Symposium on Simplicity in Algorithms is a conference in theoretical computer science dedicated to advancing algorithms research by promoting simplicity and elegance in the design and analysis of algorithms. The benefits of simplicity are manifold: simpler algorithms manifest a better understanding of the problem at hand; they are more likely to be implemented and trusted by practitioners; they are more easily taught and are more likely to be included in algorithms textbooks; and they attract a broader set of researchers to difficult algorithmic problems.

Papers in all areas of algorithms research are sought. An ideal submission will advance our understanding of an algorithmic problem by, for example, introducing a simpler algorithm, presenting a simpler analysis of an existing algorithm, or offering insights that generally simplify our understanding of important algorithms or computational problems.

We are especially interested in papers that make material more accessible to a wider audience, such as undergraduates, or for more specialized topics, general algorithms researchers.

Submissions should contain novel ideas or attractive insights, but they are not expected to prove novel theorems. That is, the results themselves can be known, but their presentation must be new.

Submission Guidelines

Authors must submit their papers electronically, in PDF format.

Submissions should begin with a title page containing the paper title, each author’s name, affiliation, and email address, and an abstract summarizing the contributions of the paper. There is no page limit. The paper should begin with a clear description of the algorithmic problem to be solved, a survey of prior work on the problem—including a candid assessment of prior work in terms of simplicity and elegance—and a discussion of the contributions of the paper. The body of the paper should be written for a general theoretical computer science audience and substantiate the main claims of the paper with full proofs. The submission should be typeset using 11-point font, in a single-column format with ample spacing throughout and ample margins all around. The submissions ought to be visually easy to read.

Brevity is a hallmark of simplicity. Authors are specifically encouraged to submit short and simple papers.

The program committee may designate one or more papers as SOSA Best Papers. All submissions will be considered.

The submission site is available at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sosa2024.

Paper Presenters

The Program Committee expects every speaker of a scheduled presentation to register and attend the symposium.

Committees

Program Committee

• Peyman Afshani, Aarhus University, Denmark 
• Josh Alman, Columbia University, U.S. 
• Leonid Barenboim, The Open University of Israel, Israel 
• Soheil Behnezhad, Northeastern University, U.S. 
• Ioana Bercea, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 
• Aaron Bernstein, Rutgers University, U.S. 
• Sebastian Brandt, Helmholtz Center for Information Security (CISPA), Germany 
• Mark Bun, Boston University, U.S. 
• Clément Canonne, University of Sydney, Australia 
• Keren Censor-Hillel, Technion, Israel 
• Debarati Das, Pennsylvania State University, U.S. 
• Noah Stephens-Davidowitz, Cornell University, U.S. 
• Uri Feige, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel 
• Jeremy Fineman, Georgetown University, U.S. 
• Michael Goodrich, University of California, Irvine, U.S. 
• Kira Goldner, Boston University, U.S. 
• Lukasz Kowalik, University of Warsaw, Poland 
• Rasmus Kyng, ETH, Switzerland 
• Euiwoong Lee, University of Michigan, U.S. 
• Shachar Lovett, University of California, San Diego, U.S. 
• Yasamin Nazari, VU Amsterdam, Netherlands 
• Merav Parter, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (Co-chair)
• Seth Pettie, University of Michigan, U.S. (Co-chair)
• Eric Price, University of Texas at Austin, U.S. 
• Kent Quanrud, Purdue University, U.S. 
• Julian Shun, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S. 
• Sharma Thankachan, NC State University, U.S. 
• Sivan Toledo, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Steering committee

• Michael A. Bender, Stony Brook University, U.S.
• David Karger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S. 
• Tsvi Kopelowitz, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
• Seth Pettie, University of Michigan, U.S. 
• Robert Tarjan, Princeton University, U.S. 
• Mikkel Thorup, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Merav Parter <merav.parter@weizmann.ac.il> and Seth Pettie <pettie@umich.edu>.