sean lawton - Mathematical Sciences

SEAN LAWTON
George Mason University
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Fairfax, Virginia 22030 USA
E-mail:
URLs:
Fax:
Phone:
[email protected]
http : //math.gmu.edu/ ∼ slawton3
http : //eagl.wikidot.com
001.703.993.1491
001.703.993.4269
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
MSRI, Berkeley: Research Member, Spring 2015
George Mason University: Associate Professor, August 2014-Present
University of Texas-Pan American: Associate Professor, September 2014-September 2014
University of Texas-Pan American: Assistant Professor, August 2009- August 2014
University of Maryland at College Park: Visiting Lecturer, August 2008-August 2009
Instituto Superior Técnico: Research Fellow, August 2007-August 2009
Kansas State University: Visiting Assistant Professor, August 2006- August 2007
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Mathematics University of Maryland, May 2006. Adviser: William Goldman,
Thesis: SL(3, C)-Character Varieties and RP2 -Structures on a Trinion,
Committee: William Goldman, John Millson, Sergei Novikov, James Schafer, Dieter Brill.
M.A. Mathematics University of Maryland, May 2003. Adviser: John Millson,
Thesis: Deformation Spaces of Polygons in the Euclidean Plane.
B.S. with Honors in Mathematics University of Maryland, May 2000. Adviser: Lawrence Washington,
Thesis: Puzzles, Graphs, and Permutation Groups.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
The geometric, topological, algebraic, arithmetic, and dynamical structure of moduli spaces of Lie group valued representations of finitely generated groups and quivers; with applications to mathematical physics and geometric structure
theory.
PUBLICATIONS1
Refereed Research Articles2 :
1. Fundamental Group of Moduli Spaces of Representations (with Indranil Biswas), Geometriae Dedicata, 2015 (to appear)
2. On the homotopy type of free group character varieties (with Ana Casimiro, Carlos Florentino, André Oliveira), Boletim
da Sociedade Portuguesa de Matemática, 2014 (to appear)
3. Topology of Moduli Spaces of Free Group Representations in Real Reductive Groups (with Ana Casimiro, Carlos Florentino, André Oliveira), Forum Mathematicum, 2014 (to appear)
4. E-polynomial for SL(2, C)-character spaces of free groups (with Samual Cavazos), International Journal of Mathematics,
2014 (to appear)
5. Topology of character varieties of Abelian groups (with Carlos Florentino), Topology And Its Applications, 2014 (to
appear)
6. The topology of parabolic character varieties of free groups (with Indranil Biswas, Carlos Florentino, Marina Logares),
Geometriae Dedicata, 2014
1 articles
marked as accepted or submitted are available on arXiv.org
listed in alphabetical order here and as published
2 coauthors
7. Character varieties and the moduli quiver representations (with Carlos Florention), In the tradition of Ahlfors-Bers,
Papers from the 5th Ahlfors-Bers Colloquium held at Rice University, Contemporary Mathematics, American Mathematical Society, 2013
8. Singularities of free group character varieties (with C. Florentino), Pacfic Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 260 (2012), No.
1, 149-179.
9. Computing SL(2, C) Central Functions with Spin Networks (with Elisha Peterson), Geometriae Dedicata, Volume 153,
73-105, Number 1 (August 2011) [Mathematica code available at wolframlibrary.com]
10. Algebraic independence in SL(3, C) character varieties of free groups, Journal of Algebra, Volume 324, Issue 6, 1383-1391,
(September 2010)
11. The topology of moduli spaces of free group representations (with Carlos Florentino), Mathematische Annalen, 345, No.
2, 453-489 (October 2009)
12. Obtaining the One-Holed Torus from the Pair-of-Pants: Duality in an SL(3, C)-Character Variety, Pacific Journal of
Mathematics, 242, No. 1, 131-142 (September 2009)
13. Poisson Geometry of SL(3, C)-Character Varieties Relative to a Surface with Boundary, Transactions of the American
Mathematical Society, 361, No. 5, 2397-2429 (May 2009)
14. Spin Networks and SL(2, C)-Character Varieties (with Elisha Peterson), Papadopoulos, Athanase (ed.), Handbook of
Teichmüller Theory Volume II, European Mathematical Society, IRMA Lectures in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
13, 685-730 (March 2009). ISBN 978-3-03719-055-5.
15. Minimal Affine Coordinates for SL(3, C) Character Varieties of Free Groups, Journal of Algebra, Volume 320, Issue 10,
3773-3810 (November 2008).
