Conference Proposal:Summer School on Aspects of Geometric Group Theory

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA

Investigators

Abstract

A summer school "Aspects of Geometric Group Theory" will be held July 8-19, 2019, at Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette, France. This summer school features a distinguished collection of geometers and geometric group theorists who have been chosen both for their mathematical excellence and their outstanding expository skills. The summer school will attract talented early career mathematicians from around the world. The support from this project shall expose US-based graduate students and postdoctoral assistant professors to a broad spectrum of topics in geometric group theory at an early stage of their career development and to foster intellectual relationships, both with the lecturers and with other graduate students, which will benefit the students throughout their careers. These relationships will have a long-term positive impact on the interactions between the mathematical communities in geometric group theory in the U.S. and Europe. The organizing committee and the principal investigators are committed to funding a diverse group of mathematicians. Geometric group theory is devoted to exploring connections between algebraic properties of groups and topological and geometric properties of the spaces on which they act. Geometric group theory closely interacts with low dimensional topology, hyperbolic geometry, Lie groups and homogeneous spaces, algebraic topology, computational group theory, and differential geometry. There are also substantial connections with complexity theory, mathematical logic, dynamical systems, probability theory, K-theory, and other areas of mathematics. Geometric group theory is a very broad area, and this project shall focus on geometrical aspects of group actions, for example, actions on trees, curve complexes, cube complexes, and discrete groups arising in geometry, topology and dynamics. More information about the conference can be found at: https://indico.math.cnrs.fr/event/3784/overview This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.