January 2022 - 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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DaLí 2022 - Call for Papers
by Carlos Areces 29 Jan '22

29 Jan '22

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. DaLí 2022 - Call for Papers http://dali2022.campus.ciencias.ulisboa.pt ***Important Dates*** - Abstract submission deadline: 03 May 2022 - Full paper submission deadline: 10 May 2022 - Author notifications: 15 June 2022 ************ ****Overview***** Dynamic logic (DL), a generalization of the logic of Floyd-Hoare introduced in the 70s by Pratt, is a well-known and particularly powerful way of combining propositions, for capturing static properties of program states, and structured actions, responsible for transitions from a state to another (and typically combined through a Kleene algebra to express sequential, non-deterministic, iterative behaviour of systems), into a formal framework to reason about, and verify, classic imperative programs. Over time Dynamic logic grew to encompass a family of logics increasingly popular in the verification of computational systems, and able to evolve and adapt to new, and complex validation challenges. In particular, the dynamic logic community is interested in the study of operators that can modify the structure in which they are being evaluated. Examples include dynamic logics tailored to specific programming problems or paradigms (e.g., separation logics to model the evolution of a program heap); languages to reason and represent evolving information (e.g., dynamic epistemic logics); and formalism that aim to model new computing domains, including probabilistic, continuous and quantum computation. Dynamic logic is not only theoretically relevant, but it also shows enormous practical potential and it is indeed a topic of interest in several scientific venues, from wide-scope software engineering conferences to modal logic specific events. That being said, DaLí is the only event exclusively dedicated to this topic. It is our aim to once again bring together in a single place the heterogeneous community of colleagues which share an interest in Dynamic logic - from Academia to Industry, from Mathematics to Computer Science, - to promote their works, to foster great discussions and new collaborations. Previous editions of DaLí took place in Brasília (2017) and Porto (2019), and an online edition (2020). ****List of Topics**** Submissions are invited on the general field of dynamic logic, its variants and applications, including, but not restricted to: - Dynamic logic, foundations and applications - Logics with regular modalities - Modal/temporal/epistemic logics - Kleene and action algebras and their variants - Quantum dynamic logic - Coalgebraic modal/dynamic logics - Graded and fuzzy dynamic logics - Dynamic logics for cyber-physical systems - Dynamic epistemic logic - Complexity and decidability of variants of dynamic logics and temporal logics - Model checking, model generation and theorem proving for dynamic logics ****Submission and Proceedings**** Submissions of original papers (unpublished and not submitted for publication elsewhere), up to 15 pages in LNCS style, are invited through https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dali2020 A post-proceedings volume and a special issue of a journal are planned. ****Invited Speakers**** TBA ****Program Committee Chairs**** Carlos Areces (FaMAF, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, AR) Diana Costa (LASIGE, FCUL, University of Lisbon, PT) ****Program Commitee**** Thomas Ågotnes (U. Bergen, NO) Natasha Alechina (Utrecht U., NL) Carlos Areces (U. Córdoba, AR) Philippe Balbiani (IRIT, FR) Serenella Cerrito (IBISC, U. Evry, U. Paris-Saclay, FR) Diana Costa (U. Lisbon, PT) Giovanna D'Agostino (U. Udine, IT) Stéphane Demri (CNRS, FR) Hans van Ditmarsch (Open University, NL) Raul Fervari (U. Córdoba, AR) Sabine Frittella (LIFO, FR) Nina Gierasimczuk (TU Denmark, DK) Rajeev Gore (Vienna U. of Technology, AU and Polish A. of Science, PO) Reiner Hähnle (TU Darmstadt, DE) Rolf Hennicker (LMU Munich, DE) Sophia Knight (U. Minnesota, USA) Clemens Kupke (U. Strathclyde, UK) Stepan Kuznetsov (Steklov Mathematical Institute, RU) Alexandre Madeira (U. Aveiro, PT) Sonia Marin (U. Birmingham, UK) Manuel Martins (U. Aveiro, PT) Larry Moss (Indiana University Bloomington, USA) Cláudia Nalon (U. Brasília, BR) Nicola Olivetti (Aix-Marseille U., FR) Eric Pacuit (U. Maryland, USA) Alessandra Palmigiano (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, NL) Vít Punčochář (Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ) Katsuhiko Sano (Hokkaido U., JP) Igor Sedlár (Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ) Rineke Verbrugge (U. Groningen, NL) Frank Wolter (U. Liverpool, UK) [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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TYPES 2022 -- Second call for contributions
by Pierre-Marie Pédrot 28 Jan '22