16. Generators, relations and symmetries in pairs of 3 × 3 unimodular matrices , Journal of Algebra Volume 313, Issue 2,
Pages 782-801 (July 2007)
17. SL(3, C)-Character Varieties and RP2 -Structures on a Trinion (PhD Dissertation), ProQuest, 2006, ISBN 9780542910173
Submitted Research Articles:
1. Decision problems, complexity, traces, and representations (with Lars Louder and Ben McReynolds), 2013
2. Covering spaces of character varieties (with Daniel Ramras), 2014
3. E-polynomial of the SL(3,C)-character variety of free groups (with Vicente Muñoz), 2014
4. Fundamental groups of character varieties: surfaces and tori (with Indranil Biswas and Daniel Ramras), 2014
5. Homotopy groups of character varieties of free groups (with Carlos Florentino, and Daniel Ramras),2014
Research Articles in Preparation:
1. Classification of SL(2, C)-character varieties (with Caleb Ashely and Jean-Philippe Burelle)
2. Moduli Space of Complex Triangles (with Suhyoung Choi)
3. The local and global structure of character varieties (with Adam Sikora)
4. Ergodicity of mapping class group action on SU(3)-character varieties (with William Goldman and Eugene Xia)
5. Persistant malnormal subgroups (with Lars Louder and Ben McReynolds)
GRANTS
Research Grants
1. PI on American Mathematical Society travel grant to attend the International Congress of Mathematicians, $3700,
Summer 2014 (awarded, but could not accept)
2. PI, NSF-DMS, RUI: Applications of Non-Commutative Algebra to Character Varieties, 2013-2016, $118,167 (award
number 1309376)
3. PI (with Todd Drumm) on GEAR Research Workshop Grant (NSF subaward), $35,000, Fall 2013
4. PI on Simon’s Collaboration Grant, 2012-2017, $35,000, (award number 245642)
5. PI on American Mathematical Society young researchers travel grant to attend the International Congress of Mathematicians, $3050, Fall 2009
6. Research Fellowship from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) to work at Insituto Superior Técnico (IST),
2007-2009
Network Research Grants
1. Invited “founding member” in the multi-institutional (University of Maryland, University of Illinois, Princeton, Stanford)
NSF Research Networks in Mathematical Science (RNMS) program GEometric structures And Representation varieties
(GEAR–NSF-RMS 1107367), Fall 2010-Present, providing $5000+ in research travel support to date.
2. Invited member of Portugese research projects PTDC/MAT099275/2008 (2009-2011) and PTDC/MAT/120411/2010
(2011-2012), providing $6000+ in research travel support.
University of Texas-Pan American Research Grants & Funding
1. PI on Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI), $4,000, Spring 2013
2. PI on Faculty Development Council Grant from UTPA for $1,337, Spring 2012
3. PI on Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI), $2,000, Fall 2011
4. PI on Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI), $2,000, Fall 2010
5. PI on Faculty Research Council Grant (FRC), $5000, Fall 2009
6. PI on Faculty Development Council Grant (FDC), $2400, Spring 2010
7. $3000 from Dean for 3D printer for EAGL outreach, Spring 2013
8. $5000 from Chair for a super computer (GPU cluster) for EAGL research, Fall 2012
9. $1800 from LSAMP to support EAGL research, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Summer 2012
10. $1000 from LSAMP and $500 from Dean to support EAGL research and outreach, Summer 2011
11. $1000 from LSAMP and $200 from Dean for EAGL supplies and materials, Summer 2010
12. $2000 from start-up funds to establish EAGL, Fall 2009
RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
1. Special Session, Joint SPM-AMS Meetings, Porto, Portual, 2015
2. Topology of Free Group Character Varieties , Geometry-Topology Seminar, UMCP, November 10, 2014
3. Counting Points on a Moduli Space & Homotopy of Character Varieties, Topology, Arithmetic, & Dynamics Seminar,
GMU, October 15 & November 12, 2014
4. What is a character variety?, Colloquium, Howard, October 24, 2014
5. What is a character variety?, Colloquium, IUPUI, October 10, 2014
6. Topology of moduli spaces of representations, ICM Satellite Workshop, The Geometry, Topology, & Physics of Moduli
Spaces of Higgs Bundles, NUS (Singapore), Summer 2014
7. Character Varieties and their Topology, Workshop on the topic of Geometric Structures and Discrete Groups, University
of Texas, Austin, Spring 2014
8. Irreducibility of Abelian Character Varieties, Algebra Seminar, Northwestern University, Spring 2014
9. Covering Spaces of Moduli Spaces of Representations, Topology Seminar, Purdue University, Spring 2014
10. What is a character variety?, Colloquium, George Mason University, Spring 2014
11. All about SL(2,C) character varieties I, II, Mini-Course, Workshop on Character Varieties and Geometric Structures,
Howard University, Fall 2013
12. E-Polynomial of SL(2,C)-Character Varieties of Free Groups, National Center for Theoretical Sciences, National Cheng
Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, July 5, 2013
13. Topology and Irreducibility of Character Varieties of Abelian Groups, National Center for Theoretical Sciences, National
Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, July 1, 2013
14. Classification of Irreducible Moduli Spaces of Flat G-bundles on a Torus, University of Texas-Brownsville, April 20, 2013
15. Results on Moduli Spaces of Representations, Geometric Groups on the Gulf, South Padre Island, Texas, March 21-24,
