Logic Summer School
The College recently welcomed 45 participants to the fifteenth annual Logic Summer School held from 4th to 15th December 2006. Billed as 'two weeks of wall-to-wall logic', the Summer School attracts students from all states of Australia and New Zealand and even further afield - some from Japan this year. It is valuable for IT professionals, educators in logic, and undergraduate students planning to do research in logic-related fields.
by Heather McEwen, Marketing Manager
"These days we see mostly computer science students in the school, but logic is not just about computers: anything that makes sense can be subjected to logical analysis," says Professor John Slaney who leads the Logic and Computation group in the Computer Sciences Laboratory.
"What I find most exciting is to get right away from sanitised textbook examples and make logic confront realistic data and theories. In the Logic and Computation group we aim to push logic out of its comfort zone. We want to see it making a difference in complex and messy situations. This philosophy and sense of excitement flows through into the Summer School," he said.
Courses are taught by some of the world's leading logicians over a period of two weeks.
Stijn de Saeger traveled all the way from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST). He says he thought that the Logic Summer School was a great way to tie together many of the loose ends that he had trouble grasping from text books alone.
"I think many people who come in contact with logic not as experts in the field but pretty much as 'end-users', like me, after a while end up working exclusively with a few very specific tools but lack a general overview of what else is out there and how it all fits together," he said.
"While you can't possibly cover any of the subjects in much depth over the course of a few hours, the Summer School did a very fine job of painting a coherent picture of logic as field, and how it all hangs together. I never read a text book yet that did that for me, and this is one of the things I valued most about the Summer School."
Professor Slaney points out that the Summer School is not all work: "We also take the time to socialize and take participants out and about in the Canberra region."
"It all adds to the collegiate atmosphere of the Summer School. Contrary to what people may think, the fields of logic and mathematics are very social disciplines, and spending time nurturing professional relationships helps to build important research networks now and in the future," he said.
"The Logic Summer School is a unique experience, and we're already planning to make number 16 even better: roll on December 2007!"