28 Jan '22

SECOND CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS 28th International Conference on Types for Proofs and Programs, TYPES 2022 and EuroProofNet Cost Action CA20111 meeting Nantes, France, 20-25 June 2022 https://types22.inria.fr BACKGROUND The TYPES meetings are a forum to present new and on-going work in all aspects of type theory and its applications, especially in formalised and computer assisted reasoning and computer programming. The TYPES areas of interest include, but are not limited to: * foundations of type theory and constructive mathematics; * applications of type theory; * dependently typed programming; * industrial uses of type theory technology; * meta-theoretic studies of type systems; * proof assistants and proof technology; * automation in computer-assisted reasoning; * links between type theory and functional programming; * formalizing mathematics using type theory. We encourage talks proposing new ways of applying type theory. In the spirit of workshops, talks may be based on newly published papers, work submitted for publication, but also work in progress. The EuroProofNet Cost Action CA20111 focuses on the same research topics as TYPES and partially sponsors the TYPES Conference. INVITED SPEAKERS: Youyou Cong (Tokyo Institute of Technology) Ekaterina Komendantskaya (Heriot-Watt University) Sam Lindley (University of Edinburgh) Leonardo de Moura (Microsoft Research) CONTRIBUTED TALKS: We solicit contributed talks. Selection of those will be based on extended abstracts/short papers of 2 pp (not including bibliography) formatted with easychair.cls. The submission site is https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=types2022 IMPORTANT DATES: * submission of 2 pp abstract: 9 March 2022 * notification of acceptance/rejection: 20 April 2022 * camera-ready version of abstract: 15 May 2022 Camera-ready versions of the accepted contributions will be published in an informal book of abstracts for distribution at the workshop. POST-PROCEEDINGS A post-proceedings volume will be published in the Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs) series. Submission to that volume will be open to everyone. Tentative submission deadline for the post-proceedings: September 2022. PROGRAM COMMITTEE Sandra Alves (University of Porto) Carlo Angiuli (Carnegie Mellon University) Stephanie Balzer (Carnegie Mellon University) Lars Birkedal (Aarhus University) Frédéric Blanqui (INRIA) Sandrine Blazy (Université de Rennes 1 - IRISA) Thierry Coquand (University of Technology) Andrej Dudenhefner (Saarland University) Jacques Garrigue (Nagoya University) Delia Kesner (Université de Paris) (PC Co-Chair) Marina Lenisa (Università di Udine) Paul Blain Levy (University of Birmingham) Sara Negri (Università degli Studi di Genova) Pierre-Marie Pédrot (INRIA) (PC Co-Chair) Luca Padovani (Università di Torino) Zoe Paraskevopoulou (Northeastern University) Brigitte Pientka (McGill University) Matija Pretnar (University of Ljubljana) Talia Ringer (University of Washington) Kathrin Stark (Princeton University) Paweł Urzyczyn (University of Warsaw) Lionel Vaux (Université d’Aix-Marseille) Niki Vazou (IMDEA Software) TYPES STEERING COMMITTEE Andreas Abel (Gothenburg University) Sandra Alves (University of Porto) (Secretary) Henning Basold (Leiden University) (SC chair) Frédéric Blanqui (INRIA) Ugo de'Liguoro (Università di Torino) Matthieu Sozeau (INRIA & Université de Nantes) ABOUT TYPES The TYPES meetings from 1990 to 2008 were annual workshops of a sequence of five EU funded networking projects. From 2009 to 2015, TYPES has been run as an independent conference series. Previous TYPES meetings were held in Antibes (1990), Edinburgh (1991), Båstad (1992), Nijmegen (1993), Båstad (1994), Torino (1995), Aussois (1996), Kloster Irsee (1998), Lökeberg (1999), Durham (2000), Berg en Dal near Nijmegen (2002), Torino (2003), Jouy-en-Josas near Paris (2004), Nottingham (2006), Cividale del Friuli (2007), Torino (2008), Aussois (2009), Warsaw (2010), Bergen (2011), Toulouse (2013), Paris (2014), Tallinn (2015), Novi Sad (2016), Budapest (2017), Braga (2018), Oslo (2019), Virtual (2021). CONTACT Email: types2022(a)easychair.org Organisers: Assia Mahboubi (INRIA & Université de Nantes) Matthieu Sozeau (INRIA & Université de Nantes) Nicolas Tabareau (INRIA & Université de Nantes) [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Beth Outstanding Dissertation Prize 2022: First Call for Nominations
by Sadrzadeh, Mehrnoosh 28 Jan '22

