Algebraic Geometry Northeastern Series (AGNES) is a series of weekend workshops in algebraic geometry, held biannually at the participating universities in the Northeast.

Registration

Registration for AGNES is now closed. 

Everyone: BATMOBILE, a bi-annual day of talks that aims to bring together the algebraic and tropical geometry communities of Brown and surrounding institutions also takes place on November 20, 2026 before AGNES activities begin. We encourage all interested AGNES participants to attend BATMOBILE as well! 

Speakers 

• Gavril Farkas (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

• Stefano Filipazzi (Duke University)

• Siddarth Kannan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

• Kimoi Kemboi (Princeton University)

• Dhruv Ranganathan (University of Cambridge)

• Sameera Vemulapalli (Harvard University)

Schedule

Note: BATMOBILE at Brown University takes place from 11am - 3pm on Friday, November 20. 

Friday, November 20

3:30-4:30 MacMillan lobby Registration

4:30-5:30 MacMillan 117 Siddarth Kannan

Saturday, November 21

9:00-9:30 MacMillan lobby Coffee and pastries

9:30-10:30 MacMillan 117 Stefano Filipazzi

10:30-11:00 MacMillan lobby Coffee break

11:00-11:30 MacMillan 117 Sameera Vemulapalli pre-talk activity 

11:30-12:30 MacMillan 117 Sameera Vemulapalli

12:30-2:30 Lunch

2:30-3:30 MacMillan 117 Kimoi Kemboi

3:30-4:00 MacMillan lobby Coffee break

4:00-4:30 MacMillan 117 Gavril Farkas pre-talk activity

4:30-5:30 MacMillan 117 Gavril Farkas

5:30-6:00 Sayles 108 Break and poster session setup 

6:00-8:00 Sayles 108 Poster session with pizza

Sunday, November 22

9:30-10:00 MacMillan lobby Coffee and pastries

10:00-10:30 MacMillan 117 Dhruv Ranganathan pre-talk activity

10:30-11:30 MacMillan 117 Dhruv Ranganathan

MacMillan Hall address: 167 Thayer St, Providence, RI 02906

Sayles Hall address: 81 Waterman St, Providence, RI 02912

Abstracts

Siddarth Kannan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Motivic Euler characteristics of the universal Jacobian and mapping spaces via symmetric functions

I will present recent calculations involving the weight-graded Euler characteristics of (1) the universal Jacobian over the moduli space of curves and (2) the moduli space of maps from smooth curves to projective space. A key feature of this work is that these calculations can largely be transported down to the moduli space of curves via Abel—Jacobi theory together with symmetric function theory, which provides a suite of algebraic tools for working systematically with representations of the symmetric group on the cohomology of moduli spaces. Time permitting, I will also discuss closely related work on the vanishing of the lowest-weight subspace of the compactly supported cohomology of the mapping spaces in genus at most one. The talk will largely be based on joint work with Terry Song.

Stefano Filipazzi (Duke University): On the boundedness of K-trivial varieties

It is a classic result that Riemann surfaces of genus g>1 have a moduli space of dimension 3g-3. In particular, once the genus is fixed, they are parametrized by a finite dimensional space. In more modern terms, we can say that Riemann surfaces of a fixed genus are bounded. A central theme in birational geometry is to study when a class of algebraic varieties is bounded, i.e., parametrized by a finite dimensional space. In this talk, I will survey this topic in birational geometry, with a special focus on recent developments regarding the boundedness of K-trivial (e.g., Calabi-Yau) varieties.

Kimoi Kemboi (Princeton University): Hyperkähler fourfolds and categorical Hilbert squares

A smooth cubic fourfold gives rise to two kinds of hyperkähler fourfolds: one classical -- the variety of lines on the cubic; and the other “noncommutative” -- arising from the categorical Hilbert square of its Kuznetsov component. Galkin conjectured that these two objects should be derived equivalent. This is part of a broader expectation that derived categories of hyperkähler fourfolds of K3^[2]-type should behave like Hilbert squares of K3 categories. I will discuss how ideas from matrix factorizations and window categories can be used to prove this conjecture, as well as recent progress in the case of Debarre–Voisin varieties. This is based on joint work with Ed Segal.

