Pierre says Happy New Year!
01.01.2026 00:54
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Pierre says Happy New Year!
I'm really fascinated right now with how sufaces, foliations, Culler-Vogtmann outer space, tropical geometry, & physics all fit together. So we have a surfaces, tropical geometry, & physics working group. Today I talked about the CP coordinates.
I'm in Montreal :D. But I can guarantee that my mom has been updating me on the Mariners enough for everyone! She's very excited!
I have a new webpage with a research image carousel: www.catherinepfaff.com . Click on an image & see what happens!
I'm in Hawaii this week giving a minicourse! sites.google.com/hawaii.edu/s...
Something extraordinary for me about the IAS is the intergenerationality & inclusion of "wise elders." I will always treasure the special bond Pierre & I developed with the greatests of greats, Karen Uhlenbeck. Our many meals, math & life conversations, something very special...
Always wonderful to see a former student thriving & sharing that they'll be at your location! Howie Hong at IAS!
It's somehow not the most flattering video of me, but here I am talking about talking about simplicial complexes at the Institute: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhcm...
I'm excited that I'll be spending 2 months at l'Institut des Hautes Γtudes Scientifiques in Orsay (right outside Paris) Spring 2026!
Reading a book from 1989 that refers to a book from 1985 as an up-to-date reference. Perhaps that wording doesn't quite stand the test of time...
Among last week's IAS shenanigans was trying to reenact an Oppenheimer scene with Professor Flores. I chose to asssume that in reality there was actually a dog present in that moment of history.
Last Groups & Dynamics Seminar talk of the year. It's been lovely, thank you to everyone for your time & generosity! youtu.be/Q9Y1AReegNg?...
There was a bit of a mix-up on the IAS end, but here now is Lee's excellent talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB-r...
PhD advisor Lee Mosher & his current student Sarasi Jayasekara visited me at IAS today for Lee's talk. Really wonderful talk & day!
@petraschwer.bsky.social I think that the real problem is that you're an expert on too many things :).
Oh, wait, it's on CAT(0) cube complexes!?! Very cool! And sorry I mixed up the topic :)
Btw, her colloquium talk at IAS can be found at youtu.be/z9lg-y19ajs?...
Pierre was attending her "What is...?" seminar talk. She also wrote a book on buildings.
Pierre enjoyed learning about buildings this week from Petra Schwer!
Great talk by Joseph Maher this week!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaKc...
This beautiful mathematical story was a highlight of the week for sure! Thanks Rob Silversmith!
Really great visiting Yale earlier this week & chatting with Eduardo Reyes there!
Episode 2 today with her collaborator also. Very fun & exciting conversations!
Dr. Brandis Whitfield defended her thesis last week & spoke at IAS this week! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjtt...
Thomas Koberda's excellent talk here at the Institute for Advanced Study! www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKNj...
Maybe it makes my papers look expensive too? :)
Yep! I discovered that I have an easier time reading black on ivory than black on white & figured I'm likely not the only person like that. So I've started using it as much as possible, have overall tried shifting to a more eye-friendly palette over time...
I have one of those too! And I also often misread people's math tweats when my brain isn't in full focus mode :).
So much going on that I forgot to share that Chi Cheuk Tsang & I have a new preprint! Really fun project, where we give a "cubist" decomposition of the collection of axes for a fully irreducible & use it for the conjugacy problem. arxiv.org/abs/2503.16360
Actually, I usually guess people's favorite color-palette based on that of their clothes. But I'd only seen you in person once, so went instead with your sunny disposition. Fun that the flowers then anyway matched your clothes :).