Category: Uncategorized

Speaker: Bülent Tosun (Alabama) Title: Convexity and embedding problems for 3-manifolds Abstract: Given a closed, orientable 3-manifold, it is of great interest but often a difficult (and largely open) problem to determine whether the 3-manifold smoothly embeds in 4-dimensional Euclidean space. On the other hand, under additional geometric considerations coming from symplectic topology, such as hypersurfaces…Continue Reading 11-6-2025: Bülent Tosun, “Convexity and embedding problems for 3-manifolds”

Speaker: Dan Cooley (Colorado State) Title: Regular Variation, the TPDM, and Vector Spaces Abstract: In high dimensions, fully characterizing the extremal dependence structure is difficult.  However, summarizing extremal dependence via pairwise measures, whose estimation is straightforward, can provide actionable dependence information for modeling.  Assuming the framework of multivariate regular variation, this talk will introduce the…Continue Reading 10-2-2025: Dan Cooley, “Regular Variation, the TPDM, and Vector Spaces”

Speaker: Julie Bergner (Virgina) Title: Combinatorial examples of 2-Segal sets and their Hall algebras Abstract: The notion of a 2-Segal set encodes an algebraic structure that is similar to that of a category, but for which composition need not exist or be unique, yet is still associative. The fact that such structures give rise to…Continue Reading 9-18-2025: Julie Bergner, “Combinatorial examples of 2-Segal sets and their Hall algebras”

Speaker: Andrew Raich (Arkansas) Title: Analysis and Geometry in Several Complex Variables Abstract: In this talk, I will start by reviewing the Laplacian on R^n and two of its most well known estimates that showcase “elliptic regularity”. From there, I’ll pivot to the complex Laplacian (called the d-bar Neumann Laplacian) and boundary complex Laplacian (called…Continue Reading 4-17-2025: Andrew Raich, “Analysis and Geometry in Several Complex Variables”

Speaker: Alvaro Lozano-Robledo (UConn) Title: From Diophantus to Bitcoin: why are elliptic curves everywhere? Abstract: Elliptic curves are ubiquitous in number theory, algebraic geometry, complex analysis, cryptography, physics, and beyond. They were present in Diophantus’ Arithmetica (3rd century AD) and, nowadays, they are more relevant than ever as a key ingredient in the algorithms that,…Continue Reading 3-20-2025: Alvaro Lozano-Robledo, “From Diophantus to Bitcoin: why are elliptic curves everywhere?”

Speaker: Andrew Putman (Notre Dame) Tuesday Mar. 4, 3:30pm, ENGR 209 Title: The topology of the mapping class group Abstract: I will give a survey of the mapping class group, focusing on topological aspects but assuming no prior background on the subject….Continue Reading 3-4-2025: Andrew Putman, “The topology of the mapping class group.”

Speaker: Siddhi Krishna (Columbia) *Where and when: 4:30-5:30pm in ENGR 209 Title: Braids: What, How and Why Abstract: Braids are one of my favorite objects within math — in addition to being really useful, they help unify many different areas of math, including algebra, topology, geometry, combinatorics, and more! In this talk, I’ll tell you…Continue Reading 2-27-2025: Siddhi Krishna, “Braids: What, How and Why”

Speaker: Karl Schwede (University of Utah) Fri. Feb. 21, 3:00 pm, Bell 2269 Title: Measuring singularities over the complex numbers, in characteristic p > 0, and over the p-adic integers. Abstract:  Given a polynomial equation, one can consider it over the complex numbers and measure its singularities using geometric or analytic techniques. One may also…Continue Reading 2-21-2025: Karl Schwede, “Measuring singularities over the complex numbers, in characteristic p> 0, and over the p-adic integers.”

Speaker: Matthew Hedden (Michigan State University) Title: Knot theory and complex curves Abstract: The modern study of knots and links has important roots in the theory of algebraic curves, where links encode subtle features of singularities. The interaction between links in 3-dimensional manifolds and algebraic curves in complex surfaces continues to be a rich source…Continue Reading 11-21-2024: Matthew Hedden, “Knot theory and complex curves”

Speaker: Jason Cantarella (University of Georgia) Title: The Riemannian Geometry of Polygons and Polymers Abstract: Biopolymers like DNA and proteins and biopolymer networks like collagensurround us, but many of their features remain surprisingly poorly understood. In this talk, we discuss how the geometry of configuration spaces provides a theoretical framework for understanding polymer and network…Continue Reading 11-07-2024: Jason Cantarella, “The Riemannian Geometry of Polygons and Polymers”