2013
16. Topology of Character Varieties of Abelian Groups, 10 minute talk, Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Diego, CA, January
2013
17. Topology of Character Varieties of Abelian Groups, Workshop on Higher Teichmuller-Thurston Theory, CRM Montreal,
October 15-19, 2012
18. Topology of Character Varieties of Abelian Groups, Geometria em Lisboa, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal,
July 2012
19. Topology of Parabolic Character Varieties of Free Groups, Workshop: Geometry of surface group representations, Centre
de Recerca Matemàtica, Barcelona, Spain, May 2012
20. What is a character variety?, New Mexico State University, Colloquium, April 2012
21. Topology of Character Varieties of Abelian Groups, Purdue University, Topology Seminar, March 2012
22. Character Varieties of Finitely Generated Abelian Groups, University of Texas-Brownsville, Mathematics Seminar,
November 2011
23. Parabolic Character Varieties of Free Groups, University of Texas-Pan American, Algebra & Geometry Seminar, November 2011
24. Character Varieties of Finitely Generated Abelian Groups, University of Texas-Pan American, Algebra & Geometry
Seminar, October 2011
25. Character Varieties and Group-Valued Quiver Representations, Discrete Groups & Geometric Structures with Applications IV, Oostende, Belgium, May 2011
26. Local and Global Topology of Group-Valued Quiver Representations,The Triennial Ahlfors-Bers Colloquium, Rice University, March 2011
27. Singularities of free group character varieties, International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), Hyderabad, India,
August 2010
28. Singularities of free group character varieties, Vector Bundles and Algebraic Curves at Instituto Superior Técnico,
Lisboa, Portugal, June 2010
29. Singularities of free group character varieties, ICM satellite Workshop at National University of Singapore on Geometry,
Topology and Dynamics of Character Varieties, July 2010
30. Mapping class group ergodicity on moduli spaces (parts I and II) , Algebra & Geometry Seminar, UTPA, Feb. and
March 2010
31. Singularities of free group character varieties, South Texas Algebra Colloquium in South Padre Island (jointly organized
by UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville), November 7, 2009
32. Singularities of free group character varieties, Geometry/Topology Seminar at University of Chicago, November 19,
2009
33. Singularities of free group character varieties, American Mathematical Society Special Session on Lie Groups, Lie
Algebras, and Representations at Waco, Texas, October 16-18, 2009
34. Singularities of free group character varieties,Topology Seminar at University of Texas at Austin, September 28, 2009
35. A survey of free group character varieties, Seminar Series at University of Texas at Pan American, Sept. 25, Oct. 2,
Oct. 9 2009
36. The topology of the moduli of free group representations, Geometry-Topology Seminar, University of Maryland, 6 October
2008
37. Algebraic Independence in SL(3, C)-Character Varieties of Free Groups, Algebra Seminar, Instituto Superior Técnico,
15 July 2008
38. On the topology of the moduli of free group representations, Geometry-Topology Special Session, Encontro Nacional da
Sociedade Portuguesa de Matemática, 26 June 2008
39. A picture book of the topology of some character varieties, seminar, Brooklyn College, 7 April 2008
40. Some recent results on character varieties of surface groups, colloquium, Saint Louis University, 10 March 2008
41. Obtaining the One-Holed Torus from Pants: Duality in an SL(3, C)-Character Variety, Geometria em Lisboa, Instituto
Superior Técnico, 20 November 2007
42. Poisson structures on moduli of surface group representations into SL(3, C) Geometry Seminar, Universidade do Porto,
9 November 2007
43. Minimal Affine Coordinates for SL(3, C) Character Varieties of Free Groups, Algebra Seminar, Instituto Superior
Técnico, 11 October 2007
44. Generators of SL(2, C)-Character Varieties of Arbitrary Rank Free Groups (1 hour lecture), 7th Korean Advanced
Institute Science Technology Geometric Topology Fair (Daejeon, Korea), 9 July 2007
45. Central Functions andSL(2, C)-Character Varieties (1 hour lecture), 7th Korean Advanced Institute Science Technology
Geometric Topology Fair (Daejeon, Korea), 10 July 2007
46. Minimal Generators for SL(3, C)-Character Varieties of Free Groups, Algebra Seminar, Kansas State University, 23
April 2007
47. Algebraic Independence and Symmetry in SL(3, C)-Character Varieties of Free Groups, Algebra Seminar, Kansas State
University, 30 April 2007
48. Obtaining the One-Holed Torus from Pants: Duality in an SL(3, C)-Character Variety, Geometry, Topology & Physics
Seminar, Kansas State University, 9 April 2007
49. Poisson structures on moduli of surface group representations into SL(3, C) , Geometry & Topology Seminar, McMaster
University, 27 February 2007
50. Symmetry in SL(3, C)-Character Varieties (25 minute talk), American Mathematical Society Special Session on Invariant
Theory, New Orleans, LA, 6 January 2007
51. Symplectic Foliation on SL(3, C)-Character Varieties, Geometry, Topology & Physics Seminar, Kansas State University,
6 November 2006
52. On the Moduli of SL(3, C)-Bundles over a Surface of Euler Characteristic -1 (40 minute talk), American Mathematical
