19 T.W. Alexander Drive
P.O. Box 14006
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-4006
Tel: 919.685.9350
Fax: 919.685.9360
[email protected]

2006-07 Program on High Dimensional Inference and Random Matrices

Workshop on Geometry, Random Matrices, and Statistical Inference

January 16-19, 2007 at SAMSI

General Information
Application
Schedule

General Information

Geometry, Random matrices, and Statistical Inference is a workshop within the SAMSI program on High Dimensional Inference and Random Matrices. It will be held January 16-19, 2007 at the NISS Building in Research Triangle Park, NC.

The four day workshop will begin the semester long focus on Geometry and Random Matrices. Both algorithms and the fundamental mathematical objects computed by the algorithms will be stressed. This workshop will be followed by a semester long working group on "Geometry, Random Matrices, and Statistical Inference." It will be a part of the High Dimensional Inference and Random Matrices Program at SAMSI.

The format of the workshop will be two talks in the morning and one in the afternoon. All talks will be one hour and there will be considerable time for discussions.

Present list of confirmed participants include: Sanjoy Dasgupta (University of California, San Diego), Vladimir Koltchinskii (Georgia Institute of Technology), Yoon Lee (Ohio State University), Guy Lebanon (Purdue University), Liza Levina (University of Michigan), Mauro Maggioni (Duke University), Yuriy Mileyko (Duke University), Partha Niyogi (University of Chicago), Tao Shi (Ohio State University), Jonathan Taylor (Stanford University)

Workshop Committee: Misha Belkin (The Ohio State University, Chair), Feng Liang (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Sayan Mukherjee (Local Scientific Coordinator), James Damon (SAMSI, Directorate Liaison).

Application

Interested individuals should apply, using the ON-LINE APPLICATION FORM. This form also includes the application for financial support. You will be notified as soon as possible after your application if your participation will be possible; regrettably, limited seating will preclude acceptance of all applications. New researchers (graduate students, postdocs, and faculty in the early stages of their careers) and members of underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Space is limited to 35 participants; decisions will be made after the registration deadline.

The application/registration deadline is January 1, 2007

In order to ensure your application is correct, we ask that you:

refresh/reload the application/registration page to ensure you have all updates
type in your information (cutting and pasting will distort the information we receive)
make any clarifications/corrections, in the Special Requests section
click the submit button only once

Please make reservations at the Radisson RTP as soon as possible. The SAMSI room block for the Radisson is effective until January 4, 2007. After this date, there is no guarantee a room will be available. If you have a change in plans, individual room reservations must be cancelled 72 hours prior to arrival. Check-in is at 3:00 PM; check-out is 12:00 noon. The room rate is $99.

Schedule

Speaker abstracts

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at SAMSI, Room 104
Geometry and Sparsity

8:45	Carolina Livery will depart the Radisson for SAMSI If you miss the Carolina Livery shuttle, please see the hotel representatives at the front desk to have the Radisson shuttle bring you.
9:00-9:30	Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30-10:30	Sparsity in High Dimensional Learning Problems Vladimir Koltchinskii, Georgia Institute of Technology
10:30-11:00	Break
11:00-12:00	Grouped and Hierarchical Selection through Composite Absolute Penalties (CAPs) Guilherme Rocha, University of California - Berkeley
12:00-1:00	Lunch
1:00-2:00	On Kernels, Energy and Metrics Steven Damelin, Georgia Southern University
2:00	Discussion Discussion Chair: Misha Belkin, Ohio State University
3:00	Carolina Livery will depart SAMSI for the Radisson

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 at SAMSI, Room 104
Geometry and Topology

8:45	Carolina Livery will depart the Radisson for SAMSI
9:00-9:30	Registration and Breakfast
9:30-10:30	Random Fields of Multivariate Test Statistics Jonathan Taylor, Stanford University
10:30-11:00	Break
11:00-12:00	The 3D Random Computed Tomography Structuring of Proteins and the Specral Non-Linear ICA Algorithm Amit Singer, Yale University
12:00-1:00	Lunch
1:00-2:00	Computing Homology of High-Dimensional Point Clouds Yuriy Mileyko, Duke University
2:00-3:00	A Probabalistic View and Fundamental Limitations of Spectral Clustering Boaz Nadler, Weizmann Inst. of Science
3:00	Carolina Livery will depart SAMSI for the Radisson

Thursday, January 18, 2007 at SAMSI, Room 104
Machine Learning

8:45	Carolina Livery will depart the Radisson for SAMSI
9:00-9:30	Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30-10:30	A Geometric Perspective on Learning Partha Niyogi, University of Chicago
10:30-11:00	Break
11:00-12:00	Random Geometry and Statistical Translation in Text Analysis Guy Lebanon, Purdue University
12:00-1:00	Lunch
1:00-2:00	Projection Pursuit, Gaussian Scale Mixtures, and the EM Algorithm Sanjoy Dasgupta, University of California - San Diego
2:00	Discussion Discussion Chair: TBD
3:00	Carolina Livery will depart SAMSI for the Radisson

Friday, January 19, 2007 at SAMSI, Room 104
Random Matrices and Covariances

8:45	Carolina Livery will depart the Radisson for SAMSI
9:00-9:30	Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30-10:30	Regularized Estimation of Large Covariance Matrices Liza Levina, University of Michigan
10:30-11:00	Break
11:00-12:00	Distributions for Random Positive Definite Matrices Armin Schwartzman, Harvard School of Public Health
12:00-1:00	Lunch
1:00-2:00	Multi-resolution Covariance Modelling in Spatial Random Effect Model Tao Shi, Ohio State University
2:00	Final Discussion Discussion Chair: Sayan Mukherjee, Duke University
3:00	Carolina Livery will depart SAMSI for the Airport

Local Information (Hotels, etc.)

Random Matrices Program - Second Semester Emphasis on Geometry and Random Matrices