28 Jan '22

First Call for Nominations: E. W. Beth Outstanding Dissertation Prize 2022 Since 1998, the Association for Logic, Language, and Information (FoLLI) has been awarding the annual E.W. Beth Dissertation Prize to outstanding Ph.D. dissertations in Logic, Language, and Information (http://www.folli.info/?page_id=74) with financial support of the E.W. Beth Foundation (https://www.knaw.nl/en/awards/funds/evert-willem-beth-stichting/evert-wille…) Nominations are now invited for outstanding dissertations in these areas resulting in a Ph.D. degree awarded in 2021. The deadline for nominations is the 15th of April 2022. Qualifications: - A Ph.D. dissertation on a related topic is eligible for the Beth Dissertation Prize 2022, if the degree was awarded between January 1st and December 31st, 2021. - There are no restrictions on the nationality, ethnicity, age, gender or employment status of the author of the nominated dissertation, nor on the university, academic department or scientific institution formally conferring the Ph.D. degree, nor on the language in which the dissertation has originally been written. - In accordance with the aim of the Beth Foundation to continue and extend the work of the Dutch logician Evert Willem Beth, nominations are invited of outstanding dissertations on topics in the broad remit of ESSLLI, in logic, language, information and computation. Interdisciplinary dissertations with results impacting various of these research areas in their investigations are especially solicited. - If a nominated dissertation has originally been written in a language other than English, its file should still contain the required 10 page English abstract, see below. If the committee decides that a nominated dissertation in a language other than English requires translation to English for proper evaluation, the committee can transfer its nomination to the competition in 2023. The English translation must in such cases be submitted before the deadline of the call for nominations in 2023. The committee may recommend the Beth Foundation to consider supporting such nominated dissertations for English translation, upon request by the author of the dissertation. The prize consists of: - a certificate - a donation of 3000 euros, provided by the E.W. Beth Foundation, divided among the winners, should there be more than one winner - an invitation to submit the dissertation, possibly after revision, for publication in FoLLI Publications on Logic, Language and Information (Springer). Only digital submissions are accepted, without exception. Hard copy submissions are not allowed. The following documents are to be submitted in a single nomination file in zip format: - The original dissertation in pdf format (ps/doc/rtf etc. not acceptable). - A ten-page English abstract of the dissertation, presenting the main results of each chapter. - A letter of nomination from the dissertation supervisor, which concisely describes the scope and significance of the dissertation, stating when the degree was officially awarded and the members of the Ph.D. committee. Nominations should contain the address, phone and email details of the nominator. - Two additional letters of support, including at least one from a referee not affiliated with the academic institution that awarded the Ph.D. degree, nor otherwise related to the nominee (e.g. former teachers, supervisors, co-authors, publishers or relatives) or the dissertation. - Self-nominations are not possible. All pdf documents must be submitted electronically, as one zip file, via EasyChair by following the link https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=bodp2022. In case of any problems or questions please contact the chair of the committee Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh (m.sadrzadeh(a)ucl.ac.uk) The prize will be awarded by the chair of the FoLLI board at a ceremony during the 33rd ESSLLI summer school, in Galway, August 8-19, 2021. Beth dissertation prize committee 2022: Maria Aloni (University of Amsterdam) Cleo Condoravdi(Stanford University) Robin Cooper (University of Gothenburg) Guy Emerson (University of Cambridge) Katrin Erk (University of Texas at Austin) Christoph Haase (University of Oxford) Reinhard Muskens (University of Amsterdam) Francesca Poggiolesi (CNRS, IHPST, University of Paris 1) Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh (University College London, chair) Ana Sokolova (University of Salzburg) Mark Steedman (University of Edinburgh) Carla Umbach (University of Koeln) Jouko Vaananen (University of Helsinki and University of Amsterdam) FoLLI is committed to diversity and inclusion and we welcome dissertations from all under-represented groups. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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March workshop on polynomial functors
by David Spivak 27 Jan '22

27 Jan '22

2022 WORKSHOP ON POLYNOMIAL FUNCTORS At the Topos Institute and online via Zoom 2022 March 14 – 18 (UTC) https://topos.site/p-func-workshop/ Participants will learn background material and hear the latest progress on polynomial functors. The main topic is the notion of polynomial functors in locally cartesian closed categories, as employed in logic and type theory (the theme of the 2021 Workshop on Polynomial Functors). However we also include a tutorial and talks on the notion of polynomial functors in the sense of Eilenberg and Mac Lane, hoping to uncover connections between these two notions. Talks will be recorded for posterity. Speakers ----------------- Steve Awodey.. x2 Kristine Bauer Pierre-Louis Curien Elden Elmanto Marcelo Fiore Nicola Gambino Brenda Johnson Sean Moss Fredrik Nordvall Forsberg Valéria de Paiva Exequiel Rivas Brandon Shapiro David Spivak Dima Szamozvancev Paul Taylor Todd Trimble Christine Vespa.. x3 Organizers ----------------- Joachim Kock and David Spivak Participation ----------------- Anyone interested in participating is welcome. If you would like to attend, please fill out the online form https://forms.gle/nbpNAo1fQ3kkHynRA A zoom link will be sent out to registered participants a few days before the workshop. For other questions, please contact David Spivak <dspivak(a)gmail.com> or Joachim Kock <kock(a)mat.uab.cat>. Program ----------------- The talks will take place in the following 4-hour window: 14:00 – 18:00 March 14 – 18 UTC Tokyo 23:00–03:00 (+1); Barcelona 15:00–19:00; UK 14:00–18:00; US East Coast 10:00–14:00; US West Coast 07:00–11:00. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Re: The Categories List
by Nicola Gambino 26 Jan '22

