Cascade Topology Seminar

Portland State University, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

DMS-0423910 Steven A. Bleiler The Cascade Topology Seminar is a cooperative effort among mathematicians in the Pacific Northwest United States and Southwestern Canada. An advisory committee works by consensus to decide meeting sites and serve as and consult with local organizers. Local organizers consult with the advisory committee and interested parties to select a list of speakers. The lecturers do not necessarily have to speak on a topological topic. Due to the interests of the organizers, most talks do touch on topological subjects, hence the title of the seminar. Typically two or three of the speakers are from outside the region. Recent presentations in the Seminar included such topics as Geometrization in dimension 3, the Orbifold Theorem, Topological Robotics, Cryptography and the Braid Group, Finiteness Properties of Groups, Integral Structures in Topological Quantum Field Theory, Representation Varieties, Embedding n-complexes into 2n-space, Skein Theory in knot theory and beyond, Quantum Representations of Mapping Class Groups, and the self homotopy equivalences of 4-manifolds. The Cascade Topology Seminar is designed in part to keep its participants abreast of recent developments in their own and related fields, and no attempt is made to limit the topics covered in the lectures. However, the interests of the various organizers tend to be mirrored by the interests of the speakers. The lectures therefore usually concern algebraic, geometric, or low dimensional topology, differential or algebraic geometry, or combinatorial group theory. The Seminar also strives to enable graduate students and topologists in the Pacific Northwest and Southwestern Canada to hear, consult, and possibly collaborate with the outside speakers and members of other institutions. Efforts are made to accommodate special needs of participants and to encourage members of traditionally under-represented groups to participate. The Cascade Topology Seminar organizers also make a consistent effort to include younger and/or women speakers in its programs and to provide opportunities for local people to lecture on their own work.