Algebra, geometry, and topology

Context

This year the math department building at UBC turns 100 years old. To help celebrate that ignominious feat, the department is having a series of events to highlight the accomplishments of the people in our department over the years. In particular, there will be a session on algebra, geometry, and topology (organized by Jim Bryan and Liam Watson) where former students and postdocs who have gone on to illustrious careers (working in much nicer facilities) will give talks on their work.

Toni Annala
Toni received his PhD at UBC in 2022, under the supervision of Kalle Karu, for which he was awarded the CMS Blair Spearman Doctoral Prize in 2023. He then moved to the Institute for Advanced Study as a member for two years under the direction of Jacob Lurie, and is currently an L.E. Dickson Instructor at the University of Chicago

Amin Gholampour
Amin received his PhD from UBC in 2007, under the supervision of Jim Bryan. During Amin's time as a student at UBC he wrote seven papers, including The Quantum McKay Correspondence for polyhedral singularities (with Jim), which appeared in Inventiones Mathematicae. He is currently a professor at the University of Maryland.

Jonathan Wise
Jonathan was a NSF postdoc at UBC from 2009 to 2011 working with Jim Bryan and Kai Behrend. He has also held positions at Stanford and Brown and is now an associate professor at the University of Colorado.

Ben Young
Ben received his PhD in 2008 under the supervision of Jim Bryan and Richard Kenyon, for which he was awarded the CMS Blair Spearman Doctoral Prize in 2010. He is currently an associate professor at the University of Oregon.

Claudius Zibrowius
Claudius was a postdoctoral fellow at UBC working with Liam Watson from 2018 to 2021. He is currently a professor in low-dimensional topology at the mathematics department of Ruhr-University Bochum and holds a Starting Grant from the European Research Council.