Combinatorial Design Theory session at Summer 2026 CMS Meeting

Combinatorial design theory studies the existence, construction, and structure of finite sets such as subsets, arrays, and graphs, that satisfy constraints. Leonard Euler investigated pairs of orthogonal Latin squares in the 18th century, and design theory’s origin predates this with a magic square found on a turtle’s back in China around 2200 BC. In the 20th century, Statisticians used Balanced Incomplete Block Designs, and connections with algebra and finite geometry opened new directions in the field. In the late 20th century, computational approaches marked a new era in design theory. Today design theory is multidisciplinary, studying factorization problems and combinatorial arrays with applications that include algorithm design, cryptography, wireless communication, and coding theory. Canada is home to a growing strong and internationally recognized research community. This session aims to bring together researchers from diverse subareas of design theory to the CMS to discuss advances in the field.

Contact:  Brett Stevens  brett@math.carleton.ca