Salt Lake City Meeting (August 5-8)- Page 761 Notices of the American Mathematical Society August 1987, Issue 257 Volume 34, Number 5, Pages 729-872 Providence, Rhode Island USA ISSN 0002-9920 Calendar of AMS Meetings , THIS CALENDAR lists all meetings which have been approved by the Council prior to the date this issue of Notices was sent to the press. The summer and annual meetings are joint meetings of the Mathematical Association of America and the American Mathematical Society. The meeting dates which fall rather far in the future are subject to change: this is particularly true of meetings to which no numbers have yet been assigned. Programs of the meetings will appear in the issues indicated below. First and supplementary announcements of the meetings will have appeared in earlier issues. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS presented at a meeting of the Society are published in the journal Abstracts of papers presented to the American Mathematical Society in the issue corresponding to that of the Notices which contains the program of the meeting. Abstracts should be submitted on special forms which are available in many departments of mathematics and from the headquarter's office of the Society. Abstracts of papers to be presented at the meeting must be recejvedat the headquarters of the Society in Providence. Rhode Island. on or before the deadline given below for the meeting. Note that the deadline for abstracts for consideration for presentation at special sessions is usually three weeks earlier than that specified below. For additional information. consult the meeting announcements and the list of organizers of special sessions. ABSTRACT MEETING # DATE PLACE DEADLINE ISSUE 836 August 5-8, 1987* Salt Lake City, Utah EXPIRED August 837 October 3D-November 1, Lincoln, Nebraska August 17 October 1987 838 November 14-15, 1987 Los Angeles, California August 18 October 839 January 6-9, 1988** Atlanta, Georgia October 8 January (94th Annual Meeting) March 18-19, 1988 East Lansing, Michigan August 8-12, 1988 Providence, Rhode Island (AMS Centennial Celebration) January 11-14, 1989 Phoenix, Arizona (95th Annual Meeting) January 17-20, 1990 Louisville, Kentucky (96th Annual Meeting) * Preregistration/Housing deadline was June 1. ** Preregistration/Housing deadline is November 6. DEADLINES Advertising (Oct. 1987 Issue) Sept. 2. 1987 (Nov. 1987 Issue) Sept. 30. 1987 (Jan. 1988 Issue) Nov. 11. 1987 News/SMIC (Oct. 1987 Issue) Aug. 17. 1987 (Nov. 1987 Issue) Sept. 14. 1987 (Jan. 1988 Issue) Oct. 20. 1987 Advertising (Dec. 1987 Issue) Oct. 21. 1987 Other Events Sponsored by the Society June 14-July 25, 1987, Joint Summer Research Conference in the Mathematica,1 Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. Details: February issue, page 351. July 19-August 15, 1987, Joint Summer Research Conference in the Mathematical Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Details: February issue, page 351. July 6-24, 1987, Summer Research Institute on Theta Functions, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. Details: February issue, page 354. January 5-6, 1988, AMS Short Course: Computational Complexity Theory, Atlanta, Georgia. February 1988,.Symposium on Some Glimpses of Contemporary Mathematics (on the occasion of the Centenary of the American Mathematical Society), Boston, Massachusetts. May/ June 1988, International Symposium in Honor of John von Neumann, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. Subscribers' changes of address should be reported well in advance to avoid disruption of service: address labels are prepared four to six weeks in advance of the date of mailing. Requests for a change of address should always include the member or subscriber code and preferably a copy of the entire mailing label. Members are reminded that U. S. Postal Service change-of-address forms are not adequate for this purpose. since they make no provision for several important items of information which are essential for the AMS records. Suitable forms are published at the back of every issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society. Send change of address forms to the Society at Post Office Box 6248. Providence. RI 02940. [Notices ofthe American Mathematical Society is published eight times a year (January. February. April. June. August. October. November. December) by the American Mathematical Society at 201 Charles Street. Providence. RI 02904. Second class postage paid at Providence. RI