Some Personal Acknowledgements and Thanks from the Principal Organizer

Going beyond listing cosponsors and sources of financial support, I would like to take some space to identify colleagues who were a source of encouragement, support and help, and put them in the context of bigger organizational units. 

The Mathematical Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF)
The NSF reaffirmed the underlying scientific vision of the conference and through their generous grant increased the participation by outstanding young researchers. The folks at NSF, Joanna Kania-Bartoszynska in particular, got to the bottom of highly multidisciplinary research and an unconventional mix of ideas.

BU Center for Computational Science (CCS).
Claudio Rebbi, Director of CCS, made the first financial commitment to ACE ’06 and encouraged me to run with it. Ilona Lappo was indispensable in helping put together the NSF grant. I had confidence in the science and the speakers, but Ilona understood the credibility that would be conferred on ACE, once NSF support was secured. Cheryl Endicott was a safety net when it came to dealing with details.

BU College of Engineering Dean’s Office.
The BU COE trusted my scientific instincts and gave me access to both the funding and the logistical infrastructure that ensured success. Specifically, Dean Sol Eisenberg committed the College’s resources. Karen Shaffer single-handedly transformed the organization of the conference from a learning experience on my part, into a well orchestrated professional operation. From renegotiating hotel contracts, to lining up requisitions like ducks in a row, I cannot imagine how we would have survived without her. Carlos Moreira took text files, a crude website and ideas, and turned them into an incredible web page. Jim Lombardo took care of all financial aspects.

Lauri Kettunen, organizer of the previous two ACE workshops enthusiastically supported ACE coming to Boston. I hope the current ACE conference reflects well on what I learned by observing Saku Surriniemi who dealt with various practical details of the Finnish workshops. When it came to discussing the scientific program, Alain Bossavit was a wonderful sounding board. Various organizations provided links to the ACE website and their support is appreciated. Bob Alongi, who puts together the IEEE Reflector, and Osama Mohammed, general chair of CEFC 2006, are particularly memorable in this regard. The host institutions of the various speakers and poster presenters are also gratefully acknowledged for their support-financial and otherwise.

At BU, and in my home department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, I got moral support. I benefited from the advice and comments of David Campbell, Bahaa Saleh, Glenn Thoren, Mike Ruane, Roscoe Giles, John Stachel, Tom Toffoli, Aaron Caine, and office staff. Kalman Zabarsky, our beloved university photographer, took and retook the wonderful picture for the conference poster to my initial specification. My colleagues endured everything from “big picture questions”, to trick questions about why the same pdf file for a poster, printed on the same machine, but at different times of the day and/or on different size paper, could have different coloring. Jennifer Swaluk and Shola Fiedensohn of creative services, and Jim Lavallee and Meghan Barnes of the Hyatt were always there when I had such questions.

Finally, I must thank my family for helping me with all the hurdles along the way, and for letting me be so distracted for so long. I confess that I forgot to take a proper accounting of all hurdles and distractions (and I hope they have too).