GPTP-2009 -- Seventh Annual Genetic Programming Theory and Practice Workshop
May 14-16 (Thur-Sat), 2009
Ann Arbor Michigan USA

GPTP is a small, one-track, invitation-only workshop devoted to the
integration of theory and practice. In particular, it focuses on how
theory can inform practice and what practice reveals about theory.
Past workshops have invited speakers to discuss theoretical work
and its value to practitioners of the art, and to review problems and
observations from practice that challenge existing theory.

This year we are asking researchers who are interested in being
invited to present a paper at this Workshop to submit an abstract
representing the work they would like to present. We will extend a
limited number of invitations to participate based on these abstracts.

We especially encourage papers which combine theory with results from
real-world applications, e.g., papers in which theory is used to guide
application to real-world problems, and/or results from real-world
applications that confirm (or contradict) theory. In this vein,
collaborations between "theorists" and "practitioners" are most
welcome, since such collaborations are quite rare but they are likely
to lead to new insights and novel results.

Some of the questions this workshop is expected to address include:

* What are good ways to approach the application of GP to a new
problem? What are good ways to adjust control parameters within GP?
Are there heuristics to guide the choice of representation, search
operators, and so on?

* Does the schema (or other analogous) theorem hold for GP, and what
does this mean for the design and use of GP applications?

* What are the "symptoms" of GP pathology (i.e., premature
convergence, overfitting, etc.)?

* How universal is the behavior of GP over different problems and data types?

* What are the good and bad features of GP for problem application?

* Are there ways to predict whether a problem is "GP tractable?"

* Application of GP to "real" problems, e.g., applications
with large amounts of noisy data, or applications in which GP
must compete with other more accepted approaches.

Note that while debate between theorists is encouraged, the focus
should remain on the implications for GP applications. Similarly,
while "war stories" from application engineers are useful, the choice of
war stories should be made on the basis of understanding the GP
mechanisms, either by addressing why a particular approach worked or
proposing a reason for an unusual behavior.

To see a list of participants and papers for previous GPTP workshops, visit
http://cscs.umich.edu/events/gptp-workshops
Papers have been published in a series of "Genetic Programming
Theory and Practice" books, one for each year (by Kluwer/Springer).

The format of this workshop will be similar to that of the previous
workshops (GPTP 2003-2008): a relatively small, invitation-only
workshop on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor,
with plenty of time for discussion of a roughly equal mix of a total
of 18 papers by theorists and practitioners. In order to facilitate
a substantial exchange of ideas, workshop talks will be approximately
30 minutes long, with considerable time allocated for discussion.
The papers will be reviewed by co-participants prior to the workshop, and
collected for publication in a book to be published as soon as possible
after the workshop. As we would like to have the papers available for
distribution before the workshop, the likely deadline for the submission
of papers will be mid/late March 2009. Papers will be 16 pages max.

If you are interested in having a paper considered for presentation
at the workshop and included in the book, please send a one-page abstract
as well as a short CV of the authors to:

gptp-2009@umich.edu

by: 12 January 2009. *** Earlier responses are encouraged ***

The abstracts will be reviewed and decisions made by 19 January 2009.
We will select 2-6 proposed papers based on relevance to the GPTP workshop
goals, the expected quality of the contribution, and how the paper topic
will fit with the "mix" of other invited and selected papers.

Note that we will be selecting only high-quality, high-content papers,
i.e., we are looking for papers that have more depth and breadth than
typical conference papers.

Also note there is no "workshop fee" for participation -- the workshop
is funded by donations from groups and companies interested in
advancing the art and science of genetic programming.

If you do anticipate sending an abstract, please let us know as soon
possible, just so we have a rough idea of how many abstracts to expect.

If you have questions, please email them to gptp-2009@umich.edu .

GPTP-2009 Workshop Organization Committee

Rick Riolo
Una-May O'Reilly
Trent McConaghy