ELA, Volume 12, p. 1, September 2004.
     
                         PREFACE

The Hamilton Institute at the National University of Ireland,
Maynooth, is an Applied Mathematics research center whose
activities span System Theory, Communication Networks, Machine
Learning and Cognitive Neuroscience, Mathematical Biology and
Human Computer Interaction. These areas of research require
significant interdisciplinary interaction between engineers,
computer scientists, physical scientists and mathematicians,  and
part of the remit of the Institute is to promote such cooperation.

One of the mathematical disciplines that plays an important role
in the research interests of the Hamilton Institute is Matrix
Theory; in particular, the theory of Nonnegative Matrices. As part
of this activity the Institute organized, with the support of the
Science Foundation Ireland, a workshop on Nonnegative Matrices and
their Applications that brought together matrix theorists and
users of nonnegative matrices. The conference was held between
July 11 and July 14, 2004, in Barberstown Castle and at the
National University of Ireland, Maynooth. The organizing committee
consisted of A. Berman, T. Laffey (chair), O. Mason, R. Shorten (Co.
Chair) and F. Wirth.

The program consisted of 29 talks given by speakers from Belgium,
England, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Serbia, Taiwan and the United
States. The past and present ILAS presidents, Hans Schneider,
Richard Brualdi and Daniel Hershkowitz were the Workshop Banquet
Speakers. The proceedings of the workshop are published  in this
volume of the Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra. All the
articles in this volume went through the normal procedure of
refereeing, according to the high standards of the journal. The
workshop has already resulted in a number of collaborative
projects between practitioners and mathematicians. and second
Hamilton workshop on Nonnegative Matrices and their Applications
in now currently being planned to further support and promote
these activities.


Abraham Berman and Thomas J. Laffey
Special Editors