Boise Extravaganza in Set Theory

The twentieth meeting of the Boise Extravaganza in Set Theory (BEST) will be held on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, during June 16 - 19, 2013 as a symposium of the 94th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAASPD). The BEST conference provides the western region of the United States with a conference in Set Theory that emphasizes diversity. The conference actively seeks to recruit and integrate student and early career dissemination of research in Set Theory and its affiliated mathematical disciplines into the conference agenda. The conference promotes interaction between different career stages in the field by also recruiting four plenary speakers. The plenary speakers for BEST 2013 are Dr. Todd Eisworth (Ohio University), Dr. Masaru Kada (Osaka Prefecture University, Japan), Thilo Weinert (University of Bonn, Germany) and Dr. Lynne Yengulalp (University of Dayton). The conference seeks to increase participation by underrepresented groups in the field.

Set Theory is the foundation of Mathematics, and as such, of modeling and deductive reasoning in the natural sciences. Offering BEST at the Annual Meeting of the Pacific division of the AAAS thus provides potential for significant broader impact. Mathematics has always benefited from an influx of ideas and problems in other sciences, and conversely. It benefits the natural sciences, and also Set Theory, when opportunities for such cross fertilization are nurtured and facilitated.