Subject: MIC'99 - III Metaheuristics International Conference

From: "Mauricio Resende" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 09:20:48 -0400

Dear Colleague,

We are glad to invite you to participate in the III Metaheuristics
International Conference (MIC'99). This conference will be held at
Angra dos Reis, a beautiful seaside resort about 150 km south of 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 18 to 23, 1999.

The aim of the conference is to survey progress in the area of
metaheuristics and their applications. Papers on theoretical aspects
of metaheuristics, heuristics for specific problems, computer
implementations and case studies will be welcome. Papers comparing
metaheuristics and reporting on applications in new areas are of 
particular interest. 

MIC'99 will follow the tradition and the basic format of the two first
conferences held in Breckenridge (1995) and Sophia-Antipolis (1997).
Three innovations will be added:

- Plenary lectures: two such lectures will be presented by:
  Dr. David Johnson (AT&T Labs Research), 
               "Experimental evaluation of heuristics"
  Dr. Mihalis Yannakakis (Bell Labs), 
               "Complexity of local search"

- Recent progress surveys: a series of tutorial lectures focusing on
  recent developments of main metaheuristics such as genetic algorithms, 
  GRASP, simulated annealing and tabu search, and new ones such as 
  variable neighborhood search and ant colonies optimization will be
  presented by leading researchers in these fields (names will be 
  announced later).

- Heuristics implementation contest: we are considering the organization
  of a systematic comparison of computer codes implementing heuristics 
  for some specific problems. To enhance objectivity, these comparisons 
  would be carried out independently from the authors. Results would
  be presented during the conference. A more detailed proposal for the 
  format of this contest is given in a companion message. Comments,
  suggestions and criticisms of this proposal are solicited.

A refereed proceedings volume will be published by a well-known
editing company. Instructions for submissions will be provided later.
A copy of this volume will be sent to all registered participants.

A volume of extended abstracts of all accepted communications will be 
distributed on site. Deadlines for early registration and for submission 
of extended abstracts will be specified shortly. We also invite you to 
visit the web site of the conference at
           http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~mic99
where further information about the conference site, hotel reservation
and registration fees will be made available.

We hope you will be able to attend MIC'99 and look forward to meeting
you in Brazil.

-- Celso C. Ribeiro, Chaiman
   Pierre Hansen, Co-Chairman