This message is only for those working on Constraint Programming ================================================================= Elections for the new Constraint Programming Organizing Committee ================================================================= Dear constraint programmers, the Constraint Programming Organizing Committee (CP OC) currently selects the venue of the annual CP international conference and chooses its program and conference chairs. The CP OC has been originally formed in 1995, when the first CP conference was held, by a set of founders, and has been yearly updated by adding the program and conference chairs of the current CP conference. As a result, the current CP OC has the following members: A. Borning, J. Cohen, A. Colmerauer, R. Dechter, E. Freuder (chair), H. Gallaire, C. Gomes, P. van Hentenryck, J.-P. Jouannaud, J.-L. Lassez, M. Maher, U. Montanari, A. Nerode, J.-F. Puget, F. Rossi, V. Saraswat, G. Smolka, R. Yap, T. Walsh, R. Watcher. Since 1995, when the CP community was formally born, things have greatly changed, and our community has grown enormously. To say one thing, we have passed from about 100 submissions to CP 1995 to 180 for CP 2003, and we have built a doctoral program which now has about 45 applications (from 25 in 2001). This is the result of a greater interest from both industry and academia for CP techniques and results, and appreciation from the application fields which benefitted from CP technology. To respond adequately to the needs of such a greater community, which wants to have more than just an annual conference, and desires to feel part of the decisions governing the whole community, the current CP OC is seeking to move to a more structured and democratically elected governing entity, which can take care of the conference and chairs, but also of other services like, to name a few, a newsletter, summer schools, news alert, and the relationship with other communities. We are now ready to vote for the new Constraint Programming Organizing Committee (CP OC). In the web site http://cpoc-election.math.unipd.it you can find the detailed rules for the composition and election of the CP OC. You will see that we need to vote for 6 members among the candidates.
We have 8 candidates, which, according to the rules, were nominated by at least three members of the CP community (all those who have attended at least one CP conference) or at least one member of the current CP OC. If you attended at least one of the CP conferences, you are allowed to vote. Voting will be open until August 30, 2003. To vote, go to the website mentioned above and register. You will automatically receive a password by email that will allow you to vote on the same website, by entering your email address and password. You can vote for as many candidates as you want. However, you can vote only once. On August 31st, the votes will be collected, and the 6 candidates who will have the highest number of votes will be elected and will serve on the CP OC for three years. The results of the elections will be announced on September 10, 2003, and the new CP OC will be presented at the CP 2003 conference, which will be held in Kinsale, Ireland on September 29th - October 3rd, 2003, and will immediately start being operational. For any doubts, you can contact me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Best regards, Eugene Freuder (chair of current CP OC) Francesca Rossi (program chair of CP 2003)
