Ian Agol, professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the Vanderbilt Department of Mathematics’ 32nd Annual Shanks Lecture May 17 in conjunction with the Conference on Low-Dimensional Topology and Geometry, which runs May 15–19.
Agol was awarded the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, a $3 million annual prize funded by Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg, for his contributions to low-dimensional topology and geometric group theory, including work on the solutions of the tameness, virtually Haken and virtual fibering conjectures. He also is recipient of the 2013 Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry and the 2009 Clay Research Award.
Agol’s lecture, “Flow and Yamada Polynomials of Cubic Graphs,” will be May 17 at 4 p.m. in Room 103 of Wilson Hall. A reception will follow the lecture.
The prestigious Shanks Lecture Series is organized annually by the Vanderbilt University Department of Mathematics in honor of Baylis and Olivia Shanks. The late Professor Baylis Shanks was chairman of the department from 1955 through 1969.
For complete information about the five-day Conference on Low-Dimensional Topology and Geometry, go to the conference website.
Contact: K.T. Griffis, (615) 322-4614