Spring 2005 Midwest Topology Seminar and Namboodiri Lectures

The University of Chicago

April 15-19 2005


Namboodiri Lectures

Mumford's conjecture on the stable mapping class group and the homotopy theory of stratified spaces

Michael Weiss (University of Aberdeen)

Midwest Topology Seminar


SATURDAY April 16
10:00 - 10:30 Tea, coffee, bagels
10:30 - 11:30 Benson Farb Problems and progress in understanding the Torelli group
11:30 - 12:00 Coffee break
12:00 - 1:00 Søren Galatius Homotopy theory of compactified moduli spaces
1:00 - 3:00 LUNCH
3:00 - 4:00 Nikolai Ivanov Braid groups of surfaces
4:00 - 4:30 Coffee break
4:30 - 5:30 Allen Hatcher Wicket subgroups of braid groups
6pm PARTY
SUNDAY April 17
9:00 - 9:30 Tea, coffee, bagels
9:30 - 10:30 Stavros Garoufalidis The volume conjecture for small angles
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 - 12:00 Nathalie Wahl Mapping class groups of non-orientable surfaces
12:00 - 2:00 LUNCH
2:00 - 3:00 Ian Leary A metric Kan-Thurston theorem
3:00 - 3:30 Coffee break
3:30 - 4:30 Karen Vogtmann Structure at infinity of Outer space

All talk will take place in Ryerson 251. Tea and coffee will be served in Eckhart 209, the "Tea room".



Housing

A block of rooms have been reserved for the Conference. Either contact directly the Ramada Inn (773-288-5800) or the International House (773-753-2280) and let them know that you are attending the topology conference, or ask Marcia Cozzi (marcia@math.uchicago.edu) to book a room for you.

Funding

Some funding is available for graduate students. If you are interested, contact Paul Goerss (pgoerss@math.northwestern.edu) or Peter May (may@math.uchicago.edu).

Travel Information

Click here to see the location of Eckhart Hall, here for the location of Ryerson Physical Laboratory (adjacent and connected to Eckhart Hall), here for a brief primer on getting here from the two airports, and here more directions, including driving directions.
If you have any questions, please contact Jesper Grodal (jg@math.uchicago.edu) or Nathalie Wahl (wahl@math.uchicago.edu).
Check out the schedule for our regular topology seminars on Tuesdays, and Thursdays.