Gavril Farkas (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): The birational geometry of M_g via non-abelian Brill-Noether theory

I will discuss how novel ideas from non-abelian  Brill-Noether theory coupled with tropical geometry can be used to prove that the moduli space of  genus 16 is uniruled. This is the highest genus for which the moduli space is known not to be of general type. For the much studied question of  determining the Kodaira dimension of M_g, this case has long been understood to be crucial in order to make further  progress.  This is joint work with Verra.

Dhruv Ranganathan (University of Cambridge): A tourist’s guide to logarithmic moduli spaces

The talk will explore the following slightly vague question — when a smooth variety undergoes a degeneration, what happens to natural moduli spaces associated to that variety? The moduli spaces in question might be configuration spaces, the Picard schemes, the Hilbert schemes, or spaces of stable maps. Over the last several years, due to the work of many people, a collection of ideas involving tropical and logarithmic geometry have provided some new answers and some new perspectives on old answers (going at least as far back as the 1980s). A lot of the recent progress has been powered by the study of tropical moduli spaces. I’ll sketch some of what we’ve learned from this, focusing on the case of Hilbert schemes and, if I’m good with time management, share some applications to enumerative geometry. 

(More information to come)

Practical Information

Lodging

Funding decisions for lodging and travel reimbursement have been made and communicated.  If we are funding your participation at AGNES, we will communicate details about accommodations (including room-sharing) separately. We will book hotel accommodations for funded participants. 

Non-funded participants should plan to arrange their own lodging. Convenient hotels are the Hampton Inn & Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, and the Graduate by Hilton. 

Transportation and Parking

Information about travel to Brown and parking on campus can be found on the Visiting the Math Department website.

Travel Reimbursement

Funding decisions for lodging and travel reimbursement have been made and communicated.  If you are granted travel reimbursement funding to attend AGNES, you will receive an email from Suppliermanagement@brown.edu with instructions to complete a form that will enter you into our payment system.  After your travel is complete, please send all itemized receipts to the conference administrator, Lori Nascimento.

Things to keep in mind when planning your travel...

• Mileage payments are allowed (Gas receipts are not) if your travel is New England based. If driving from just outside of New England (New York, for example), please provide price comparisons for the exact dates of your travel from other modes of transportation such as train or airfare. Brown may only cover up to the cost of that transportation.

• Use a US air carrier whenever possible. NSF will only reimburse airfare from a US carrier or a carrier from a country that is part of the Open Skies Agreement.  If one is not available, please provide screenshots from a booking site to show this. 

• Brown will only reimburse coach airfare. Please be sure your airfare receipt also includes the flight itinerary.

• Your travel dates should be within a day or two of the conference.  If this is not the case, please provide a brief explanation and price comparisons showing what the cost of your travel would have been had the travel dates aligned with the conference. Brown may only cover up to the cost of that transportation.

• Brown does not accept card transactions/statements in lieu of receipts. Please be sure your receipts show proof of payment (i.e. last four digits of your card number).

• Expense reimbursement requests must be submitted within 60 days from the date of your trip. (Brown considers expense requests that are over 60 days to be income, which would be reported on your W-2 form.)

• DO NOT pay for another participant's travel expenses.  Brown will not allow us to reimburse you for someone else's tickets.

• If you chose to book your own accommodations at another hotel or booking site, please be sure to get an itemized receipt, showing the breakdown of costs per night.  

Important information for foreign nationals:  

Due to IRS/Homeland Security requirements, Brown University requires us to verify that foreign nationals have the appropriate visa to allow for travel reimbursement.  Please click here for more information on what documentation you will need to provide in order to process your reimbursement.  

If you are traveling from outside of the US, please be sure that you receive a B-1 (travel) visa or WB (waiver for business) classification on your I-94. Brown will not allow reimbursement for anyone that has received a B-2 visa or WT. Please check the classification status after you have gone through US customs but before you leave the airport. You can check the status on your I-94 here.  If the classification is incorrect, you can only have it corrected at the airport upon arrival.

Organizers

Dan Abramovich, Candace Bethea, Eric Jovinelly, Eric Larson, Isabel Vogt

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation, Brown University's Department of Mathematics, and the other host institutions of the AGNES consortium for making this event possible.