Low-Dimensional Topology and Geometry

May 15-19, 2017
Vanderbilt University

32^nd Shanks Lecturer
Ian Agol
UC Berkeley

Keynote Speakers:
Harry Hyungryul Baik (KAIST)
Kenneth Bromberg (University of Utah)
Ruth Charney (Brandeis University)
Nathan Dunfield (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
Viveka Erlandsson (University of Helsinki)
Dave Futer (Temple University)
Thomas Koberda (University of Virginia)
Christopher J. Leininger (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
Jason Manning (Cornell University)
Vladimir Markovic (Caltech)
Yair Minsky (Yale University)
Priyam Patel (University of California,Santa Barbara)
Piotr Przytycki (McGill University)
Kasra Rafi (University of Toronto)
Matthew Stover (Temple University)
Balázs Strenner (Georgia Tech)
Hongbin Sun (University of California, Berkeley)
Jing Tao (University of Oklahoma)
Samuel Taylor (Yale University)

Aims & Scope:
The conference will highlight the close interrelationships between geometry and topology in low-dimensions and focus specifically on the powerful negative curvature and combinatorial techniques that have driven much of the research in low-dimensional topology in recent decades and are now revealing applications in contexts far removed from their original conception. Topics represented at the conference will include, but are not limited to, hyperbolic 3-manifolds, moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces, the geometry and topology of curves on surfaces, surface bundles, Gromov-hyperbolic simplicial complexes, and CAT(0) cube complexes. The aim of the conference is to bring young researchers together with leading experts who have made substantial contributions to these areas and to provide a platform to present recent results and future directions of research.

Conference poster:
ShanksLecture2017Poster

Organizing Committee:
Spencer Dowdall (Vanderbilt)
Mike Mihalik (Vanderbilt)
John Ratcliffe (Vanderbilt)

Scientific Committee:
Mladen Bestvina (University of Utah)
Benson Farb (University of Chicago)
Alan Reid (University of Texas at Austin)

EMAIL: shanks2017@vanderbilt.edu