History

The first Cumberland Conference took place in 1988 at Tennessee Technological University under the direction of Frank Hadlock. Each year since, different universities in the region have hosted the conference, which serves as a regular forum for a large, diverse group of combinatorialists, graph theorists and computer scientists in the southeastern and mid-southeastern regions of the United States.

Participants typically arrive from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. This is the first Cumberland Conference that will be held in Florida. To date, the following universities in the South have hosted the conference:

  1. (1988) Tennessee Technological University – Cookeville, TN
  2. (1989) University of Memphis (formerly: Memphis State University) – Memphis, TN
  3. (1990) University of Louisville – Louisville, KY
  4. (1991) Emory University – Atlanta, GA
  5. (1992) Rhodes College – Memphis, TN
  6. (1993) East Tennessee State University – Johnson City, TN
  7. (1994) University of Alabama – Huntsville, AL
  8. (1995) Vanderbilt University – Nashville, TN
  9. (1996) University of Mississippi – Oxford, MS
  10. (1997) Emory University – Atlanta, GA
  11. (1998) East Tennessee State University – Johnson City, TN
  12. (1999) University of Louisville – Louisville, KY
  13. (2000) University of Alabama – Huntsville, AL
  14. (2001) University of Memphis (formerly: Memphis State University) – Memphis, TN
  15. (2002) University of Mississippi – Oxford, MS
  16. (2003) Georgia State University – Atlanta, GA
  17. (2004) Middle Tennessee State University – Murfreesboro, TN
  18. (2005) University of Alabama – Huntsville, AL
  19. (2006) East Tennessee State University – Johnson City, TN
  20. (2007) Emory University – Atlanta, GA
  21. (2008) Vanderbilt University – Nashville, TN
  22. (2009) Western Kentucky University – Bowling Green, KY
  23. (2010) University of Mississippi – Oxford, MS
  24. (2011) University of Louisville – Louisville, KY
  25. (2012) East Tennessee State University – Johnson City, TN
  26. (2013) Middle Tennessee State University – Murfreesboro, TN
  27. (2014) West Virginia University – Morgantown, WV
  28. (2015) University of South Carolina – Columbia, SC
  29. (2017) Vanderbilt University – Nashville, TN
  30. (2018) Marshall University – Huntington, WV
  31. (2019) University of Central Florida – Orlando, FL
  32. (2020) The College of William & Mary – Williamsburg, VA (tentative)

A who’s who of outstanding researchers have graced this conference as featured speakers and include: M. Axenovich, L. Babai, P. Balister, J. Balogh, J. Beck, P. Cameron, G. Chartrand, F. Chung, C. Colbourn, D. Cranston, M. Ellingham, P. Erdős, Z. Füredi, A. Georgakopoulos, J.R. Griggs, P. Hersh, S.T. Hedetniemi, M. Henning, G. Katona, H. Kierstead, A. Kostochka, J. Lehel, L. Lesniak, C. Linder, C.L. Liu, P. Loh, L. Lovász, C. Mynhardt, D. Mubayi, C. St. A. Nash-Williams, J. Oxley, C. Papadimitriou, P. Preperatta, D. Randall, F. Roberts, N. Robertson, V. Rödl, L. Sanità, P.J. Slater, J. Solymosi, B. Sudakov, M. Szegedy, R. Thomas, G. Toussaint, W.T. Trotter, G. Warrington, D. West, C. Yan, M. Young and C.Q. Zhang, among others.

This year, we’ll feature 4 outstanding researchers: M. Chudnovsky, D. Kráľ, P. Seymour and X. Yu.