26 Jan '22

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. To avoid confusion, I had in mind one moderator that is full charge of day-to-day operations, but who has two colleagues to rely on in case advice/help is needed. Best wishes, Nicola Nicola Gambino Professor of Pure Mathematics and Director of Research and Innovation School of Mathematics, University of Leeds Web: http://www1.maths.leeds.ac.uk/~pmtng/ On 26 Jan 2022, at 13:51, selinger(a)mathstat.dal.ca<mailto:selinger@mathstat.dal.ca> wrote: Hi all, For what it's worth, I don't think a committee of moderators is a good idea. Messages come in, someone has to approve them, and I think one moderator is the ideal number. (That is not to say that the moderator could not delegate the task sometimes - say when on vacation). My idea of a steering committee was more to ensure the long-term survival of the list, rather than sharing day-to-day operations. -- Peter Dirk Hofmann wrote: Hello All, I would like to join everyone in thanking Bob for administrating this list for so many years, it was and is a great service to our community (and I believe having such a mailing list will be also very useful in the future). I don't have much to add. I also believe that it might be useful to distribute the work over 2 our 3 people (but not more), and the candidates already mentioned (Rory, Matías, Stefan) are certainly excellent choices. Happy New Year to everyone (I know, a bit late). All the best Dirk On 26 January 2022 at 13:52 +01+0100, Joachim Kock <kock(a)mat.uab.cat<mailto:kock@mat.uab.cat>> wrote ... Hi all, yes -- huge thanks, Bob, for all the work you have put into the mailing list over so many years! I agree with all of the input to the discussion so far. I don't think I have anything important to contribute with. (I feel a bit unconcentrated lately.) Cheers, Joachim. And thanks for all the manual forwards, to keep me in the loop. On 26/01/2022 13:00 , Nicola Gambino wrote: Hello, [With Joachim’s correct address in cc] I join others in sincerely thanking Bob for the many years of care of the categories mailing list, which has been invaluable. I personally like the idea of a “moderator-in-chief”, assisted by two “associate moderators”. The journal Mathematical Structures in Computer Science operates along similar lines and I think things work well. For the mailing list, as Emily suggested, the associate moderators would step in when the “moderator-in-chief” is away, offer assistance, and potentially become future editors-in-chief. Having two associate moderators rather than one ensures a bit of resilience and avoids stalling if there is a disagreement. Following this thought, perhaps this team could be people at different career stages, with moderator-in-chief being someone slightly more senior. Other names that come to mind are: Matias Menni, Stefan Milius. Best wishes, Nicola = Nicola Gambino Professor of Pure Mathematics and Director of Research and Innovation School of Mathematics, University of Leeds Web: http://www1.maths.leeds.ac.uk/~pmtng/ On 26 Jan 2022, at 10:59, EMILY RIEHL <eriehl(a)jhu.edu<mailto:eriehl@jhu.edu> <mailto:eriehl@jhu.edu>> wrote: I concur that 1-2 moderators seems like the right number. In the past when I've shared responsibility with 3-4 for some task we ended up being less efficient since no single person felt sufficient pressure to act on any particular task. Groups of that size seemed to function more effectively if one person was the leader, which suggests that a group of 1 or 2 might function better. I'd be curious also to hear of Bob's thoughts on this. Do you wish you had a co-moderator to take over when you wanted a break from your duties? Or was it easier to have this responsibility on your own? Finally, I want to echo everyone else in conveying my deepest gratitude for your years of service. Emily Associate Professor of Mathematics (she/her) Johns Hopkins University https://emilyriehl.github.io/ On 1/26/22 11:47 AM, Tom Leinster wrote: Dear friends, I've been trying and failing to think of a possible successor to Bob who would reproduce all of his qualities. Evidently there's no one quite like Bob. But the more I think about it, the more advantages I see to having more than one moderator, as Peter suggested. I think 3-4 might be too many; maybe two is the right number? But in any case, the possible advantages are these: * No one has to feel guilty about taking a few weeks' break from moderating for a holiday (it's nice to go offline for a while) or for other reasons. * When difficult situations arise (which will probably be very rare, but they're potentially highly stressful and consequential), being able to discuss them with your fellow moderator(s) could be very helpful. The decision doesn't fall on one person's shoulders. Pieter mentioned that the moderator may have to be capable of standing up to people more senior than them. Many would find that easier to do that if they're not alone. * Potential new moderators may be more likely to say yes if it's a shared job... depending, of course, on who they're being asked to share it with :-) Best wishes, Tom On 25/01/2022 15:14, Bob Rosebrugh wrote: Thanks to