Welcome to the proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Scientific and Statistical Database Management held in Portland, Oregon, where it celebrated its 30th birthday. The first incarnation of SSDBM (then called the Workshop on Statistical Database Management) took place in Menlo Park, California, in December 1981. Since that time, SSDBM added a second ‘S,’ for “Scientific,” then switched the orders of the ‘S’s, and upgraded “Workshop” to “Working Conference” to “Conference.” Initially held roughly every other year, SSDBM now convenes annually, alternating between North America and Europe or Asia. It remains an intimate conference, where one has a chance to interact with all the other attendees.

This year marked the return of SSDBM to the Pacific Northwest, having previously been held in Olympia, Washington (1997). The shift of the conference time from winter to summer may have deprived attendees of enjoying the famous Portland rain, but I hope that lack was compensated by the other attractions of the city: its brewpubs and baristas; the urban parks and gardens; the wineries and farmers markets; and the nearby natural wonders of the Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Coast and Mount St. Helens.

SSDBM is an independent conference, and succeeds by the efforts of its allvolunteer Organizing Committee. On the technical side, I thank Judy Cushing and Jim French for their recruitment of the Program Committee and oversight of the review process. Shawn Bowers excelled as Proceedings Editor and EasyChair wrangler. Thanks as well to the PC members and ancillary reviewers. In the financial realm, Len Shapiro and Michael Grossniklaus set up SSDBM 2011 as an Oregon Corporation, and Michael oversaw our budget and banking. Bill Howe ran the registration site and was instrumental in arranging our sponsorships. Locally, Laura Bright and Kristin Tufte managed our arrangements within the hotel, as well as doing tireless research on a suitable restaurant for our dinner. Dave Hansen oversaw all the student volunteers. Thanks as well to Stephanie Lewis and the staff of University Place. For conference communications, Pete Tucker maintained our website and David Chiu coordinated announcements and information for SSDBM participants. I also thank the SSDBM Steering Committee, particularly Ari Shoshani for his corporate memory, and Michael Gertz for information on the Heidelberg conference (and surplus funds!).