Speaker: Sara Maloni (University of Virginia)
Title: Moduli spaces of geometric structures
Date: March 6, 2020
Time: 2:30 pm
Location: University of Ottawa – STM 201
Abstract and short bio:
Abstract: In this talk, we will describe to the audience some aspects of Maryam Mirzakhani’s work on moduli spaces of geometric structures. We will start by introducing hyperbolic geometry and discussing the space of hyperbolic structures on a fixed closed orientable surface of genus greater or equal 2. We will then discuss her result about the size of these moduli spaces and one key ingredient of that study: McShane’s identity. Time permitting, I will discuss more results about these deformation spaces of geometric structures and their geometrical and dynamical properties. The talk is intended for a general mathematical audience. No advanced previous knowledge is required. All the objects will be introduced and defined within the talk and illustrated with examples. In particular, graduate students are highly encouraged to attend.
Bio Sketch : Sara Maloni works at the intersection of geometry and low-dimensional topology. More precisely, she studies deformation spaces of geometric structures on low-dimensional manifolds through their geometric, topological and dynamical properties. She grew up in Italy, and received her M.S. and B.S. from the University of Genova. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Warwick (2013) and, before joining the University of Virginia as an Assistant Professor in 2016, she was a Tamarkin Assistant Professor at Brown University and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Paris-Sud 11 and at the University of Toulouse. She also spent the Spring semester in 2015 at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley as a Huneke Endowed Postdoctoral Fellow. She received an NSF personal grant in 2015 and a NSF CAREER grant and a NSF RTG grant (joint with the Geometry and Topology group) in 2019.
In her free time, she loves hiking, scuba diving, travelling, reading, playing board games, cooking with friends and family and doing art and craft projects (felting, pottery making, woodworking, glass etching).