julianna tymoczko

Teaching in Fall 2008

Recent and upcoming events

• In September, I'll speak at the KUMUNU algebra conference in University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
• In October, I'll speak at the AMS Special Session on algebraic topology at the University of British Columbia.

Seminars

• I organize the algebraic geometry seminar at the University of Iowa, which does not meet during the summer.
• I co-organize a professional development seminar for graduate students, with Heather Russell and Shannon Talbott. At the next meeting we'll talk about finding funding.

Research interests

My research is primarily in algebraic geometry at its intersection with combinatorics, representation theory, and algebraic groups. I tend to use combinatorial or algebraic tools to answer geometric questions, or vice versa.

A geometer studies geometric objects like circles, spheres, doughnuts, inner tubes, and many others too complicated to imagine. The most concise way to describe geometric objects is as the zero set of a collection of polynomials; for instance, the zero set of x²+y²=1 is the unit circle in the plane. Now imagine trying to find the zero set of seventeen polynomials in forty variables. What dimension is the geometric object? Does it have holes? How many pieces does it have? An algebraic geometer uses the algebra of polynomials to understand the geometry of the underlying object.

Copies of my preprints and a more technical discussion of my research may be found in the research section of this page.