Society Special Session on Algebraic Geometry and Moduli Spaces, Storrs, CT, 29 October 2006
53. Poisson Structure on SL(3)-Character Varieties Relative to a Punctured Surface (20 minute talk), American Mathematical Society Special Session on Low Dimensional Topology and Geometry, Salt Lake City, UT, 8 October 2006
54. Poisson Structures on Moduli of SL(3)-Bundles over a Punctured Surface (1 hour lecture), Park City Mathematics
Insitute, Park City, UT, 7 July 2006
55. Poisson Structure of Flat SL(3)-bundles over a Thrice Punctured Sphere, Geometria em Lisboa, Instituto Superior
Técnico, 7 June 2006
56. Poisson Structure on SL(3) × SL(3)//SL(3) Relative to a Trinion, Colloquium, Kansas State University, 11 May 2006
57. Symmetries in the SL(3, C)-Character Variety of a Rank 2 Free Group, Knots in Washington XXII, George Washington
University, Washington DC 7 May 2006
58. Poisson Structures on SL(3) × SL(3)//SL(3), Student Topology Conference, Indiana University, 1 April 2006
59. SL(3)-Character Varieties of Free Groups, Student Geometry-Topology Seminar, University of Maryland, 13 December
2005
60. Real Projective Structures on a Pair-of-Pants, Spotlight on Graduate Research, University of Maryland, 18 November
2005
61. An introduction to Character Varieties, Student Geometry-Topology Seminar, University of Maryland, 2 March 2005
62. SL(2, C) Characters of Rank 1 and 2 Free Groups, Student Presentation, University of Utrecht, Netherlands 15 June
2004
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1. Associate Professor, George Mason University, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Fall 2014-Present
• Created and direct the Mason Experimental Geometry Lab (MEGL)
• Created and chair the Student Research Talks (StReTs) seminar series
• Taught Quantative Reasoning (Math 106)
(a) Partially Flipped & Hybrid Classroom where students are expected to come to the board and work problems
with real-time feedback (math coaching)
(b) Used hands-on activities to create enrichment: (1) candy proof that the real numbers are uncountable, (2)
balloons to teach spherical geometry, (3) dance to teach the complex numbers, (4) paper clocks to teach
modular arithmetic, (5) play-doh & magic tricks to teach topology, (6) hyperbolic paper and crochet to teach
hyperbolic geometry.
(c) Used (optional) reading of How not to be wrong by J. Ellenberg to get students thinking about the bigger role
mathematics plays in life.
2. Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Mathematics Department, Fall 2009-Fall 2014
• Created and direct the Experimental Algebra & Geometry Lab
(a) Collaborated with the International Museum of Art and Science, Gear Up, AVID, IDEA, and STC to create
outreach activities promoting math and art in the community and local secondary schools (interecting with
1000’s of pre-collegiate students)
(b) Advised undergraduate research projects (8+ student projects) and undergraduate outreach projects (3+
multi-year projects to date)
(c) Press: Scientific American (2 online articles), Loc Arcos, Panorama, Pan American, Monitor
• Created and chair the Secret Student Seminar (supervised 14 student presentations to date)
• Created the Pure Math Track to the undergraduate math degree
• Created undergraduate courses Differential Geometry and Algebraic Geometry (and co-created Linear Algebra,
Real Analysis II, Modern Algebra II)
• Created graduate courses Algebraic Geometry and Differential Geometry
• Taught Modern Geometry, Modern Algebra, Number Theory, Algebraic Geometry (graduate & undergraduate),
Topology (graduate & undergraduate), Differential Geometry, Real Analysis, Algebraic Topology, Differential
Topology
(a) Developed and created online proof based homework, visualizations in Mathematica & GeoGebra
• Taught Business Calculus I, Calculus I, Calculus II, Calculus III, Linear Algebra
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Set up online homework
Used BLOG to interact with students and webcast solutions and assistance
Introduced group work activities and “collaborative” lectures
Flipped course with video lectures as HW and student led, professor guided problems in class
3. Visiting Lecturer, University of Maryland, Mathematics Department, Fall 2008–Summer 2009
• Taught Calculus I (large lecture) and managed 5 teaching assistants [Fall]
• Taught Honors Calculus I (small class) [Fall]
• Taught Calculus II (large lecture) and managed 5 teaching assistants [Spring]
• Taught Honors Calculus II (small class) [Spring]
• Taught senior level Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometry course (used Geometer’s Sketchpad to explore concepts) [Fall and Spring]
• Co-director of Experimental Geometry Lab [summer]
4. Visiting Assistant Professor, Kansas State University, Mathematics Department, Fall 2006–Spring 2007
• Taught Experimental College Algebra (small class, innovative curriculum using Excel spreadsheets to explore
concepts)
• Taught Traditional College Algebra (large lecture with standard curriculum)
• Received Dean’s citation for good teaching (response to student praise) within 2 weeks of starting (fall 2006)
• Fellow of the Center of Quantative Education at Kansas State University: assisting in the developement of a new
College Algebra course at Kansas State University under the supervision of Professor Andrew Bennett.
