3rd Midwest Arithmetical Geometry in Cryptography Workshop

Please note that ECC 2001 has been conveniently moved to October 29-31, directly before our meeting. If you wish to attend both meetings, you might consider travelling by train between Waterloo and Chicago. Amtrak has train 7085/365 leaving Kitchener at 8:23 on 1 November, getting into Chicago at 5:52pm, and then train 59 leaving Chicago at 8:00pm, getting into Champaign at 10:34pm.

Scope: The third Midwest Arithmetical Geometry in Cryptography (MAGC) workshop is intended for people in academia and industry with a basic mathematical background in group theory and number theory, wishing to learn about the increasingly common applications of arithmetical geometry to cryptography. This includes elliptic curve cryptosystems, hyperelliptic cryptosystems, and more. This year the meeting will have a more computational and algorithmic flavor, as reflected by the featured and invited speakers. This workshop is supported by a Critical Research Initiatives grant from UIUC, by the Coordinated Science Laboratory and by ICCIP, the Illinois Center for Cryptography and Information Protection.

Each of the featured speakers will give one lecture each morning for each of the three days of the workshop. These six lectures will be coordinated so as to introduce the audience to the subject, explain the various attacks on various cryptosystems, discuss practical items necessary for successful implementations, and talk about what the future might hold. The four invited lectures will take place the Friday and Saturday afternoons. There will also be time for contributed talks.

Registration Fee: To register for the MAGC Workshop, send your name, address, email address and affiliation, along with your check for $45 ($20 if you are a student) to Terri Hovde, Conference Coordinator, Coordinated Science Laboratory, 1308 W. Main, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Checks should be made out to the University of Illinois (U.S. currency only, please). The registration fee will double on October 15. The registration fee will be waived for anyone giving a talk.

Financial Support: The CRI grant provides some funding for participants. Graduate students and postdoctoral students are particularly encouraged to apply. If you are a graduate student or postdoctoral student applying for funding, have your Ph.D. advisor send a letter to the address below.

Contributed Talks: If you wish to offer a contributed talk, please send a title and short abstract by email to one of the organizers. We need to hear from you by October 15.

Location: MAGC 2001 will be held in the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from November 2-4, 2001. Some other talks of interest will be given on November 1 in the Mathematics Department. See their seminar schedule.

Schedule: MAGC participants should plan to arrive on Thursday, November 1, and leave the afternoon of Sunday, November 4. Talks will begin at 9 am on Friday and end by noon on Sunday. Snacks as well as lunch on Friday and Saturday will be provided at no charge. There will be a conference dinner on Friday evening at which a musician will perform. Please inform the organizers as soon as possible if you wish to attend (price $40 per person, to be paid with registration or at the meeting). Guests are welcome.

Accommodations: A block of 30 rooms has been set aside for workshop attendees at the Illini Union , 1401 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 (Phone: 217-333-3030) for November 1-4. The conference group rate is $65/$75 for single (2 twin/double beds), $75/$80 for double (2 twin/double beds) occupancy. To obtain the group rate, mention the Cryptography Workshop when you reserve your room. To insure availability, reservations must be made by October 1; after that date the remaining rooms will be released and reservations accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Travel: Urbana-Champaign is at the meeting point of three Interstate freeways, I-57, I-72, and I-74. This will tell you about parking. Urbana-Champaign is also conveniently served by Champaign (Willard) Airport. For bus service see http://www.cumtd.com/.

For further information, contact:

Dick Blahut, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (217 333-6669)
Nigel Boston, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (217 333-2677)
Iwan Duursma, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (217 265-0677)
Andreas Stein, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (217 265-0759)

Coordinated Science Laboratory
Computer and Systems Research Laboratory
1308 West Main Street
Urbana, IL 61801 USA