Announcing a submission deadline extension for ALife 13. Prospective speakers and authors must 
submit the title, authors with affiliations, and draft abstract (for full paper submissions) or 
first paragraph (for extended abstract submissions) by February 29th to allow us to get the 
review process started. However, the final submission deadline will be March 11th.

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Artificial Life 13
 
You are invited to submit papers to the upcoming Thirteenth International Artificial Life 
Conference.  Please forward this call responsibly.


I. OVERVIEW
It is a great pleasure for the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action at Michigan State
University to host the 13th International Artificial Life Conference.  Artificial life (ALife) 
refers to the synthesis and simulation of living systems as these occur in nature and also to 
possible alternative life forms and concepts that may not have occurred in natural evolution-that 
is, not only in "life-as-we-know-it", but also "life-as-it-might-be".  ALife research may use not 
only biochemical models, but also computer models and robotics.  The Artificial Life conference is 
held every other year under the auspices of the International Society for Artificial Life (ISAL), 
alternating with the European Conference on Artificial Life.

This year's major conference theme is "Evolution in Action."  Life is shaped by evolutionary 
processes, and ALife models are a powerful way to investigate and utilize this key characteristic 
of living systems. We encourage submissions by biologists as well as by computer scientists and 
engineers, especially interdisciplinary papers that explore the many ways that evolution and 
artificial life research intersect.  Other tracks this year include Behavior & Intelligence, 
Collective Dynamics, Synthetic Biology, and The Humanities and ALife.
See the list of tracks below for examples of topics that may fall under these headings.


II. KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
- Steven Benner, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Synthetic Biology
- Oron Catts, University of Western Australia, Biotechnology & Art
- Benjamin Kerr, University of Washington, Experimental Evolution
- Radhika Nagpal, Harvard University, Self-Organizing Systems
- Jack Szostak, 2009 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital,  
Evolution in Action


III. IMPORTANT DATES
- Full paper/abstract submission deadline: 26 February 2012 (Now extended until 11 March)
- Notice of acceptance for full papers: 22 April 2012
- Early Registration deadline (required for presenting authors): 14 May 2012
- Camera-ready deadline: 14 May 2012
- Conference: 19-22 July 2012


IV. SUBMISSIONS
A submission can either be in the form of a full paper or an extended abstract.  Full papers have 
an 8 page maximum length, while abstracts are limited to two pages.  Graphics and figures are 
encouraged.  All submissions must be made using a pre-formatted MS Word or LaTeX template, which 
is available from the conference site.

All submissions will be subject to peer review.  Submissions may be accepted as either a talk or 
as a poster, with no distinction being made between the two submission formats.

Every accepted full paper will be published by the MIT Press in an online open-access proceedings 
volume.  The top 10 accepted papers will have the opportunity to publish a revised and expanded 
version in the Artificial Life journal.

NOTE: In addition to the main conference, ALIFE 13 will host related workshops and tutorials.  
Details on proposing such events can be found on the conference web site.


V. TRACKS
- Evolution in Action - Including evolutionary dynamics, simulations of evolution, developmental 
systems, experimental evolution, viral and bacterial evolution, evolution of drug resistance.

- Behavior & Intelligence - Including animal behavior; evolution of cognition and intelligence; 
evolutionary robotics; embedded systems.

- Collective Dynamics - Including group selection; evolution and stability of ecosystems; network 
dynamics; social dynamics; evolution of cooperation and conflict; collective motion and swarming 
in animals and animats.

- Synthetic Biology - Including synthetic cells, synthetic organisms, biological engineering, 
artificial genetic systems, artificial chemistry, origin of life, paleogenetics

- The Humanities and ALife - Including art, music, history and philosophy of artificial life.

See the conference web site www.alife13.com for more detailed descriptions of each of the tracks.


VI. LOCATION & LOGISTICS
The conference will be held in East Lansing, Michigan, home of Michigan State University (MSU).  
Sessions will take place at MSU's Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, located on the Red Cedar 
River on the edge of campus and within walking distance of downtown East Lansing.

Flights are available directly into Lansing, Michigan's Capital City Airport.  Alternatively, one 
may fly to Detroit and then take a bus (the Michigan Flyer - www.michiganflyer.com) from Detroit 
Metro Airport to East Lansing.

Accommodations: A block of rooms in the Kellogg Center hotel will be available, as well as some 
university dormitory rooms.  See the conference web page for further information.


VII. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
-	Charles Ofria - Organizing Chair
-	Chris Adami - Program Chair
-	Adam Brown - Art Advisory Committee Chair
-	David Bryson - Technology Chair
-	Erik Goodman - Engineering Advisory Committee Chair
-	Connie James - Local Logistics Chair
-	Taylor Kelsaw - Sponsorship Chair
-	Richard Lenski - Scientific Advisory Committee Chair
-	Phil McKinley - Workshops & Tutorials Chair
-	Robert T. Pennock - Publicity & Proceedings Chair
-	Danielle Whittaker - BEACON Coordination Chair


VIII. HOST INSTITUTION
BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action Michigan State University East Lansing, 
Michigan U.S.A.

BEACON is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center founded with the 
mission of illuminating and harnessing the power of evolution in action to advance science and 
technology and benefit society. Research at BEACON focuses on biological evolution, digital 
evolution, and evolutionary applications in engineering, uniting biologists who study natural 
evolutionary processes with computer scientists and engineers who are harnessing these processes 
to solve real-world problems.
For more information see the BEACON web site at: http://beacon-center.org/


IX. CONTACT INFORMATION
For further information about the conference program, travel, accommodation, and local 
arrangements, please see http://www.alife13.org/.  For questions not addressed on the web site,
please email info@alife13.org.

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