Department of Mathematical Sciences

Faculty Research Interests






Laura Anderson
My research focuses on interactions between combinatorics and topology, particularly those involving oriented matroids, convex polytopes, and other concepts from discrete geometry. Much of my work involves combinatorial models for topological structures such as differential manifolds and vector bundles. The aims of such models include both combinatorial answers to topological questions (e.g., combinatorial formulas for characteristic classes), and topological methods for combinatorics (e.g. on topology of posets).


Miguel Arcones
Statistics and Probability Theory: bootstrap, empirical processes, asymptotic distribution of estimators, Probability in Banach spaces, Gaussian processes, limit theorems for sums of independent and dependent random variables, U-statistics, U-processes, large deviations.


Benjamin Brewster
Algebra, group theory. Topics of particular interest:
  1. Sylow subgroups,how the group acts on them via conjugation,and how they intersect.
  2. Solvable groups-their conjugacy classes of subgroups.
  3. Subgroup lattices-intervals in the lattice and the influence of permutable subgroups on this lattice.
  4. Characterizing subgroups with embedding properties in direct products.


Matthew G. Brin
I am currently interested in the mathematical interactions of a collection of groups that arose first in logic and universal algebra. The groups are generalizations of three groups first discovered by Richard Thompson. The groups show up in a strong way in logic, homotopy and shape theory, dynamical systems, categorical algebra and its relation to physics, and the combinatorial group theory of the word problem and of infinite simple groups. They are a source of examples or potential examples in geometric group theory, cohomology of groups, string rewriting systems and abstract measure theory.


Emanuele Delucchi
Combinatorics and Topology of hyperplane arrangements, Oriented Matroids.


Thomas Farrell
Differential topology, in particular on classifying manifolds of a given homotopy type. Related research interests in geometry and algebra. These interests include the study of discrete subgroups of Lie groups and algebraic K-theory.


Alex Feingold
Finite dimensional semisimple Lie algebras, tensor product decomposition of irreducible modules, representation theory of the infinite dimensional Kac-Moody Lie algebras, bosonic and fermionic creation and annihilation operators, affine and hyperbolic Kac-Moody algebras, topics in combinatorics, power series identities, modular forms and functions, Siegel modular forms, conformal field theory, string theory, and statistical mechanical models, vertex operator algebras, their modules and intertwining operators, the theory of fusion rules.


Ross Geoghegan
I am interested in the interplay between group theory and geometry/topology. In particular: geometric and homological group theory, fixed point theory, and certain parts of dynamical systems. Some of the questions motivating this work are algebraic, involving the algebraic K-theory of rings associated with the fundamental group; this is how I got interested in Nielsen fixed point theory, particularly parametrized versions of that theory. Other questions are about how an action by a discrete group on a non-positively curved space can lead to group theoretic information. I'm also interested in understanding the asymptotic topological invariants of a group. I have recently finished a book on that subject called "Topological Methods in Group Theory".


Fernando Guzman
My mathematical interests are algebraic in a broad sense. From universal algebra, lattice theory and ordered structures, through more classical algebraic topics like group theory and homology to interactions of algebra with computer science and logic.


David Hanson
Research interests: The Wiener process. Asymptotic properties of weighted sums of random variables. Certain problems in non-parametric statistics. Utility theory.


Tom Head
My published research has dealt with discrete, algebraic, linguistic, and biomolecular representations of information, computation, communication, and biological processes. Currently I am attempting to find a conceptual basis for attacking the virulence of pathogens by communicating with cells using their own chemical communication systems.


Peter Hilton
  1. Homotopy theory and duality: In particular when is the dual of a theorem in homotopy theory also true; and does the truth of the dual imply that one can dualize the proof?
  2. Localization of nilpotent groups and spaces: With emphasis on the study of the genus.
  3. The history of homological algebra, especially its inception during WWII.
  4. The history of the developing interest of homotopy theorists in the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category invented by specialists in mathematical analysis.


Luise-Charlotte Kappe
Group theory ( properties of groups, Engel conditions, commutator calculus, supplementation, p-groups, nonabelian tensor products); ring theory (derivations, commutativity conditions in rings); number theory (transcendental numbers, diophantine approximations).


