Student Colloquium: Upcoming Events
Student Colloquium Menu
On April 19th and 20th, Dr. Farb will visit our department
Topology, dynamics, and geometry of surfaces (and their remarkable relationships)
—Thursday, April 19th, 1:30pm-2:30pm—
—Lockett 239—
Light Lunch in Keisler Lounge at 1:00pm
Surfaces can be considered from many different viewpoints: their shape (i.e. topological structure), their geometry (e.g. curvature), and the behavior of fluid flows on them. In this talk I will describe three beautiful theorems, one for each of these aspects of surfaces. I will also try to explain the remarkable fact that these seemingly completely different perspectives are intimately related. This walk will be geared towards undergraduates, or indeed anyone with some knowledge of multivariable calculus (although even that is not essential).
The Mostow Rigidity Theorem: topology vs. algebra vs. geometry
—Friday, April 20th, 11:30am-12:30pm—
—Lockett 239—
Light Lunch in Keisler Lounge, 11:00am
The Mostow Rigidity Theorem changed geometry and topology. This talk, aimed at graduate students, will attempt to explain how and why.
Upcoming Speakers!
Speakers for next year TBA
Past speakers and abstracts can be seen here.
The Speaker
Benson Farb
Benson Farb received his Ph.D. in 1994 from Princeton University under the supervision of William Thurston. He was a Sloan Fellow and an NSF Career Award winner and currently serves as a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago where his research focuses on the interplay between geometry, topology, and group theory. He has coauthored the books "Noncommutative Algebra" and "A Primer on Mapping Class Groups" and edited "Problems in Mapping Class Groups and Related Topics" as well as "Geometry, Rigidity, and Group Actions." He participates in a program for training elementary school teachers called SESAME (Seminars for Elementary Specialists and Mathematics Educators) and has graduated 20 Ph.D. students, one of whom is LSU assistant professor Pallavi Dani.