and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change notices to Notices of the American Mathematical Society. Membership and Sales Department. American Mathematical Society. P. O. Box 6248. Providence. RI 02940.] Publication here of the Society's street address. and the other information in brackets above. is a technical requirement of the U. S. Postal Service. All correspondence should be mailed to the Post Office Box. NOT the street address. Members are strongly urged to notify the Society themselves of address changes. since reliance on the postal service change-of-address forms is liable to cause delays in processing such requests in the AMS office. Notices of the American Mathematical Society Volume 34, Number 5, August 1987 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Robert J. Blattner, Ralph P. Boas Lucy J. Garnett, Mary Ellen Rudin Nancy K. Stanton, Steven H. Weintraub Everett Pitcher (Chairman) MANAGING EDITOR James A. Voytuk 731 An Interview with John Polking ASSOCIATE EDITORS Stuart Antman, Queries 737 Commentary on Defense Funding Hans Samelson, Queries 741 News and Announcements Ronald L. Graham, Special Articles 745 NSF News & Reports SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Subscription prices for Volume 34 (1987) 748 For Your Information are $90 list; $72 institutional member; 754 Letters to the Editor $54 individual member. (The subscription 758 Queries price for members is included in the annual dues.) A late charge of 10% of 759 1987 AMS Elections the subscription price will be imposed 760 Election Information upon orders received from nonmembers after January 1 of the subscription 761 Future Meetings of the Society year. Add for postage: Surface delivery Salt Lake City. August 5-8. 761: Lincoln. outside the United States and lndia-$8; October 30-November 1. 801: Los Angeles. to lndia-$18; expedited delivery to destinations in North America-$12; November 14-15. 803: Invited Speakers and elsewhere-$38. Subscriptions and Special Sessions. 805 orders for AMS publications should be 808 Call addressed to the American Mathematical for Topics for 1989 Conferences Society, P.O. Box 1571, Annex Station, 810 Special Meetings Providence, Rl 02901-9930. All orders 816 New AMS Publications must be prepaid. 819 ADVERTISING & INQUIRIES New Members Notices publishes situations wanted 823 Miscellaneous and classified advertising, and display Personal Items. 823: Deaths. 823: Visiting advertising for publishers and academic Mathematicians. Backlog. or scientific organizations. 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All rights reserved. 867 ElMS Subscription Form Printed in the United States of America. 869 New AMS Publications Order Form The paper used in this journal is acid-free and falls within the guidelines established and Mailer to ensure permanence and durability.!§ Notices: highlights John Polking, the outgoing Director of the Division of Mathemat­ ical Sciences at the NSF, speaks openly in an interview with Notices. He gives his opinions on a number of issues, including the state of current funding and the prospects of future funding from the NSF, the controversy over defense funding, the crisis in mathematics education, and the role of the research mathematician at the NSF. Page 731. Commentary on Defense Funding continues with statements from members of the mathematical community regarding this important issue. Page 737. The AMS Centennial Research Fellowship program is described, and the request for applications is announced. Page 741. The U.S.A. Mathematical Olympiad winners are honored at a dinner in Washington and begin preparation for the International Mathematical Olympiad in July. Page 742. For Your Information contains two reports on the state of the mathematics profession. The first summarizes a report on American Graduate Mathematics Enrollments prepared for CBMS, and the sec­ ond contains excerpts from an NSF survey on R&D expenditures at academic institutions. Page 748. The Salt Lake City Summer Meeting promises to be an excellent meeting in one of the most beautiful locations in the coun­ try. The Colloquium Lectures will be given by Edward Witten on the mathematical applications of quantum field theory. In addition, there will be eight invited addresses and six special sessions to serve as the core for an outstanding scientific program. The 1987 Steele Prizes will be awarded prior to the Business Meeting. Page 761. AMS Reports and Communications contains the current list of AMS Officers and Committee Members and a report