Dikran Karagueuzian
My research for the past few years has been primarily in the representations and cohomology of finite groups. For the past few years I have been studying problems in algebra that arise from techniques of algebraic topology. Sometimes there is a theorem hidden behind the feasibility of a well-known method. An example of this phenomenon is my most recent preprint, written in collaboration with Peter Symonds of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. In this case the theorem was uncovered through exploration with the computer algebra package Magma, which is well worth checking out. Often such software lets us investigate mathematical phenomena which would be very difficult to understand otherwise.


Eugene Klimko
Ergodic theory, Probability theory, search theory, Numerical probability, Solving intractable problems in probability and stochastic processes using sophisticated computer techniques. Discriminant analysis and applications of statistics to pattern recognition problems. Application of stable distributions to heavy tailed empirical data. Applications of Stochastic modeling to financial markets.


Hudson Kronk
In addition to graph theory my interests are: mathematical recreations, number theory, cryptology, and coding theory.


Paul Loya
The underlying theme of my research is the investigation of topological, geometric, and spectral invariants of (singular) Riemannian manifolds using techniques from partial differential equations. For example, the Euler characteristic of a surface is a topological invariant based its usual definition in terms of a triangulation of the surface. However, it may also be considered geometric in view of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem or spectral in view of the Hodge theorem. I am interested in such relationships on general singular Riemannian manifolds.


Marcin Mazur
My research interests concentrate around areas where number theory and group theory intersect. Topics of particular interest are group rings, group schemes over rings of algebraic integers, Galois module structures and Galois representations.


Patricia McAuley
My main research interests are fiber spaces of various sorts and local properties of topological spaces with particular interest in "local-implies-global" theorems. A secondary interest is in topological transformation groups, especially group actions on manifolds.


Pedro Ontaneda
My general interest is the geometry and topology of aspherical spaces. I have done some work in the study of the relationship between exotic structures and (negative, non-positive) curvature, and its applications to the limitations of PDE methods in geometry. Other interests: geometric group theory, K-theory, mechanics.


Erik Kjær Pedersen
My main research interest for a number of years has been in controlled topology. I have been developing controlled algebra as a tool for topological applications. This subject lives in the borderline between many fields such as operator algebras, Kasparov's KK-theory, Group actions, Homotopy theory in the form of assembly maps, Algebraic K- and L-theory, A-theory. The main emphasis is on geometric applications.


Dennis Pixton
My original research area was differentiable dynamical systems; recently I have been working in formal language theory. Specific areas of interest include:
  1. Splicing: the characterization of finitely generated splicing languages.
  2. Dynamical systems related to DNA biochemestry.
I also have been working on problems in computational geometry with Matthias Beck.


Lucas Sabalka
My main research area is geometric group theory, which combines perspectives from group theory, combinatorics, geometry, and topology.  Within geometric group theory, I have studied graph braid groups, configuration spaces, Artin and Coxeter groups, and hyperbolic and CAT(0) groups.  These topics are related to my other interests, in robot motion and curvature and boundaries of spaces.  Most recently, I have also become interested in families of expander graphs and related concepts in curvature and boundary theories for spaces and groups.


Dmytro Savchuk
My main interests lie in the areas of geometric and combinatorial group theory. More precisely, the the topics of my interest include: groups generated by automata (or self-similar groups); contracting and branch groups; algorithmic aspects of self-similar groups; developing a software for computations in group theory; Schreier graphs; amenability of groups; random walks on groups and graphs. Also I'm interested in the outer automorphism group of a free group.


Olga Savchuk
My current research interest is nonparametric function estimation. In particular, I am interested in nonparametric regression and density estimation. One of the key problems in both these areas is selecting a smoothing parameter h, called the bandwidth. My research has focused on developing new methods of bandwidth selection.


Anton Schick
Uses of large sample theory in statistics, the characterization and construction of efficient estimators and tests for semiparametric and nonparametric models, statistical inference for Markov chains and stochastic processes, estimation and comparison of curves, the behavior of plug-in estimators, optimal inference for bivariate distributions with constraints on the marginal, modelling with incomplete data, and the theory and application of finite and infinite order U-statistics.