Steve, Peter and Pieter for kind words and very good suggestions. More suggestions welcome! regards, Bob ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:* Pieter Hofstra <phofstra(a)uottawa.ca> *Sent:* January 24, 2022 14:44 *To:* selinger(a)mathstat.dal.ca; Bob Rosebrugh *Cc:* Geoffrey Cruttwell; N.Gambino(a)leeds.ac.uk; Ext-FSE Marino Gran; Dirk Hofmann; kock(a)mat.uab.ca; Tom Leinster; eriehl(a)jhu.edu; drodelo(a)ualg.pt; Steve Lack *Subject:* Re: The Categories List Dear Bob, I wholeheartedly agree with the previous messages that your moderation of the list has been of great value to the community. I would perhaps suggest strengthening Peter's suggestion that the new moderator has a permanent position to that of being tenured. I recall that there have been some (fortunately not many) instances where a senior colleague's posts had to be curtailed; for someone who is still seeking job security and is in part reliant on letters of support from senior colleagues this may be an unpleasant position to be in. Best, Pieter ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:* selinger(a)mathstat.dal.ca <selinger(a)mathstat.dal.ca> *Sent:* Monday, January 24, 2022 9:29 AM *To:* Bob Rosebrugh <rrosebru(a)mta.ca> *Cc:* Bob Rosebrugh <rrosebru(a)mta.ca>; Geoffrey Cruttwell <gcruttwell(a)mta.ca>; N.Gambino(a)leeds.ac.uk <N.Gambino(a)leeds.ac.uk>; Ext-FSE Marino Gran <marino.gran(a)uclouvain.be>; Pieter Hofstra <phofstra(a)uottawa.ca>; Dirk Hofmann <dirk(a)ua.pt>; kock(a)mat.uab.ca <kock(a)mat.uab.ca>; Tom Leinster <tom.leinster(a)ed.ac.uk>; eriehl(a)jhu.edu <eriehl(a)jhu.edu>; drodelo(a)ualg.pt <drodelo(a)ualg.pt>; Steve Lack <steve.lack(a)mq.edu.au> *Subject:* Re: The Categories List Attention : courriel externe | external email Hi Bob, yes, I agree with Steve! You've done a terrific job with the list. As for possible successors, how about someone like Rory? As you mentioned, the person should be youngish, be likely to remain committed to category theory for a while, and have decent organizational (and maybe some technical) skills. It would also give some stability if the person had a permanent job, i.e., probably not a postdoc. I also think it does not necessarily have to be a lifetime position. Other mailing lists (e.g. "Types") have changed moderatorship from time to time. If you want to avoid the categories mailing list "belonging" to just one person (with the attendant concern that the list may one day become defunct), there is also the possibility to form a steering committee for the list, consisting of 3-4 people. Basically the steering committee's job would be to do nothing at all, except to make sure the list doesn't disappear or go sour, and to appoint a new moderator in case the previous one resigns. -- Peter Steve Lack wrote: Dear Bob, I have often heard you say how little time you spend on this, even if I don’t entirely believe it! I’ll think about possible successors, but in the meantime let me just say that we are all enormously in your debt for the 32 years work you have done on this (among other things). Very best wishes, Steve. On 21 Jan 2022, at 6:50 am, Bob Rosebrugh<rrosebru(a)mta.ca> wrote: Dear Colleagues, This March it will be 32 (or 100000_B) years since the Categories mailing list began in 1990. It has been (almost) entirely a pleasure for me to act as moderator for the list since then. There is just one part of the job that I hate: posting announcements of the loss of friends. In recent years there has been less discussion on the list, but it does also still provide the community with a way to announce conferences, jobs and so on. My guess is that there would be some distress if the list were abandoned. That said, if the list is to continue for the medium term it should soon be moderated by someone considerably younger than me. This message is being sent to you to solicit suggestions for candidates to take over the list. I am writing to you because you are all a good deal younger than me and I respect your opinions. If any of you is willing to take on the moderator role you are most welcome to offer, but my purpose is not to ask that. Rather, my request to you is to think about colleagues, perhaps even younger still, who may be suitable to run the list for a number of years, and who might be willing. For information, at this time moderating the list even with the ancient software I use (majordomo) takes only a few minutes per week (always well less than 30). A new moderator using newer software could do it even more quickly. It is not a big time commitment. It is not my intent to put out a general call for a new moderator. Indeed, though I have undoubtedly (unintentionally) not included in the list above a number of people who could be very helpful, I would ask that you be discreet in contacting anyone further about this matter. I'm very happy to receive constructive comments on suggested names and my plan is to decide who to invite to take over. It may require several invitations, but there will be only one at a time. Looking forward to hearing from you, Best wishes, Bob Rosebrugh ps feel free to reply-all or just to me The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.

