Annual Conference for Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science 2020

Sponsored by Saint Mary's University and Science Atlantic

Oct 31 - Nov 1 (Virtual)

About the Conference

MSCS is an annual regional event comprising plenary talks, undergraduate research presentations, two co-located contests (programming and math) and a workshop by AARMS. This is a premier platform for the undergraduate students in computer science, mathematics, and statistics of Atlantic Canadian universities to disseminate their research projects, participate in contests and network with other students in the region. This also serves as a networking event for the faculty members of Atlantic Canadian universities. In 2020, MSCS conference will be organized by Department of Math and Computing Science, Faculty of Science, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada and sponsored by Science Atlantic. In light of continued contact restrictions and travel warnings due to COVID-19, MSCS 2020 will be organized as a purely virtual event.

Event Starts In:

Plenary Speakers

Blundon Lecture
Co-Presenter:
Dr. Gordon MacDonald (Professor, UPEI)
Co-Presenter:
Dr. Andrew Godbout (Assistant Professor, UPEI)
Sedgewick Lecture
Presenter:
Ms. Sreejata Chatterjee (Co-founder/CPO, LeadShift)
Field Lecture
Presenter:
Dr. James Watmough (Professor, UNB)

Program

8:45 - 9:05

Opening Remarks

9:05 - 10:45

Contributory Talks (CS)

9:05 - 10:45

Contributory Talks (Math)

10:45 - 11:00

Break

11:00 - 12:00

Sedgewick Lecture (CS)

Presenter : Ms. Sreejata Chatterjee, Co-founder/CPO, LeadShift

13:00 - 18:00

Programming Competition

14:00 - 17:00

Mathematics Contest

14:45 - 16:00

Joint Meeting (Math, Stat & CS)

16:00 - 17:00

CS committee meeting

16:00 - 17:00

Math Committee meeting

19:30 - 20:30

Blundon Lecture (Math)

Presenters : Dr. Gorden MacDonald (UPEI) and Dr. Andrew Godbout (UPEI)

8:45 - 9:45

Contributory Talks (Math)

9:05 - 10:25

Contributory Talks (CS)

9:45 - 10:25

Contributory Talks (Stats)

10:30 - 11:30

Field Lecture (Stats)

Presenter : Dr. James Watmough (UNB)

11:30 - 11:40

Break

11:40 - 12:40

Contributory Talks (Graduate Students)

12:40 - 13:00

Closing Remarks

Download Schedule Download Abstracts

Call for Abstracts

We invite abstract submissions from undergraduate students of Atlantic Canadian universities for oral presentations. We encourage submissions from all areas of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. Accepted abstracts will be presented at MSCS 2020 and published in the proceedings of Science Atlantic MSCS 2020 conference which will be made online. MSCS represents an excellent platform for the students to develop their presentation skills and to get valuable feedback from several professors from Atlantic universities. Each student talk (abstract) should be registered by a faculty member or SA representative (or designate) of the respective university via email (sa_mscs_20@cs.smu.ca).

The body of the email should contain the following.
  • Name and email of student (presenter)
  • University name
  • Field: Math, Stats or CS
  • Title and abstract of talk (in TeX or plain text)
  • Name of supervisor if applicable
  • Name of the collaborators, if any
We are now accepting the abstracts. The deadline for abstract submissions is Thursday, October 22nd, 2020, 11:59 PM ADT.
Non-undergraduate talks: We have very little idea how many papers will be contributed. On the one hand, difficult conditions over the summer and uncertainty about the conference may reduce numbers drastically. On the other hand, time commitment will be less. Should it appear that there's empty space in the program, we may decide to add variety by including short (15 minute) papers by faculty, graduate students, etc. Such talks must be pitched to an undergraduate audience - research announcements will usually not be appropriate. Think "undergraduate colloquium" rather than "research seminar." Think "fun" and "stimulating curiosity" rather than "impressive." No prizes will be awarded for these talks! They will not be scheduled in parallel with undergraduate talks, and there will be a limit on the number of such talks. Please indicate interest if you would like to give such a paper. We will let you know by Friday, Oct. 23, whether we can accept your offer. (Remember, it is only fifteen minutes, and it does not have to be novel.)

Atlantic Canadian Programming Contest 2020

Contest Information

  • The contest will be held virtually, on OpenKattis platform, on Saturday, October 31, from 1:00-6:00 pm (ADT) (the first day of MSCS-20).
  • There will be a contest briefing at 12:30 pm. The meeting link will be sent to the registered candidates via email.
  • Each contestant should have an OpenKattis account. Katttis accounts can be created by visiting this page and providing the necessary information. The registration to the contest must be done using the email addresses linked to the contestants’ Kattis accountants.
  • Each team will be registered by their respective Science Atlantic representative of the university. There is no limit to the number of teams a university can register.
  • The deadline for the contest registration is 11:59 PM on October 29(Thursday).
  • To comply with the most university's policies regarding social distancing, team members must not be located in the same room. There will be no proctoring or coaching during the contest.
  • There will be one computer per contestant. Teams can have either 1, 2 or 3 people (who communicate with software like Teams, Zoom, etc). Communication with others is forbidden, on the honour of the contestants.
  • During the contest, each team is allowed to access reference materials including physical textbooks and a reference document (cheat-sheet) of at most 25 pages.
  • Contestants, on their honour, are to refrain from searching online for pre-existing solutions or post-contest briefing notes/hints for the problems.
  • Use of IDEs is permitted. Setup of computing environment that is compatible with the Kattis platform is the responsibility of the team.
  • Teams can use any language supported by OpenKattis. Languages currently supported by OpenKattis can be found at https://open.kattis.com/help.
  • Contest url will be communicated to the contestants and will be made available here on October 31.
  • Should there be any questions, please contact your university representative, e.g., programming coach or Science Atlantic representative. The university representatives may contact the contest committee to seek details/clarifications.
The contest leaderboard can be accessed at https://open.kattis.com/contests/xfokus.

