julianna tymoczko

Teaching in Spring 2009

Recent and upcoming events

• In September, I spoke at the KUMUNU algebra conference in University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
• In October, I spoke at the AMS Special Session on algebraic topology at the University of British Columbia. I was also a departmental representative at the MSRI conference on diversity in mathematics.
• In November, I spoke at the Drexel-Swarthmore-UPenn combinatorics seminar and worked with my collaborator, Linda Chen.

Seminars

• I organize the algebraic geometry seminar at the University of Iowa, which will meet on an occasional basis this spring.
• I co-organize a professional development seminar for graduate students, with Heather Molle and Amanda Watkins. At the next meeting we'll talk about what to do after you get a Ph.D.

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. I am an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and am also supported by a National Science Foundation grant.

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.