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Re: The Categories List
by Tom Leinster 26 Jan '22

26 Jan '22

CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. Dear friends, I've been trying and failing to think of a possible successor to Bob who would reproduce all of his qualities. Evidently there's no one quite like Bob. But the more I think about it, the more advantages I see to having more than one moderator, as Peter suggested. I think 3-4 might be too many; maybe two is the right number? But in any case, the possible advantages are these: * No one has to feel guilty about taking a few weeks' break from moderating for a holiday (it's nice to go offline for a while) or for other reasons. * When difficult situations arise (which will probably be very rare, but they're potentially highly stressful and consequential), being able to discuss them with your fellow moderator(s) could be very helpful. The decision doesn't fall on one person's shoulders. Pieter mentioned that the moderator may have to be capable of standing up to people more senior than them. Many would find that easier to do that if they're not alone. * Potential new moderators may be more likely to say yes if it's a shared job... depending, of course, on who they're being asked to share it with :-) Best wishes, Tom On 25/01/2022 15:14, Bob Rosebrugh wrote: Thanks to Steve, Peter and Pieter for kind words and very good suggestions. More suggestions welcome! regards, Bob ________________________________ From: Pieter Hofstra <phofstra(a)uottawa.ca><mailto:phofstra@uottawa.ca> Sent: January 24, 2022 14:44 To: selinger(a)mathstat.dal.ca<mailto:selinger@mathstat.dal.ca>; Bob Rosebrugh Cc: Geoffrey Cruttwell; N.Gambino(a)leeds.ac.uk<mailto:N.Gambino@leeds.ac.uk>; Ext-FSE Marino Gran; Dirk Hofmann; kock(a)mat.uab.ca<mailto:kock@mat.uab.ca>; Tom Leinster; eriehl(a)jhu.edu<mailto:eriehl@jhu.edu>; drodelo(a)ualg.pt<mailto:drodelo@ualg.pt>; Steve Lack Subject: Re: The Categories List Dear Bob, I wholeheartedly agree with the previous messages that your moderation of the list has been of great value to the community. I would perhaps suggest strengthening Peter's suggestion that the new moderator has a permanent position to that of being tenured. I recall that there have been some (fortunately not many) instances where a senior colleague's posts had to be curtailed; for someone who is still seeking job security and is in part reliant on letters of support from senior colleagues this may be an unpleasant position to be in. Best, Pieter ________________________________ From: selinger(a)mathstat.dal.ca<mailto:selinger@mathstat.dal.ca> <selinger(a)mathstat.dal.ca><mailto:selinger@mathstat.dal.ca> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2022 9:29 AM To: Bob Rosebrugh <rrosebru(a)mta.ca><mailto:rrosebru@mta.ca> Cc: Bob Rosebrugh <rrosebru(a)mta.ca><mailto:rrosebru@mta.ca>; Geoffrey Cruttwell <gcruttwell(a)mta.ca><mailto:gcruttwell@mta.ca>; N.Gambino(a)leeds.ac.uk<mailto:N.Gambino@leeds.ac.uk> <N.Gambino(a)leeds.ac.uk><mailto:N.Gambino@leeds.ac.uk>; Ext-FSE Marino Gran <marino.gran(a)uclouvain.be><mailto:marino.gran@uclouvain.be>; Pieter Hofstra <phofstra(a)uottawa.ca><mailto:phofstra@uottawa.ca>; Dirk Hofmann <dirk(a)ua.pt><mailto:dirk@ua.pt>; kock(a)mat.uab.ca<mailto:kock@mat.uab.ca> <kock(a)mat.uab.ca><mailto:kock@mat.uab.ca>; Tom Leinster <tom.leinster(a)ed.ac.uk><mailto:tom.leinster@ed.ac.uk>; eriehl(a)jhu.edu<mailto:eriehl@jhu.edu> <eriehl(a)jhu.edu><mailto:eriehl@jhu.edu>; drodelo(a)ualg.pt<mailto:drodelo@ualg.pt> <drodelo(a)ualg.pt><mailto:drodelo@ualg.pt>; Steve Lack <steve.lack(a)mq.edu.au><mailto:steve.lack@mq.edu.au> Subject: Re: The Categories List Attention : courriel externe | external email Hi Bob, yes, I agree with Steve! You've done a terrific job with the list. As for possible successors, how about someone like Rory? As you mentioned, the person should be youngish, be likely to remain committed to category theory for a while, and have decent organizational (and maybe some technical) skills. It would also give some stability if the person had a permanent job, i.e., probably not a postdoc. I also think it does not necessarily have to be a lifetime position. Other mailing lists (e.g. "Types") have changed moderatorship from time to time. If you want to avoid the categories mailing list "belonging" to just one person (with the attendant concern that the list may one day become defunct), there is also the possibility to form a steering committee for the list, consisting of 3-4 people. Basically the steering committee's job would be to do nothing at all, except to make sure the list doesn't disappear or go sour, and to appoint a new moderator in case the previous one resigns. -- Peter Steve Lack wrote: > > Dear Bob, > > I have often heard you say how little time you spend on this, even if I don’t entirely believe it! I’ll think about possible successors, > but in the meantime let me just say that we are all enormously in your debt for the 32 years work you have done on this (among other things). > > Very best wishes, > > Steve. > > > On 21 Jan 2022, at 6:50 am, Bob Rosebrugh <rrosebru(a)mta.ca><mailto:rrosebru@mta.ca> wrote: > > > > > > Dear Colleagues, > > > > This March it will be 32 (or 100000_B) years since the Categories mailing list began in 1990. It has been (almost) entirely a pleasure for me to act as moderator for the list since then. There is just one part of the job that I hate: posting announcements of the loss of friends. > > > > In recent years there has been less discussion on the list, but it does also still provide the community with a way to announce conferences, jobs and so on. My guess is that there would be some distress if the list were abandoned. That said, if the list is to continue for the medium term it should soon be moderated by someone considerably younger than me. > > > > This message is being sent to you to solicit suggestions for candidates to take over the list. I am writing to you because you are all a good deal younger than me and I respect your opinions. If any of you is willing to take on the moderator role you are most welcome to offer, but my purpose is not to ask that. Rather, my request to you is to think about colleagues, perhaps even younger still, who may be suitable to run the list for a number of years, and who might be willing. For information, at this time moderating the list even with the ancient software I use (majordomo) takes only a few minutes per week (always well less than 30). A new moderator using newer software could do it even more quickly. It is not a big time commitment. > > > > It is not my intent to put out a general call for a new moderator. Indeed, though I have undoubtedly (unintentionally) not included in the list above a number of people who could be very helpful, I would ask that you be discreet in contacting anyone further about this matter. I'm very happy to receive constructive comments on suggested names and my plan is to decide who to invite to take over. It may require several invitations, but there will be only one at a time. > > > > Looking forward to hearing from you, > > Best wishes, > > Bob Rosebrugh > > > > ps feel free to reply-all or just to me > > > > > > > The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.

