Ruth Charney is a fellow of the AMS and AWM, and former president of both organizations. Her primary research area is in geometric group theory; the study of groups through their actions on topological metric spaces.
Schedule
12:00-12:30: Lunch (Vincent Hall 120)
12:30-1:30: Introductory Talk (Vincent Hall 207)
2:30-3:30: Colloquium Talk (Vincent Hall 16)
3:30-4:00: Tea
Northfield Transportation
Transportation will be available between Northfield and Minneapolis in the form of van(s). If you would like to ride in one of the vans, please use this form to sign up. Registration is not necessary, but in the case that there are more people than space we will prioritize those who have registered.
Abstracts
Introductory Talk: An introduction to Braid Groups
Abstract: In this talk I will introduce an important and fascinating class of groups called braid groups. We will explore several different ways of defining braid groups, leading to connections with other areas of mathematics. Braid groups are a key example of Artin groups, a larger class of groups which will be the focus of my second talk.
Colloquium Talk: Exploring the Mysteries of Artin groups
Abstract: Coxeter groups arise in many areas of mathematics including topology, algebraic geometry, representation theory, and combinatorics. They are much studied and generally well-understood. Closely related to Coxeter groups are a class of groups known as Artin groups. The best-known examples of these groups are the braid groups. While they appear on first glance to be similar, Artin groups are much more mysterious than Coxeter groups with many key properties unknown and basic questions unanswered. In this talk, I will introduce Artin groups, survey some of the open problems, and discuss some recent work, using both combinatorial and geometric methods, to approach these problems.