Marco Varisco
My mathematical interests are in algebraic and geometric topology, and in algebraic K- and L-theory. In particular I am interested in high-dimensional manifolds and their classification, and consequently in the isomorphism conjectures of Farrell and Jones in algebraic K- and L-theory, and in related theories such as topological cyclic homology. I am also interested in the relation between triangular Witt groups, which arise in algebraic geometry, and L-theory.


Adrian Vasiu
My area of research is Arithmetic Algebraic Geometry, which is the common part of Number Theory, Algebra, and Geometry. I am very much interested in moduli spaces, group schemes, Lie algebras, formal group schemes, representation theory, cohomology theories, Galois theory, and the classification of projective, smooth, connected varieties. My research is focused on:
  1. Shimura varieties of Hodge type (which are moduli spaces of polarized abelian varieties endowed with Hodge cycles),
  2. arithmetic properties of abelian schemes,
  3. classification of $p$-divisible groups,
  4. representations of Lie algebras and reductive group schemes,
  5. crystalline cohomology of large classes of polarized varieties, and
  6. Galois representations associated to abelian varieties.


Diane Vavrichek
My research is mainly in geometric group theory, in which groups are studied via actions on geometric spaces.  My interests are currently in quasi-isometry invariants of groups and group actions on trees (Bass-Serre theory)


Xiangjin Xu
  1. Harmonic Analysis on Manifolds: eigenfunction estimates and multiplier problems on Riemannian manifolds, Gibbs' phenomenon and Pinsky's phenomenon for Fourier inversion and eigenfunction expansion.
  2. Nonlinear differential equations: Well-posedness problems for nonlinear hyperbolic differential equations on manifolds; Boundary stabilization, controllability problems for (linear and nonlinear) parabolic and hyperbolic PDE's on manifolds; Periodic solutions, subharmonics and homoclinic orbits


Qiqing Yu
My research interests are mainly in three fields.
  1. Survival analysis. Since 1987, I have been working in this field, in particular on modeling the interval censored data, studying consistency and asymptotic normality of the generalized maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of survival function or the semi-parametric estimator under linear regression model.
  2. Statistical decision theory. My thesis was on admissibility and minimaxity of the best invariant estimator of a distribution function.
  3. Probability model and computing methods for pattern recognition in the Genome project.


Tinghui Yu
I am a mathematical statistician interested in parameter estimation in small-sample problems and estimating functions. Developing a concept of information contained in a finite sample, we can connect the well established asymptotic theory with thousands of practical problems And estimating functoins (equations) is a powerful tool in setting up the framework of the small-sample theory.


Shelemyahu Zacks
During the last ten years my research in statistics and applied probability has been focused on four areas:
  1. Prediction Theory for Finite Populations
  2. Reliability Theory
  3. Adaptive Procedures and Optimal Designs
  4. Distributions of stopping Times Defined on Compound Poisson Processes.

Each one of these areas is very wide and rich with problems. The type of problems I have concentrated on are:

  1. Optimal predictors of population quantities, like the population total or the population variance. These include Bayesian predictors, minimax admissible, etc.
  2. Sequential methods for software testing (detection of errors). In addition I study the operating characteristics of sequential stopping rules for reliability testing and estimation.
  3. Adaptive decision procedures are connected with various procedures which converge to the optimal ones, when essential parameters are unknown. These contain "Bandits Problems", the sequential search of optimal dosages in Phase I Clinical Trials, etc.
  4. In this area of research I develop the distributions of stopping times, or first-exit times of compound Poisson processes. The results have wide applications in queuing theory (distribution of the length of the busy period), in inventory theory, dam theory and risk theory for insurance.


Thomas Zaslavsky
My research is in combinatorics, especially matroids and their connections with combinatorial geometry and graph theory. The main topic of my work is signed, gain, and biased graphs. These are graphs with additional structure that leads to new graphical matroids and other new kinds of graph theory, such as colorings and geometrical representations, of which ordinary graphical matroids, colorings, etc., are special cases. In combinatorial geometry I work on arrangements of hyperplanes and lattice-point counting. Other research interests are in graph theory and in generalizing Sperner's theorem.






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