5. Teaching Assistant, University of Maryland, College Park, Mathematics Department, Fall 2000–Spring 2006
• Departmental Adviser for undergraduate Math Club, (Fall 2005)
• Taught Calculus I Course as Lecturer, (Summer 2005)
• Undergraduate Academic Adviser, (Fall 2004- Spring 2005)
• Organized William Goldman’s Research Interaction Team on Moduli Spaces, (Spring 2004)
• Teaching Assistant for Undergraduate Topology & Differential Geometry Courses, (Fall 2004)
• Experimental Geometry Lab Manager, (Fall 2004)
• Graded Graduate Algebra Course, (Fall 2003)
• Taught Recitation Courses: Linear Algebra (Spring 2003), Calculus I (Fall 2002), Calculus II (Spring 2001, Fall
2000)
• Graded Senior Complex Analysis Course, (Spring 2002)
• Graded Senior Linear Algebra Course & Senior Abstract Algebra Course (Fall 2001)
6. Instructor, Montgomery County Community College, Rockville Campus, Mathematics Department, Fall 2004–Spring
2006, and Summer 2009
• Taught Linear Algebra Course, (Spring 2006)
• Taught Multi-Variable Calculus Course, (Fall 2005)
• Taught Calculus II Course, (Summer 2005)
• Taught Calculus I Course, (Spring 2005)
• Taught Pre-Calculus Course, (Fall 2004)
• Taught Differential Equations, (Summer 2009)
• Prepared and evaluated: homework, quizzes, MATLAB & calculator projects, tests, lectures
7. Instructor, Center for Talented Youth, South Hadley, MA, Summers 2002, 2003, 2004
• Developed course exploring inductive & deductive reasoning in sentential logic as conjecture & proof in math
• Taught logic, algebra, number theory, and non-Euclidean geometry to children from 10-12 years old
• Supervised teaching assistant
8. Teaching Assistant, Center for Talented Youth, Los Angeles, CA, Summer 2001
9. Math Intern, Academic Achievement Programs, Summer 1998 - Spring 2000
• Taught Pre-Calculus Course (Fall 1999 - Spring 2000)
• Taught Recitation Course for Pre-Calculus (Fall 1998 - Spring 1999)
• Worked with students “who display the potential to be successful...even though their academic profile may be less
competitive.”
UNDERGRADUATE MENTORING
Research Students:
1. Alex Aguilar, Fall 2013-Spring 2014
2. Jose Espinoza, Fall 2013-Spring 2014
3. Samuel Cavazos (NSF Graduate Research Fellow 2013, PhD student Northwestern University), Spring 2011-2013
4. Carlos Salinas, Fall 2012 - Spring 2014
5. Julian A Caballero, Fall 2012 & Fall 2013-Spring 2014
6. Marco Reyna, Fall 2012
7. Marisabel Rodriguez, Fall 2010-Spring 2011
8. Raul Mercado Jr., Summer 2010
9. Michael Fischer, Summer 2010
10. Rodrigo Wong, Summer 2010
11. Jaime Lopez, Summer 2010
Outreach Students:
1. Kayleigh Flores, Fall 2013
2. Francisco Jimenez, Fall 2013-Spring 2014
3. Bernice Alvarado, Fall 2013
4. Lohany Garcia, Spring 2013
5. Jesus Chavez, Fall 2011 - Spring 2013
6. Sarah Schwartz, Fall 2011 - Spring 2013
7. Joel Ortiz, Fall 2012
8. Jose Espinoza, Fall 2012
9. Alberto Lopez, Fall 2011-Spring 2012
10. Claudia Carranza, Fall 2010-Summer 2011
11. Cindy Santa-Ana, Summer 2010
RESEARCH CONFERENCES ORGANIZED
1. Workshop on Geometric Structures and Moduli Spaces of Representations, Howard University, Fall 2013 (with Todd
Drumm)
2. AMS special Session on Real Projective Geometry at the 2012 Joint Mathematics Meetings, Boston (with Jeffrey Danciger, Kelly Delp, Kathryn Mann)
3. Invited participant, and organizational assistant at the Mathematics Research Communities program The Geometry of
Real Projective Structures, Snowbird, Utah, June 2011
4. AMS special Session on Geometry, Topology, and Algebra of Character Varieties at Joint Mathematics Meeting 2009,
Washington, D.C. (with Elisha Peterson)
HONORS & ACKNOWLEDGMENT
1. Dean’s Award for Faculty Achievement, Fall 2013, $100
2. Math Reviews Acknowledgement:
“Dear Professor Lawton,This is a short note to thank you for your excellent review of the article “Mixed
Hodge polynomials of character varieties” by Tamas Hausel and Fernando Rodriguez-Villegas which is now
