The 40th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC 2008), sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT), will be held in Victoria, BC, Canada, from May 17 to 20, 2008. Papers presenting new and original research on the theory of computation are sought. Typical but not exclusive topics of interest include: algorithms and data structures, computational complexity, cryptography, privacy, computational geometry, algorithmic graph theory and combinatorics, randomness in computing, parallel and distributed computation, machine learning, applications of logic, algorithmic algebra and coding theory, computational biology, computational game theory, quantum computing and other alternative models of computation, and theoretical aspects of areas such as databases, information retrieval, and networks.

Submission format: Authors should submit an extended abstract (not a full paper). The extended abstract should start with a title page consisting of the title of the paper; each author's name, affiliation, and email address; and a brief summary of the results to be presented (one or two paragraphs in length). This should then be followed by a technical exposition of the main ideas and techniques used to achieve the results, including motivation and a clear comparison with related work. The full extended abstract should not exceed 10 single-spaced pages (excluding title page and bibliography), on letter-size (8 1/2 x 11 inch) paper, and should be in single-column format, using at least 1 inch margins and at least 11-point font. If more details are needed to substantiate the main claims of the paper, the submission may include a clearly marked appendix that will be read at the discretion of the program committee. Submissions deviating significantly from these guidelines risk rejection without consideration of their merits.

Abstract Submission: Authors are required to submit their extended abstracts electronically. Once active, the submission server will be accessible here. The submission deadline is 7:59 pm EST November 19, 2007.

Submissions will be judged solely on the basis of the extended abstract submitted by the deadline; post-deadline revisions will NOT be taken into consideration.

Simultaneous Submissions: The conference will follow SIGACT's policy on simultaneous submissions and prior publication. Abstract material which has been previously published in another conference proceedings or journal, or which is scheduled for publication prior to July 2008, will not be considered for acceptance at STOC 2008. SIGACT policy does not allow simultaneous submissions of the same (or essentially the same) abstract material to another conference with a published proceedings.

Notification: Authors will be sent notification of acceptance or rejection by email on or before February 4, 2008.

Deadline for Accepted Papers: A camera-ready copy of each accepted paper is required by March 6, 2008.

Presentation of Accepted Papers: One author of each accepted paper will be expected to present the work at the conference.

Best Paper Award: The program committee may designate up to three papers accepted to the conference as STOC Best Papers. Every submission is automatically eligible for this award. Rules for the award can be found at http://sigact.acm.org/prizes/bestpaper.

Danny Lewin Best Student Paper Award: A prize of $500 will be given to the author(s) of the best student-authored paper (or split between more than one paper if there is a tie). A paper is eligible if all of its authors are full-time students at the time of submission. To inform the program committee about a paper's eligibility, please add "Eligible for best student paper" as the last sentence in the "Abstract" field in the web form on the submission server. The list of past winners can be found at http://sigact.acm.org/prizes/student.

Program Chair: Cynthia Dwork, Microsoft

Program Committee:

James Aspnes, Yale University
Shai Ben-David, University of Waterloo
Shuchi Chawla, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Bernard Chazelle, Princeton University
Steve Chien, Microsoft
Xiaotie Deng, City University of Hong Kong
Cynthia Dwork (Chair), Microsoft
Martin Dyer, University of Leeds
Ronald Fagin, IBM Almaden
Joan Feigenbaum, Yale University
Anupam Gupta, Carnegie Mellon University
Venkatesan Guruswami, University of Washington and Institute for Advanced Study
Konstantin Makarychev, IBM
Elchanan Mossel, University of California, Berkeley
Rafael Pass, Cornell University
Oded Regev, Tel Aviv University
Omer Reingold, Weizmann Institute of Science
Ronitt Rubinfeld, MIT
David Shmoys, Cornell University
Luca Trevisan, University of California, Berkeley
Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, Tsinghua University

Local Arrangements Co-Chairs: Bruce Kapron, Valerie King, Venkatesh Srinivasan, and Ulrike Stege, University of Victoria