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CMCS 2022: Deadline extension
by Thorsten Wissmann 26 Jan '22

26 Jan '22

Call for Papers **Deadline Extension** The 16th IFIP WG 1.3 International Workshop on Coalgebraic Methods in Computer Science (CMCS'22) Munich, Germany, 2-3 April 2022 (co-located with ETAPS 2022) www.coalg.org/cmcs22 *Updates wrt Final CfP: Important Dates*. Objectives and scope -------------------- Established in 1998, the CMCS workshops aim to bring together researchers with a common interest in the theory of coalgebras, their logics, and their applications. As the workshop series strives to maintain breadth in its scope, areas of interest include neighbouring fields as well. Topics of interest are the theory and applications of coalgebra and coinductive reasoning in all research areas of Computer Science, including (but not limited to) the following: - set-theoretic and categorical foundations of coalgebra; - algebra & coalgebra, (co)monads, and distributive laws; - (modal) logic; - automata theory and formal languages; - coinductive definitions and proof principles (including "up-to" techniques) - semantic models of computation (for programming languages, dynamical systems, term rewriting, etc.) - functional, objected-oriented, concurrent, and constraint programming; - type theory (notably behavioural typing); - formal verification and specification; - control theory (notably discrete events and hybrid systems); - quantum computing; - game theory; - implementation, tools, and proof assistants Venue and event --------------- CMCS'22 will be held in Munich, Germany, co-located with ETAPS 2022 on 2-3 April 2022. We aim for an event with maximal on-site participation, but a hybrid format will be provided if necessary. In particular, speakers will be able to present virtually if an on-site presentation is not possible due to Covid restrictions. Keynote speaker --------------- Ana Sokolova, University of Salzburg, Austria Invited speakers ---------------- Renato Neves, University of Minho, Portugal Sam Staton, University of Oxford, United Kingdom Invited tutorial speakers ------------------------- There will be a special session on Data Languages with invited tutorials by: S??awomir Lasota, University of Warsaw, Poland Mahsa Shirmohammadi, CNRS & University of Paris, France Important dates (NEW) ------------------------------------------------- Abstract regular papers 31 January 2022 (new) Submission regular papers 3 February 2022 (new) Notification regular papers 7 March 2022 (new) Camera-ready copy 25 March 2022 (new) Submission short contributions 3 March 2022 Notification short contributions 9 March 2022 All dates are inclusive and Anywhere on Earth (AoE). (We have been informed that ETAPS workshop registration fees will be constant across all registration deadlines.) Programme committee ------------------- Adriana Balan, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania Henning Basold, Leiden University, The Netherlands Marta Bilkova, Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic Fredrik Dahlqvist, Queen Mary University London, United Kingdom Fredrik Nordvall Forsberg, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom Richard Garner, Macquarie University, Australia Jeremy Gibbons, University of Oxford, United Kingdom Helle Hvid Hansen (co-chair), University of Groningen, The Netherlands Ichiro Hasuo, National Institute of Informatics, Japan Tobias Kapp??, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Dexter Kozen, Cornell University, USA Clemens Kupke, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom Alexander Kurz, Chapman University, USA Barbara K??nig, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany Marina Lenisa, University of Udine, Italy Davide Sangiorgi, University of Bologna, Italy Lutz Schr??der, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany David Spivak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Tarmo Uustalu, Reykjavik University, Iceland Thorsten Wi??mann, Radboud University, The Netherlands Fabio Zanasi (co-chair), University College London, United Kingdom Maaike Zwart, ITU Copenhagen, Denmark PC co-chairs -------------- Helle Hvid Hansen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Fabio Zanasi, University College London, United Kingdom Publicity chair --------------- Thorsten Wi??mann, Radboud University, The Netherlands Steering committee ------------------ Filippo Bonchi, University of Pisa, Italy Marcello Bonsangue, Leiden University, The Netherlands Corina Cirstea, University of Southampton, United Kingdom Ichiro Hasuo, National Institute of Informatics, Japan Bart Jacobs, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Bartek Klin, University of Oxford, United Kingdom Alexander Kurz, Chapman University, United States Marina Lenisa, University of Udine, Italy Stefan Milius (chair), University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany Lawrence Moss, Indiana University, USA Daniela Petrisan, University Paris Diderot, France Jurriaan Rot, Radboud University, The Netherlands Dirk Pattinson, Australian National University, Australia Lutz Schr??der, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany Alexandra Silva, Cornell University, USA Submission guidelines --------------------- We solicit two types of contributions: regular papers and short contributions. Regular papers must be original, unpublished, and not submitted for publication elsewhere. Regular papers should be max 18 pages long in Springer LNCS style, excluding references. A clearly-marked appendix containing technical proofs can be added, but this will not be published in the proceedings. Note that the reviewers are not obliged to read the appendix, and the merits of the paper should be clear from the main text. Short contributions may describe work in progress, or summarise work submitted to a conference or workshop elsewhere. They should be no more than two pages including references. Regular papers and short contributions should be submitted electronically as a PDF file via the Easychair system at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cmcs2022 The proceedings of CMCS 2022 will include all accepted regular papers and will be published post-conference as a Springer volume in the IFIP-LNCS series. Accepted short contributions will be bundled in a technical report. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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A new book: Theoretical Computer Science for the Working Category Theorist
by Noson＠sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu 26 Jan '22

