BLAST Conference Honoring Bjarni Jónsson, August 14-18
The Department of Mathematics will host the 2017 BLAST Conference August 14-18, 2017. BLAST is a conference series focusing on Boolean algebras, lattices, algebraic logic, quantum logic, universal algebra, set theory, and set-theoretic and point-free topology. It circulates among different universities, and this is the first time it will be held at Vanderbilt. A list of previous conferences in the series can be found here. The 2017 conference is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Shanks Endowment.
This year’s installment of the BLAST Conference series will honor the life of Bjarni Jónsson, former faculty member of the Department of Mathematics from 1966 until his retirement in 1993. Jónsson passed away in September 2016 at the age of 96.
Jónsson was instrumental in elevating the department’s graduate program, which presently ranks among the top departments in the nation. He also formed the department’s research group in universal algebra that has attracted mathematicians from around the world. The annual Bjarni Jónsson Prize for Research, which recognizes outstanding graduate students for research excellence, was established in his honor in 1995.
The BLAST 2017 organizing committee comprises José Gil-Férez, Ralph McKenzie (Chair), Stephen Simpson, and Constantine Tsinakis, all of Vanderbilt University; Peter Jipsen of Chapman University; Keith Kearnes of the University of Colorado at Boulder; and Matt Valeriote of McMaster University.
More information is available on the conference web site.