What: Every Wednesday, the Combinatorics and Geometry seminar brings outside researchers to the University of Washington to present their current research in combinatorics. Each seminar brings its participants new ideas, new questions, and new answers to problems in combinatorics.       The pre-seminar is a one-hour introduction class where we go over the necessary background to be able to understand the seminar later in the day. The speaker presents the subject and the audience is encouraged to participate to understand. (That means, please ask questions!) When you come, you'll hopefully learn some exciting combinatorics along the way. Current undergraduates may earn one unit of credit, but this is not required to benefit from the inflow of current researchers. Who: Everyone interested in current combinatorics research. Why: To hear about unsolved problems in mathematics. To hear how the tools you already know can be applied. To find a topic for an undergraduate thesis in math. To gain the background knowledge to better understand the Combinatorics and Geometry seminar, every Wednesday at 4pm. Or simply to rub shoulders with cutting edge researchers while enjoying some munchies. When: In Fall quarter, almost every Wednesday at 2:30pm, starting October 5, 2011. Credit: You may take the class for 1 unit of credit, or just come and learn some new math. The requirement for getting the unit is that you attend most of the pre-seminar sessions during the quarter (all but one or two). It is not required that you attend the regular seminar at 4pm. If you wish to sign up for a unit of credit, the course number is Math 498, and you will need to go to the math department's Student Services center in Padelford C-036 to obtain an add code. The supervising faculty member this quarter is Sara Billey. What it might look like: Here are the slides from the first pre-seminar talk of the year, by Kelli Talaska. Talks come in many flavors, but these interactive slides went over well. Contact: Brendan Pawlowski (salmiak  @  math.washington.edu)