Accelerated by the work of Gromov, metric techniques have gained an important place in Riemannian geometry, especially in the study of conformal structures. This development has deeply affected our understanding, particularly of Teichmüller spaces, conformal dynamics, hyperbolic 3-manifolds, and symmetric spaces of non-positive curvature. In recent years, some of these metric techniques have also been important in the study of certain random planar processes. This conference features leading researchers in these various fields, each of which has roots in metric and conformal geometry.

Poster Session: We will hold a poster session Saturday evening; graduate students and recent PhD’s are strongly encouraged to participate. Please register your poster by October 30.

This meeting is supported by Rice University and the National Science Foundation. Everyone is welcome but all participants must register; there are no registration fees.

We will be able to offer some support for travel expenses. Graduate students, junior faculty, women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are especially encouraged to participate and to apply for support. Deadline to request support is Tuesday, September 15. Early requests will be given preference.