In this talk, I will share with you what kind of problems I work on and what's my motivation. We will talk about the representation theory of finite groups and symmetric functions, and how algebraic combinatorics appears in the less expected places. This talk aims to be mostly informal and accessible for grad students.  Speaker’s…

Fusion categories are algebraic structures that generalize the representation categories of finite groups. I will explain how fusion categories have become involved in diverse areas of mathematics and physics, from topologically ordered phases of matter in 2-dimensions to quantum symmetries of noncommutative spaces.   Jointly in person and virtually on Zoom. SAS 4201 for in-person…

I will discuss some algebraic aspects of recent work with Raphael Rouquier on a tensor product operation for categorified representations of U_q(gl(1|1)^+) and its connections to Heegaard Floer homology. Speaker’s webpage: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/manion/home Jointly in person and virtually on Zoom. SAS 4201 for in-person participation. The Zoom link is sent out to the Algebra and Combinatorics…

First, I will make a general introduction to vertex algebras. Then, I will mention some results of recent work with Bojko Bakalov on Logarithmic vertex algebras.   Jointly in person in SAS 4201 or virtually on Zoom. The Zoom link is sent out to the Algebra and Combinatorics mailing list, please contact Corey Jones at cmjones6@ncsu.edu to…