available as item MR2453601 on MathSciNet and has appeared as item 2010b:14094 in the February issue of
Mathematical Reviews. We at MR are well aware of the effort that it requires to write such reviews and are
very proud to be able to publish them. Such reviews are of great value to the mathematical community and
are first class works of scholarship also. Best regards, Graeme Fairweather”
PRESS
1. UTPA Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAUbGCrTQOM, Spring 2014
2. FOX Channel 2 News, http://foxrio2.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Good-Day-Valley_0828-UTPA-INT
m4v, Summer 2013
3. Featured article “The Beauty of Numbers” in Los Arcos magazine, Summer 2012
4. Featured article “Deep Spaces: Geometry Labs Bring Beautiful Math to the Masses” in Scientific American website,
Summer 2012
5. Featured article “A Mathematical Yarn: How to Stitch a Hyperbolic Pseudosphere” in Scientific American website,
Summer 2012
6. Featured article “Experimental lab shows beauty in math through hyperbolic crochet” in The Pan American newspaper,
Summer 2011
7. Featured article “Beautiful Principles” in Panorama magazine, Spring 2011
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
1. Director (and founder) of Mason Experimental Geometry Lab (MEGL) at George Mason University, Fall 2014-Present
2. Chair of Topology, Arithmetic, & Dynamics Seminar (TADS) at George Mason University, Fall 2014-Present
3. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Research Grant Evaluator, 2015
4. National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Grant Evaluator,2014
5. Elected Member of Faculty Senate at UTPA, Fall 2013-Spring 2014
6. Executive Member of Geometry Labs United (consortium of experimental pure math labs including University of Maryland, and University of Illinois), Fall 2013-Present
7. Invited to judge Undergraduate Research Posters, Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Diego, CA, January 2013
8. Invited AMS Panelist Starting a Successful Research Career, Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Diego, CA, January 2013
9. Director of Experimental Algebra & Geometry Lab at UTPA, Fall 2009-Summer 2014
10. Chair of Pure Mathematics Seminar at University of Texas-Pan American, Fall 2009-Spring 2014
11. Chaired Calculus: organized common final (written and online versions), helped faculty with WebAssign, managed text
book orders, helped with departmental assessment, Fall 2011- Fall 2012
12. Administrator of the online discussion forum for the Mathematics Department at UTPA, Fall 2010-Fall 2012
13. Member of Departmental level committees at UTPA: Library, Undergraduate Curriculum, Graduate Curriculum, Colloquium, Chair Search, Lecturer Search, Faculty Search
•
•
•
•
Notable Contributions:
Created Pure Mathematics concentration for undergraduate mathematics major
Created 5 new senior level pure mathematics undergraduate courses
Create 2 new pure mathematics graduate courses
Precipitated the use of mathjobs.org for hiring
14. Member of University level committees at UTPA: Email Outsourcing, and Academic Policy (elected vice-chair, Fall
2013)
15. Member of College level committees at UTPA: College Science and Mathematics Research Council
16. Referee: Geometriae Dedicata; Involve; Journal of Differential Geometry; Proceedings of the American Mathematical
Society; The International Journal of Mathematics; Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society; Institute of
Mathematical Sciences Lecture Notes; Prentice Hall; Communications in Algebra; Groups, Geometry, and Dynamics;
Revista Matemática Complutense; Mathematische Zeitschrift; Compositio Mathematica; Duke Mathematical Journal;
Journal of Algebra; Transactions of the American Mathematical Society; Annales de l’Institut Fourier; Algebraic and
Geometric Topology; and others.