Mathematics Competition

  • Due to social distancing requirements, this will be written by individual contestants rather than teams.
  • The contest will be written on Saturday (Oct. 31) from 2 to 5 PM Atlantic time.
  • Participating universities will be expected to provide a faculty grader if needed, though we will give priority to those for whom it will be a pleasure!
  • As papers are human graded with a short turnaround, we may need to limit numbers. We will allow at least five contestants per university (fewer is fine), and maintain a waiting list to allocate unused places, spread as evenly as possible between universities.
  • Contest questions will be distributed by email at 2:00; students will return scanned, typed, or PDF answers.
  • The deadline for the contest registration is 11:59 PM on October 29 (Thursday). See the registration section for details.

Registration

Since the event is purely virtual, there will not be any registration fees. Every attendee (faculty, students, technicians and others) must register to the conference through the registration email address, sa_mscs_20@cs.smu.ca. Registration email should include one of the following subject lines (shown in capital letters).
  • UNDERGRADUATE MATH CONTEST APPLICATION
    Sent by: SA rep or designate.
    Email body should contain:
    • university name
    • list of up to 5 names and emails
    • optional waiting list (ordered) with names and emails
    • name of one potential judge if possible
  • UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMMING CONTEST APPLICATION
    Sent by: SA rep or designate.
    Email body should contain:
    • university name
    • any number of teams (with team names if available), with names and emails for each member
    • Each contestant should register using the email address affiliated to his/her OpenKattis account
  • UNDERGRADUATE TALK APPLICATION
    Sent by: supervisor or other faculty member.
    One email per talk, please! If student will also participate in a contest, please send a separate registration for that.
    Email body should contain:
    • name and email of student
    • university name
    • field: math, stats, or CS
    • title and abstract of talk (in TeX or flat text)
    • name of supervisor if applicable
    • name of collaborator(s) if any
  • STUDENTS ATTENDING ONLY
    Sent by: SA rep or designate.
    Email body should contain:
    • university name
    • list of names and email of students (any number, but serious interest only, please.)
  • FACULTY/OTHER ATTENDING
    Sent by: SA rep or designate.
    Email body should contain:
    • university name
    • name and email of participant
  • FACULTY/OTHER ATTENDING: OFFERED TALK APPLICATION
    Sent by: any faculty member (or grad student, etc).
    Email body should contain
    • name and email of participant.
    • university name if applicable
    • abstract of proposed 15 minute talk *(see above)
The deadline for conference and contests (Programming and Math) registrations is Thursday, Oct. 29th by 11:59 PM (ADT)
Abstract (undergraduate or other) registration is due on Thursday Oct. 22., 11:59 PM (ADT).

Winnners

  • Programming Competition:
    • StFX Coladog: Jueqi Wang, Ti Zhou (1st)
    • MTA 0x2A : Calum Bird, Crystal Sharpe, Rija Ali
    • UPEI Panthers CSW: Christopher MacDonald, Scott MacIntosh, Will Taylor-Melanson
  • Mathematics Competition:
    • Xiaoyu Jia, Dalhousie University (1st)
    • Vaugn Menchions, Dalhousie University (2nd)
    • Cameron Nickerson, Mount Allison University and Ellen Doria, University of New Brunswick (3rd, tied)
  • CS Presentations:
    • Bivash Pandey, Saint Mary's University (1st)
    • David Leblanc, Acadia University (2nd)
  • Math/Stat Presentation:
    • Alexander Clow , Saint Francis Xavier University (1st)
    • Amanda Porter, Mount Allison University (2nd)

Organization

  • Conference Committee:
    • Dr. Robert Dawson (Chair)
    • Mr. Andrew Hare
    • Dr. Wendy Finbow-Singh
    • Dr. Jiju Poovvancheri
    • Dr. Adele Fraser
  • Programming Contest Committee:
    • Dr. Owen Kaser (Chair)
    • Dr. Liam Keliher
    • Dr. Jiju Poovvancheri
    • Dr. James Hughes
    • Dr. Greg Lee
    • Dr. Jalal Almhana
  • Math Contest Committee:
    • Dr. Robert Dawson
    • Dr. Barry Monson
  • Technical/Web Committee:
    • Mr. Nikita Neveditsin
    • Mr. Sumesh Thakur

Sponsors & Partners