Symposium & Workshop on
Info-Gap Applications
in the Life Sciences

The aim of the workshop was to explore info-gap approaches--combined with other methodologies as well--to decision problems in a range of life-science disciplines.

There were no formal presentations nor published proceedings. Rather, the participants defined specific problems and worked in small groups on formulating practical solutions.

Workshop Foci

We focused on problems in four areas:

• conservation biology
• bioterror policy
• personalized medicine
• resource economics

While the specific topical content of the problems in these areas are different, there is tremendous methodological and mathematical overlap. This makes communication between the working groups very fruitful.

Workshop Program

The first session started Monday morning, September 11th, 2006, at 11:00, and was devoted to defining specific topical analysis, decision, and design problems on which the participants wished to work. At the same session, working groups were identified for these topics.

After lunch the working groups went into action: formalizing their questions, defining their strategies, and developing their results.

This collaborative working-group activity continued Monday afternoon, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning. Wednesday in the late morning we all convened for brief presentations by the working groups, about 15 minutes each. We compared results, exchanged ideas, and then broke for lunch.

After lunch on Wednesday, and continuing through Thursday and the first half of Friday morning, the working groups continued developing responses and solutions to their chosen problems. Mid-morning on Friday we again all convened. Each group briefly presented the status of their solutions and their plans for continuation and completion. This concluded the workshop.

Two lectures on info-gap theory were presented to the public in the symposium which ran parallel to the workshop. One was presented at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute and was directed to a clinically oriented audience. The other was at the University of Houston and was directed to a broad audience of scholars and students interested in decisions under uncertainty in engineering, economics, management, behavioral science, etc. These lectures were designed to introduce info-gap theory to the respective audiences.