The Simons Foundation will provide up to $6 million/year in funding for a new Institute for the Theory of Computing. The call for applications recognizes the deep importance of the study of computation to society.

Computation (and its abstract form, the algorithm) has not only revolutionized science, technology, and society, but also is among the most important scientific concepts discovered and developed in the 20th century. This scientific discipline has enabled numerous technological advances and has forged many connections to mathematics and other sciences, providing fruitful insights and new problems. It has impacted not only computer science and technology, but also parts of mathematics, physics, biology, economics and sociology. Meanwhile, its core scientific agenda is extremely ambitious and challenging. In short, this theoretical field is one of the most exciting and important today, attracting excellent young talent to its ranks at a growing rate. Young people with education and training in this field are well positioned to make central contributions to computer science and science in general.

An institute focused on the theory of computation could bring together a critical mass of researchers from around the world to accelerate fundamental research on computation and to further develop its interactions with other areas of science ranging from mathematics and statistics to biology, physics and engineering. The Simons Foundation invites applications for grants to establish such an Institute.

Letters of Intent are due October 27 and full proposals by June 1, 2011.

(Contributed by Lance Fortnow, Northwestern University)