The Third Workshop on Algorithm Engineering and Experiments (ALENEX 01) is supported by AT&T; DIMACS, the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, under the auspices of the DIMACS Special Focus on Next Generation Networks; the Hopkins Center for Algorithm Engineering; NEC Research Institute; SIAM, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics; and SIGACT, the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory.

The aim of the annual ALENEX workshops is to provide a forum for the presentation of original research in the implementation and experimental evaluation of algorithms and data structures. We invite submissions that present significant case studies in experimental analysis (such studies may tighten, extend, or otherwise improve current theoretical results) or in the implementation, testing, and evaluation of algorithms for realistic environments and scenarios, including specific applied areas (e.g., databases, networks, and the WWW) that present unique challenges in their underlying algorithmic problems. We also invite submissions that address methodological issues and standards in the context of empirical research on algorithms and data structures.

The scientific program will include invited talks, contributed research papers, and ample time for discussion and debate of topics in this rapidly evolving research area. A proceedings will be published, and a special issue of the ACM Journal of Experimental Algorithmics will feature invited contributions from the workshop.

This workshop is colocated with SODA 01, the 12th ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, and will be held in the two days preceding that conference. A (long or short) paper that has been reviewed and accepted for presentation at SODA is not eligible for submission to ALENEX. We recognize, however that some research projects spawn multiple papers that elaborate on different aspects of the work and are willing to respond to inquiries about overlapping papers.

Authors are invited to submit 10-page extended abstracts by 5:00 PM EDT, OCTOBER 6, 2000 and must use on-line mechanisms. Instructions about on-line submissions can be found at the ALENEX 01 website:

Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent by November 5, 2000. The deadline for receipt of papers in final version is December 15, 2000. Presenters must have submitted the final versions of their papers in order to be able to present them at the workshop.