26 Jan '22

Dear All, Cambridge University Press just came out with the first in its series <https://www.cambridge.org/core/what-we-publish/elements/elements-in-applied -category-theory> Elements in Applied Category Theory . Theoretical Computer Science for the Working Category Theorist By Noson S. Yanofsky Abstract: Using basic category theory (category, functor, natural transformation, etc.), this Element describes all the central concepts and proves the main theorems of theoretical computer science. Category theory, which works with functions, processes, and structures, is uniquely qualified to present the fundamental results of theoretical computer science. In this text, we meet some of the deepest ideas and theorems of modern computers and mathematics, e.g., Turing machines, unsolvable problems, the P=NP question, Kurt Gödels incompleteness theorem, intractable problems, Turings Halting problem, and much more. The concepts come alive with many examples and exercises. This short text covers the usual material taught in a year-long course. https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/theoretical-computer-science-for-the -working-category-theorist/5F3499D1F326D2D77567AA1041627699 It will be freely available to access online for the next two weeks. All the best, Noson [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Higher Category Lecture Series: A friendly introduction to ∞-categories by Yuki Maehara (Kyushu U)
by Yoshihiro Maruyama 24 Jan '22

24 Jan '22

Dear all, A series of introductory lectures on higher categories will be given online by Yuki Maehara, starting on 31 Jan (Mon), then every Mon and Thu, and finishing on 17 Feb (Thu), as per below. -- Title: A friendly introduction to ∞-categories Lecturer: Yuki Maehara (Kyushu U) Abstract: ∞-categories are to spaces what ordinary categories are to sets. This nicely summarises the basic idea of ∞-categories, but there is a large gap between this intuition and the definition(s) of ∞-category one finds in the literature. The aim of these lectures is to fill this gap by answering the following question: What do we really mean by "spaces", and what sort of things do we want to do with them? Lecture 1: Homotopy groups and Whitehead's theorem Lecture 2: Kan complexes Lecture 3: Model categories Lecture 4: Homotopy commutative vs homotopy coherent Lecture 5: Quasi-categories via spines Lecture 6: Quasi-categories via inner horns Schedule: 31 Jan (Mon) 4-5pm (AEDT/GMT+11) 3 Feb (Thu) 4-5pm (AEDT/GMT+11) 7 Feb (Mon) 4-5pm (AEDT/GMT+11) 10 Feb (Thu) 4-5pm (AEDT/GMT+11) 14 Feb (Mon) 4-5pm (AEDT/GMT+11) 17 Feb (Thu) 4-5pm (AEDT/GMT+11) Held online via zoom at: https://anu.zoom.us/j/87221396938?pwd=azgxQmJWWWhtTUFHUGdpcXE2MGp6QT09 No registration required. Webpage (with the same information as above): https://sites.google.com/view/higher-category/home Thanks and best regards, Yoshihiro -- Yoshihiro Maruyama Senior Lecturer, School of Computing, CECS, The Australian National University Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia Contact: yoshihiro.maruyama(a)anu.edu.au [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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