The conference is April 7 -- 11. There have been a few minor changes of schedule. That and other updated details may be found at: http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~may/MACLANE/index.html http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~eugenia/maclane/ Since it has not yet been posted, here is a list (still slightly tentative) of titles for the talks. Steven Awodey Topology and Modality John Baez (Namboodiri Lectures) Higher category theory, higher gauge theory Julie Bergner Model categories, dg categories, and derived Hall algebras Eugenia Cheng The periodic table of n-categories Alissa Crans Lie 2-groups, Lie 2-algebras, and Loop groups Zig Fiedorowicz n-Fold categories and n-fold loop spaces Tom Fiore Double categories and pseudo algebras Peter Freyd New structures on old categories Nick Gurski

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From bicategories to tricategories

Peter Johnstone Potential invertibility and presheaf toposes Andre Joyal The theory of quasi-categories William Lawvere Smooth and Simplicial Toposes Ieke Moerdijk Quasi-categories and quasi-operads Peter May Duality in bicategories and topological applications Michael Shulman Anchored bicategories Danny Stevenson Lie 2-algebras and the geometry of gerbes As noted in the schedule, John Baez will be giving the 2006 Namboodiri Lectures at the University of Chicago in conjunction with the conference. This fact has also been noted in the (interminable) crack/pot thread of postings. Unni Namboodiri was a student of mine who was killed in a car crash. The lecture series was generously endowed by his parents. The choice of Baez as the speaker was entirely mine, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the subjects of those postings. In particular, it has nothing to do with the role of category theory in physics, the mathematical or sociological relationship between physics and mathematics, or the relationship between category theory and foundations. Rather, I like John's mathematics, as mathematics, and I know him to be a superb speaker. I myself don't share his interest in physics, but I won't hold it against him. The conference is in honor of Saunders Mac Lane, who was my colleague and friend for over thirty-five years. It has been organized by Eugenia Cheng (now at the University of Chicago) and myself. As Saunders would have liked, there is all of a sudden a real categorical community at Chicago. We are eager to share our enthusiasm and describe our interests to others. One of the things that John, Eugenia, and many of the other speakers have in common is that they are especially good at making category theory interesting and appealing, at sharing their joy in the mathematics. That is the intended spirit of the conference. I urge people who have not yet decided to come to make their way to Chicago next week. There we shall all try to make joyful mathematics, some category theory and some not, in celebration of the memory of Saunders Mac Lane. Peter May