The 41st ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC 2009), sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT), will be held in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, May 31-June 2, 2009, with a welcome reception on May 30. 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.

Papers that broaden the reach of theory, or raise important problems that can benefit from theoretical investigation and analysis, are encouraged.

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.

Information about the submission server will be forthcoming. The submission deadline is 11:59pm, EST, Monday, November 17, 2008.

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 2009, will not be considered for acceptance at STOC 2009. 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 [date to be announced].

Deadline for Accepted Papers: A camera-ready copy of each accepted paper is required by [date to be announced].

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 Committee

Susanne Albers, Univ of Freiburg
Jonathan Katz, Univ of Maryland
Andris Ambainis, Univ of Latvia
Jonathan Kelner, MIT
Nikhil Bansal, IBM Research
Subhash Khot, New York Univ
Paul Beame, Univ of Washington
Ravi Kumar, Yahoo! Research
Andrej Bogdanov, Tsinghua Univ
Michael Mitzenmacher (Chair), Harvard Univ
Ran Canetti, Tel Aviv Univ
Kamesh Munagala, Duke Univ
David Eppstein, UC Irvine
Rasmus Pagh, IT Univ of Copenhagen
Dmitry Gavinsky, NEC labs
Anup Rao, Institute for Advanced Study
Leslie Ann Goldberg, Univ of Liverpool
Rocco Servedio, Columbia Univ
Shafi Goldwasser, MIT
Mikkel Thorup, AT&T Labs-Research
Nicole Immorlica, Northwestern Univ
Chris Umans, California Inst of Technology
Anna Karlin, Univ of Washington
Lisa Zhang, Bell Laboratories


Local Arrangements Committee

Jonathan Katz, Univ of Maryland
David Mount, Univ of Maryland
Aravind Srinivasan (Chair), Univ of Maryland