NATO Advanced Study Institute

                       on

       Learning Theory and Practice (LTP 2002)


         July 8-19 2002 - K.U. Leuven Belgium

  http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/sista/natoasi/ltp2002.html


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 -General Objective-

  This NATO Advanced Study Institute on Learning Theory and
  Practice aims at creating a fascinating interplay between
  advanced fundamental theory and several application areas
  such as bioinformatics, multimedia/computer vision, e-commerce
  finance, internet search, textmining and others. It offers an
  interdisciplinary forum for presenting recent progress and
  breakthroughs in learning theory with respect to several areas
  as neural networks, machine learning, mathematics and statistics.


 -Invited Lecturers-

  Peter Bartlett  (Australian National University Canberra, AUS)
  Kristin Bennett  (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute New York, USA)
  Chris Bishop  (Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK)
  Nello Cristianini  (Royal Holloway London, UK)
  Luc Devroye  (McGill University Montreal, CAN)
  Lazlo Gyorfi  (T.U. Budapest, HUN)
  Gabor Horvath  (T.U. Budapest, HUN)
  Rudolf Kulhavy  (Honeywell Technology Center Prague, CZ)
  Vera Kurkova  (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ)
  Joerg Lemm  (University of Muenster, GER)
  Charles Micchelli  (IBM T.J. Watson, USA)
  Tomaso Poggio  (MIT, USA)
  Massimiliano Pontil  (University of Siena, IT)
  Bernhard Schoelkopf  (Max-Planck-Institute Tuebingen, GER)
  Yoram Singer  (Hebrew University Jerusalem, IS)
  Steve Smale  (U.C. Berkeley, USA)
  Johan Suykens  (K.U. Leuven, BEL)
  Vladimir Vapnik  (AT&T Labs Research, USA)
  Mathukumalli Vidyasagar  (Tata Consultancy Services, IND)


 -Organizing committee-

  Johan Suykens  (K.U. Leuven, BEL), Director
  Gabor Horvath  (T.U. Budapest, HUN), Co-director partner country
  Joos Vandewalle  (K.U. Leuven, BEL)
  Sankar Basu  (IBM T.J. Watson, USA)
  Charles Micchelli  (IBM T.J. Watson, USA)


 -Program and participation-

  According to the NATO rules http://www.nato.int/science the number of
  ASI students will be limited to 80. All participants will obtain a *free*
  registration (including welcome reception, lunches, banquets,
  refreshments and a NATO-ASI Science Series book to be published
  with IOS Press). Limited additional funding will be available to
  cover attendance costs. All interested participants should fill
  out an application form, taking into account the NATO restrictions.

  Application form and preliminary program are available at
  http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/sista/natoasi/ltp2002.html


 -Venue-

  The Advanced Study Institute will take place in the Arenberg Castle
  of the K.U. Leuven Heverlee. The place is surrounded by several
  restaurants/cafes and parks where one may have a relaxing walk. The
  historical town of Leuven is within walking distance from the meeting
  site. Leuven is also well-known for its pleasant atmosphere, pubs and
  restaurants.


 -Housing-

  In addition to hotels rooms, blocks of low cost student rooms are
  reserved for the ASI students. The student rooms and hotels are located
  within walking distance from the Arenberg castle meeting site. In order
  to stimulate the interaction among the participants the option of
  student rooms will be recommended to all ASI students.


 -Important Dates-

  Deadline submission of application form:  March 18, 2002
  Notification of acceptance:               April 30, 2002
  NATO-ASI LTP 2002 meeting:                July 8-19, 2002