AG@PUI virtual seminar
The aim of this biweekly virtual seminar is to develop and strengthen the network of algebraic geometers at predominantly undergraduate institutions. In Spring 2025, it runs on Thursday at 1:30 - 2:30 pm (Eastern), 12:30 - 1:30 pm (Central), 11:30 am - 12:30 pm (Mountain), and 10:30 - 11:30 am (Pacific). The current organizers are Han-Bom Moon, Julie Rana, and David Swinarski.
This event is open to everyone, not just faculty at PUIs. If you want to receive a biweekly announcement email, please contact Julie.
The seminar is broadcasted via zoom. Check the announcement emails for the link.
Bring a cup of coffee or tea!
Spring 2025
Date: February 27.
Speaker: Will Traves (U.S. Naval Academy)
Title: Interpolation and Incidence
Abstract: I will give an overview of several geometric problems and how their solutions depend on incidence results involving linear spaces. Extending results of Pappus and Pascal on conic curves, we'll look at an incidence construction (developed jointly with David Wehlau) that determines when 10 points lie on a cubic curve. Our construction uses an important tool from algebraic geometry: the Cayley-Bacharach Theorem. In the 18th century Hermann Grassmann came up with his own solution to this problem that used only elementary methods. I'll explain Grassmann's approach and show how to extend his results. In particular, we will see that a simple extension of his ideas allows us to locate the base-point of a 1-parameter family of cubic curves with just a straightedge: if two cubic curves intersect in 8 known points and we know one additional point on each curve, we can locate their ninth point of intersection with an unmarked ruler. We will also consider a three-dimensional geometry problem originally posed at l'Academie de Bruxelles in 1825. This problem asks for an incidence construction that determines whether 10 points lie on a quadric surface. I'll give an overview of my recent solution to the Bruxelles problem and point to many other open problems in this area.
Date: March 13.
Speaker: Jessie Loucks-Tavitas (California State University Sacramento)
Title: TBA
Date: March 27.
Speaker: Kelly O'Connor (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology)
Title: TBA
Date: April 3.
Speaker: Fei Ye (CUNY Queensborough Community College)
Title: TBA
Date: April 24.
Speaker: Reginald Anderson (Claremont McKenna College)
Title: TBA
Date: May 1.
Speaker: Emily Clader (San Francisco State University)
Title: TBA