17. Reviewer for American Mathematical Society Mathematical Reviews (36+ reviews published), 2007 - Present
18. Reviewer for Zentralblatt Mathematical Reviews (19+ reviews published), 2009-Present
19. Co-directed the Experimental Geometry Lab at the University of Maryland Summer 2009
20. Created and organized a funded weekly Student Geometry-Topology Seminar, Spring 2005–Spring 2006
MATHEMATICS OUTREACH
1. Hyperbolic Garden Exhibit at International Museum of Art & Science, McAllen, TX, Spring 2014
2. Your Teacher’s Are Lying To You Workshop: Febuary 24, 2014 Memorial High School, Mcallen (70 students AVID);
March 3, 2014 Buell Central High School, PSJA ISD (30 students); March 5, 2014 Sotomayor High School, PSJA ISD
(30 students); March 6, 2014 TSTEM Early College, PSJA ISD (30 students); March 25, 2014, Memorial High, PSJA
ISD (50 students); March 26, 2014, Memorial High, PSJA ISD (50 students); March 27, 2014, North High, PSJA ISD
(50 students); March 28, 2014, North High, PSJA ISD (50 students); March 31, 2014, Ballew High School, PSJA ISD (20
students); April 4, 2014, LBJ Middle School, PSJA ISD (150 students); April 7, 2014, Southwest High School, PSJA ISD
(60 students); April 8, 2014, Southwest High School, PSJA ISD (40 students); April 9, 2014, Southwest High School,
PSJA ISD (75 students); April 10, 2014, Southwest High School, PSJA ISD (60 students); April 11, 2014, Kennedy
Middle School, PSJA ISD (150 students); April 30, 2014, College, Career, and Technology Academy, PSJA ISD (15
students)
3. You Can Count On Monsters Workshop: March 24, 2014 The Discovery School Elementary, Discovery School (80
students); March 29, 2014 McAllen Public Library (40 participants); April 12, 2014, International Museum Art &
Science (35 participants); April 26, 2014, McAllen Public Library (30 participants)
4. Topology Math-Magic Show, Festiba “Weird Science”, March 21, 2014 , Edinburg (60 participants); Pi + 1 Day April
17,2014, UTPA (40 participants)
5. Hyperbolic Crochet Workshop: March 29, 2014 , International Museum Art & Science, McAllen, TX (15 participants)
6. Topology Math-Magic, HESTEC, October 9-10, 2013 (approximately 1000 students in 10 hours over 2 days)
7. Hyperbolic Crochet Presentation + Workshop, 3/28/2013 & 4/25/2013 (IDEA Mission, Mission, 22 students)
8. You can count on monsters I, and You can count on monsters II workshops at IMAS for children (approximately aged
5-10), April 7 & 21, 2-4:30
9. McAllen Mini Maker Faire, 6/22/2013, Hyperbolic Garden, Hyperbolic Crochet, & 3D Printing Mathematical Objects
10. AVID Your teachers are lying to you high & middle school workshops:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
2/15/2013 IDEA Quest, Edinburg, 2 classes
2/22/2013 McAllen Memorial High, McAllen, 2 classes
2/28/2013 BL Garza Middle School, Edinburg, 2 classes
3/1/2013 IDEA Mission, Mission, entire 9th grade -110 students
3/7/2013 Harlingen High School, Harlingen, 2 classes
5/28/2013 PSJA North High School, Pharr (200 students, 2 assemblies)
5/29/2013 PSJA Southwest High School, Pharr (100 students)
5/30/2013 Early College High School, Harlingen (50 students)
