Mark Giesbrecht

The MICA 2008 conference was held May 1–3, 2008 in Stonehaven Bay, Trinidad. The conference honoured the scientific career of Keith Geddes. Colleagues, students and friends celebrated Professor Geddes’ achievements in many areas: in fundamental research, in technology transfer, and in the training of the next generation of scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Keith received his PhD in 1973 from the University of Toronto under the supervision of John C. Mason. Since that time, as a professor at the University of Waterloo, his research has spanned the areas of numerical approximation, algebraic algorithms for symbolic computation, hybrid symbolicnumeric computation and the design and implementation of computer algebra systems. Keith has actively supported our community through the ACM Special Interest Group on Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation (SIGSAM), which he chaired from 1991 to 1993, and numerous conference program committees. He is perhaps best known as co-founder of the Maple computer algebra system. Through his teaching, research, service and software, the work of Keith Geddes has literally touched millions of individuals. The timing of the conference marked many numerically significant milestones: Keith was born just over 60 years ago in Saskatchewan, he began his research career just under 40 years ago as a graduate student at the University of Toronto, he co-founded Maplesoft 20 years ago in Waterloo and now he has chosen to start his retirement at the end of 2008. This was clearly an occasion that called for celebration! Almost four dozen scientific colleagues came together at MICA 2008 to pay tribute to Keith. This included eight distinguished invited speakers, some two dozen colleagues who have contributed scientific papers and posters, and many others who come to pay their respects. In addition, a great many colleagues sent their wishes, but could not attend in person. Many people contributed time and effort to make the conference a success: The authors and speakers have prepared a great collection of high-quality contributions, the program committee spent time and effort reviewing the submissions, the members of the organizing committee all took on additional responsibilities, and many student volunteers helped with practical aspects. We thank Maplesoft for major funding for the meeting; without their support the meeting could not have taken place. We thank the University of Waterloo for additional financial contribution. We also thank ACM SIGSAM, the Ontario Research Centre for Computer Algebra (ORCCA), the University of Western Ontario and the University of the West Indies for their support. Everyone who knows Keith and has had the privilege to work with him will attest to his qualities as a scholar and person. On behalf of all who participated in this conference, and all those who sent their best wishes, we thank Keith for his many contributions, and wish him a rich and active retirement!