Spring 2004

· April 20:
Speaker: Walter Neumann (Columbia University)
Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA
Coordinates: Christmas-Saucon 336, Lehigh, 4:10—5:00

· April 12:
Speaker: Mike McCooey (Franklin & Marshall College)
Title: Four Manifolds and their Symmetry Groups
Abstract: in pdf format
Coordinates: Lafayette College, Pardee 216, 4:10—5:00

· March 22:
Speaker: Gordon William (Moravian College)
Title: Convexity and Non-Convexity in Discrete Geometry
Abstract: The study of convex sets have been a tremendously productive area of research in discrete geometry. The theory of polyhedra and polytopes (their higher dimensional analogues) in particular has been tremendously fruitful. Throughout much of this history however non-convex bodies have received less attention, though recently some very interesting and important questions about them have been resolved.  The aim of this talk is to discuss some of this history in an way that is accessible to a wide audience (most of it will be accessible to undergraduates) and to present some of the interesting questions which remain at the boundary of the field.
Coordinates: Christmas-Saucon 336, Lehigh, 4:10—5:00

· February 24:
Speaker: Jean Lafont (Binghamton University)
Title: "Around the theme of negative curvature."
Abstract: In this talk, I will survey some of the work I've been involved with over the last couple of years.  The common thread in these projects is the presence of negative curvature.  Some of the results that will be discussed are applications of geometrical methods to obtain non-trivial algebraic or topological theorems.  Other results use topology or algebra to obtain interesting geometrical theorems.  The talk will only include brief sketches of proofs, and should be accessible to a general public.
Coordinates: Christmas-Saucon 303, Lehigh, 4:10--5:00

· February 16:
Speaker: Mark Kidwell (U.S. Naval Academy)
Title: Two Types of Amphichiral Links
Abstract: We will define component preserving amphichiral (CPA) and component switching amphichiral (CSA) links of two components. We will run through the "Mastercard Venn diagram": which links are just CPA, just CSA, neither, or both? We will use the two-variable Conway potential function to prove that CPA links with nonzero even linking number cannot exist, answering a question of Livingston. We will give new examples of CSA links of linking number four times an odd number. We will display some Laurent polynomials that ought to be potential functions of amphichiral links, but are not yet known to be.
Coordinates: Pardee 217, Lafayette, 4:10--5:00

FALL 2003

• December 8:
  Speaker: Ilya Kofman (Columbia)
  Title: The Mahler measure of knot polynomials and hyperbolic volume
  Coordinates: Pardee 217, Lafayette, 4:10--5:00
• October 20:
  Speaker: Howard Fegan
  Title: Complex Potentials
  CHANGED Coordinates: Christmas-Saucon 336, Lehigh, 4:10--5:00
• September 22:
  Speaker: John Meier (Lafayette)
  Title: From L^2 cohomology to enumerative combinatorics
  Coordinates: Christmas-Saucon, Lehigh, 4:10--5:00
• September 8:
  Speaker: John Donnelly (Lafayette)
  Title: Properties of Richard Thompson's group related to amenability
  Coordinates: Pardee 217, Lafayette, 4:10--5:00