Seminars and Colloquia Schedule

TBA by Maddie Brandt

Series
Algebra Seminar
Time
Monday, April 13, 2026 - 13:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Maddie BrandtVanderbilt University

There will be a pre-seminar.

TBA

Real bordered Floer homology

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, April 13, 2026 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Robert LipshitzUniversity of Oregon

Real Heegaard Floer homology is a new invariant of branched double covers, introduced by Gary Guth and Ciprian Manolescu, and inspired by work of Jiakai Li and others in Seiberg-Witten theory. After sketching their construction, we will describe an extension of the "hat" variant to 3-manifolds with boundary, and the algorithm this gives to compute it when the fixed set is connected. We will end with some open questions.

TBA by Walton Green

Series
Analysis Seminar
Time
Wednesday, April 15, 2026 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Walton GreenIllinois State University

Can math models help us understand the brain?

Series
Stelson Lecture Series
Time
Thursday, April 16, 2026 - 17:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
DM Smith 115
Speaker
Lai-Sang YoungNew York University

Join us at the Stelson Reception for refreshments in the Skiles atrium from 4-4:45PM prior to the talk. Around 4:45PM we will walk over to DM Smith.

I would like to think that they can, and will illustrate by sharing some work my collaborators and I have done on the monkey visual system, which is very similar to that of humans. Specifically, I will focus on two visual properties: one is used in the detection of edges, the other is relevant when our eyes track moving objects. To explain the origin of these properties, simple mathematical ideas were first developed in idealized settings. They were then tested -- and fine-tuned -- via simulations using large-scale dynamical network models that are biologically more realistic.