The goal of this mini-course is to introduce the basic methods of enumerative combinatorics and the concepts of Statistical Mechanics which are at the hearth of the interactions between these two areas. The topics presented will include generating functions, combinatorial species, functional equations, asymptotics, classical models of statistical mechanics (polyominoes and animals, self-avoiding walks, gas models, Ising and Potts models, polymers and percolation), thermodynamic limits, phase transitions and Tutte polynomials.

The school is intended for graduate students, postdocs and researchers wishing to be introduced to these questions. It will be held in the Laurentians region, at the Far Hills Inn, located one hour north of Montreal in Val-Morin, Quebec.

This school is followed by the workshop: Combinatorial Problems Raised by Statistical Mechanics