categories may submit an artifact for evaluation after the paper has been accepted. The outcome of the artifact evaluation will then not change the paper acceptance decision. ESOP and FASE will also have artifact evaluation, but participation in it is voluntary; the artifact submission deadline is after the paper notification deadline. The outcome will not alter the paper acceptance decision. For specific instructions regarding artifacts, see the webpages of the individual conferences. -- PUBLICATION The proceedings will be published in the Advanced Research in Computing and Software Science (ARCoSS) subline of Springer's LNCS series. The proceedings volumes will appear in gold open access, so the published versions of all papers will be available for everyone to download from the publisher's website freely, from the date of online publication, perpetually. The copyright of the papers will remain with the authors. -- BEST PAPER AWARDS The strongest papers of the four conferences will be nominated for the ETAPS best paper awards of EAPLS, EASST and EATCS. The ETAPS test of time award recognizes outstanding papers published at ETAPS more than 10 years in the past. -- SATELLITE EVENTS (2-3 April) -- A number of satellite workshops and other events will take place before the main conferences. In particular, there will be a PhD student mentoring workshop organized by Caterina Urban, Wolfgang Ahrendt and Gidon Ernst. -- CITY AND HOST INSTITUTION -- Munich, Germany, is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria. Nowadays, the city is a global center of art, science, technology, finance, publishing, culture, innovation, education, business, and tourism. It is home to Ludwig Maximilian's University (LMU) and Technische Universität München (TUM), many scientific institutions, and world-class technology and science museums such as Deutsches Museum and BMW Museum. Iconic places to visit in Munich include the Munich Residenz, Marienplatz, the Old Town Hall, the famous Glockenspiel on the New Town Hall, the Frauenkirche, the English Garden, the Olympic Park and Nymphenburg Palace. The conference will be hosted by Technische Universität München. -- ORGANIZERS -- General chair: Jan Křetínský (Technische Universität München, Germany) Workshops chair: Dirk Beyer (Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Germany) [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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***SPAM?*** categories: polynomials and dynamical systems mini-course
by David Spivak 09 Jul '21

09 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. Dear category theorists, Starting next week, Topos Institute will be running a 13-lecture mini-course on polynomial functors and their applications to interacting dynamical systems, decisions, and data. Details are below. Best regards, David ======= Announcement ======= Polynomial Functors: A General Theory of Interaction Summary: The category of polynomial functors is a fascinating setting, brimming with rich mathematics and tantalizing applications. In this course, we will investigate these polynomials, with emphasis on their applications to dynamical systems, decisions, and data. We aim to strike a balance between a solid theoretical foundation and a breadth of examples. This class may be attended in-person at the Topos Institute Berkeley campus or remotely on YouTube; either way, instructions for attendance can be found on the website. The website also contains a full schedule of the material we'll cover. Website: https://topos.site/poly-course/ Dates: Mondays & Thursdays, July 15 to August 26 (13 lectures) Time: 4-5pm PDT (post-class discussion 5-5:30pm PDT) Instructors: Nelson Niu and David Spivak Book: Polynomial Functors: A General Theory of Interaction https://github.com/ToposInstitute/poly/blob/main/Book-Poly.pdf a work-in-progress! (Feedback on the book is welcome and may be shared here: https://tinyurl.com/3kb6w5ae) Class discussions will likely inform how we present this content within the book in the future. We hope to see you there! ======= [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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CALL FOR PARTICIPATION -- APPLIED CATEGORY THEORY 2021, CAMBRIDGE UK, JULY 12-16 -- HYBRID CONFERENCE
by Nick Hu 09 Jul '21

09 Jul '21

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Fourth Annual International Conference on Applied Category Theory (ACT 2021) 12 - 16 July, 2021, Cambridge, United Kingdom (and online), 09:00-17:30 BST Webpage: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/events/act2021 Registration for online participation: https://forms.gle/KENNAbk6iLwqJ7i36 * * * The Fourth International Conference on Applied Category Theory will take place at the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge on 12-16 July, 2021, preceded by the Adjoint School 2021 on 5-9 July. This conference follows previous events at MIT, Oxford and Leiden. Applied category theory is a topic of interest for a growing community of researchers, interested in studying many different kinds of systems using category-theoretic tools. These systems are found across computer science, mathematics, and physics, as well as in social science, linguistics, cognition, and neuroscience. The background and experience of our members is as varied as the systems being studied. The goal of the Applied Category Theory conference series is to bring researchers together, disseminate the latest results, and facilitate further development of the field. For a full schedule of talks, please see https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/events/act2021/#programme. The conference will be run as a hybrid event, with physical attendees present in Cambridge, and other participants taking part online. Physical registration is now closed, but online registration is still available: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/events/act2021/#registration. ** PROGRAMME COMMITTEE ** Chair: - Kohei Kishida, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Members: - Richard Blute, University of Ottawa - Spencer Breiner, NIST - Daniel Cicala, University of New Haven - Robin Cockett, University of Calgary - Bob Coecke, Cambridge Quantum Computing - Geoffrey Cruttwell, Mount Allison University - Valeria de Paiva, Samsung Research America and University of Birmingham - Brendan Fong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Jonas Frey, Carnegie Mellon University - Tobias Fritz, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics - Fabrizio Romano Genovese, Statebox - Helle Hvid Hansen, University of Groningen - Jules Hedges, University of Strathclyde - Chris Heunen, University of Edinburgh - Alex Hoffnung, Bridgewater - Martti Karvonen, University of Ottawa - Kohei Kishida, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (chair) - Martha Lewis, University of Bristol - Bert Lindenhovius, Johannes Kepler University Linz - Ben MacAdam, University of Calgary - Dan Marsden, University of Oxford - Jade Master, University of California, Riverside - Joe Moeller, NIST - Koko Muroya, Kyoto University - Simona Paoli, University of Leicester - Daniela Petrisan, Universit=C3=A9 de Paris, IRIF - Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh, University College London - Peter Selinger, Dalhousie University - Michael Shulman, University of San Diego - David Spivak, MIT and Topos Institute - Joshua Tan, University of Oxford - Dmitry Vagner - Jamie Vicary, University of Cambridge - John van de Wetering, Radboud University Nijmegen - Vladimir Zamdzhiev, Inria, LORIA, Universit?? de Lorraine - Maaike Zwart [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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