Call for Papers:
Fifteenth Annual Conference on Computational Learning Theory


The Fifteenth Annual Conference on Computational Learning Theory (COLT
2002) will be held during the week July 8-12, 2002 in Sydney, Australia.
The conference will be co-located with ICML-2002.

We invite submission of papers about the theory of machine learning.
Possible topics include:
  * analysis of learning algorithms for specific classes of
      hypotheses, including established classes (e.g. neural networks,
      graphical models, decision trees, logical formulae, automata,
      pattern languages, grammars) and new classes;
  * bounds on the generalization ability of learning algorithms;
  * learning algorithms based on large margin hypotheses (SVM,
      boosting);
  * worst-case relative loss bounds for sequential prediction
      algorithms;
  * analysis of adaptive algorithms for decision, planning and
      control;
  * bounds on the computational complexity of learning;
  * learning with queries and learning in the limit;
  * new learning models that either capture important details of
      specific applications or that address general issues in a new
      way.

We also welcome theoretical papers about learning that do not fit into
the above categories; we are particularly interested in papers that
include ideas and viewpoints that are new to the COLT community.
While the primary focus of the conference is theoretical, papers can
be strengthened by the inclusion of relevant experimental results.

Papers that have appeared in journals or other conferences, or that
are being submitted to other conferences, are not appropriate for
submission to COLT.

Paper submissions: We will be setting up a server to receive
electronic submissions.  Although electronic submissions are
preferred, hard-copy submissions will also be possible.  Details of
the submission procedure will be made available on the conference web
page http://www.learningtheory.org/colt2002.  Please check this page
for updates on submission and conference details.  If you have
questions, send e-mail to the program co-chairs
(Jyrki.Kivinen@faceng.anu.edu.au, rsloan@nsf.gov).

Important dates: Submissions, electronic or hard-copy, must be
received by 23:59 GMT on Monday, January 28, 2002.  Authors will be
notified of acceptance or rejection on or before Friday April 5,
2002. Final camera-ready versions must be received by Friday April 19.

Submission format: Unlike previous COLT conferences, we are asking the
authors to submit a full paper, which should be in the Springer LNAI
format (see http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html) and no
longer than 15 pages.  Authors not using LaTeX2e are asked to contact
the program chairs well in advance of the submission deadline.

The paper should include a clear definition of the theoretical model
used and a clear description of the results, as well as a discussion
of their significance, including comparison to other work. Proofs or
proof sketches should be included.

Conference chair: Arun Sharma (Univ. of New South Wales)

Program co-chairs: Jyrki Kivinen (Australian National Univ.) and Bob
Sloan (NSF and Univ. of Illinois, Chicago).

Program committee: Dana Angluin (Yale), Javed Aslam (Dartmouth), Peter
Bartlett (BIOwulf Technologies), Shai Ben-David (Technion), John Case
(Univ. of Delaware), Peter Grunwald (CWI), Ralf Herbrich (Microsoft
Research), Mark Herbster (University College London), Gabor Lugosi
(Pompeu Fabra University), Ron Meir (Technion), Shahar Mendelson
(Australian National Univ.), Michael Schmitt (Ruhr-Universitaet
Bochum), Rocco Servedio (Harvard), and Santosh Vempala (MIT)

Student travel: We anticipate that some funds will be available to
partially support travel by student authors. Eligible authors who wish
to apply for travel support should indicate this on their submission's
title page.

Mark Fulk Award: This award is for the best paper authored or
coauthored by a student. Eligible authors who wish to be considered
for this prize should indicate this on their submission's title page.