11. Robert Vela High School, Mu Alpha Theta Induction Ceremony Keynote Address, Your teachers are lying to you,
November 2, 2012
12. Organized events for HESTEC on Educators Day, Student Leadership Day, and Community Day, Your teachers are lying
to you, September 24, 25, 29 2012
13. Hyperbolic Crochet Presentation: Morris Middle School, May 3, 2012
14. Hyperbolic Crochet Presentation: Edinburg High School, April 24, 2012
15. Hyperbolic Crochet Presentation: BL Garza Middle School (AVID Program), April 12, 2012
16. Pi + Epsilon Day - Hyperbolic crochet, topology tricks, and Pi in the face (organized by Math Club and SIAM Student
Chapter), March 22, 2012
17. UTPA Mathematics Graduate School Workshop (organized by Drs. Huber, Lawton, Nguyen, & Pierce), March 20, 2012
18. Hyperbolic Crochet Presentation: McAllen High School (AVID Program), February 22, 2012.
19. IDEA Public School Presentation (“Arithmetic of Geometry”), January 27, 2012.
20. South Texas College Library Art Gallery Exhibit, January 23 - May 11, 2012.
21. International Museum of Art and Science, Hyperbolic Crochet Exhibit & Lessons, December 4, 2011
22. Hyperbolic Crochet, South Texas College, December 1, 2011,
23. Sharyland North Junior High Career Day November 17, 2011
24. Harlingen Career Education Expo October 13, 2011
25. UTPA Major Fair, October 2011
26. Hyperbolic Crochet Outreach: Economedes High School, Lincoln Middle School, Brown Middle School, McAllen Memorial Middle School, Travis Middle School, Weslaco East High School, Palmview High School (in collaboration with
GEAR-UP), May 2011
27. Volunteered to give Girls Researching Our World (GROW) presentation at Kansas State University for middle school
girls, Summer 2007
28. “Maryland Day” mathematics department volunteer (community outreach), Spring 2004 & Spring 2000
29. Maryland Junior Science and Humanities Symposium judge (high school competition), Spring 2004
30. Volunteered for Lamont Elementary School’s Career Day, Greenbelt MD, discussing mathematics, Spring 2002 & 2004
31. Gave geometry presentations for University of Maryland to Flowers & Potomac High Schools, Spring & Summer 2004
32. Spotlight on Graduate Research judge (student led research competition), Fall 2003
33. Invited panelist to SIAM’s UMCP chapter discussion on graduate studying, Fall 2003
34. Volunteered at Suitland High School, MD, giving enrichment presentations to three math classes, Spring 2002
RESEARCH CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, & RESEARCH VISITS
1. Research visit at the Second GEAR Retreat: March 17-21, 2014 at the University of Maryland
2. Research visit (host Indranil Biswas) to Tata Institute Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, January 7-January 24
2014
3. Research visit (host Eugene Xia) to National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, June 25-July 10 2013
4. Workshop on the Mathematics and Physics of Moduli Spaces, Heidelberg, Germany, September 24-28, 2012
5. Research visit (host Carlos Florentino) to Instituto Superior Técnico, July 2012
6. Workshop on Moduli spaces of representations, Institute Henri Poincaré (Paris, France), February 2012
7. Research Experiences for Undergraduate Faculty (REUF), Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in
Mathematics (ICERM) , Providence, RI, June 4 - June 8, 2012
8. Research visit (host Carlos Florentino) to Instituto Superior Técnico, July 2011
9. Workshop on Representation of Surface Groups and Higgs Bundles, University of Oxford, March 2011
10. Scott Wolpert’s Birthday Conference at the University of Maryland, College Park, September 2010
11. Banff International Research Station workshop “Character Varieties in Geometry and Topology of Low-dimensional
Manifolds”[April 2010]
12. Conference on vector bundles in honor of S. Ramanan at Miraflores de la Sierra (Madrid, Spain) [16-20 June 2008]
13. International School on Geometry and Physics at CIEM (Cantabria, Spain) [25-29 Feb. 2008]
14. Minicourse at Universidade do Porto by Peter Newstead on Moduli of Vector Bundles on Algebraic Curves [Oct.15,18,19,
2007]
15. American Institute of Mathematics workshop on Surface Group Representations [3/19/07-3/23/07]
16. Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI), UT (Research Topic: Low Dimensional Topology), 25 June- 8 July 2006
17. Mathematical Research Institute’s (MRI) Spring School, Utrecht, Netherlands, Spring 2004
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
1. American Mathematical Society (AMS)
2. European Mathematical Society (EMS)
3. Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)
4. Pi Mu Epsilon
CITATIONS[number of my papers the article cites]
1. Effective conjugacy separability of finitely generated nilpotent groups, M. Pengitore arXiv:1502.05445 (2015) [1]
2. A Note On Nilpotent Representations, M. Bergeron, L. Silberman arXiv:1501.04357 (2015) [4]
3. Virtual Hodge polynomials of the moduli spaces of representations of degree 2 for free monoids, K. Nakamoto, T. Torii
arXiv:1501.02933 (2015) [2]
4. A survey on spaces of homomorphisms to Lie groups, F.R. Cohen, M. Stafa arXiv:1412.5668 (2014) [1]
5. Character varieties for SL(3, C): the figure eight knot, E. Falbel, A. Guilloux, P. Koseleff, F. Rouillier, M. Thistlethwaite
arXiv:1412.4711 (2014) [1]
6. On Fenchel-Nielsen Coordinates of Surface Group Representations into SU (3, 1), K. Gongopadhyay, S. Parsad arXiv:
1411.6755 (2014) [1]
7. The prequantum line bundle on the moduli space of flat SU (n) connections on a Riemann surface and the homotopy of
the large n limit, L. Jeffrey, D. Ramras, J. Weitsman arXiv:1411.4360 (2014) [2]
8. Toric geometry of SL2 (C) free group character varieties from outer space, C. Manon arXiv:1410.0072 (2014) [3]
9. Compactifications of character varieties and skein relations on conformal blocks, C. Manon, arXiv:1401.8249 (2014) [1]
10. Geometry of the SL(3, C)-character variety of torus knots, V. Muñoz, J. Porti, arXiv:1409.4784 (2014) [2]
11. Character varieties of virtually nilpotent Kähler groups and G-Higgs bundles, I. Biswas, C. Florentino, arXiv:1405.0610
(2014) [2]
12. Connectivity of Higgs Bundle Moduli for Complex Reductive Lie Groups, O. Garcı́a-Prada, A. Oliveira, arXiv:1408.4778
(2014) [1]
13. On spaces of commuting elements in Lie groups, F.R. Cohen, M. Stafa, arXiv:1402.6309 (2014) [1]
14. Newton-Okounkov polyhedra for character varieties and configuration spaces, C. Manon, arXiv:1403.3990 (2014) [4]
15. Arithmetic of character varieties of free groups, S. Mozgovoy, M. Reineke, arXiv:1402.6923 (2014) [3]
16. The Topology of Nilpotent Representations in Reductive Groups and their Maximal Compact Subgroups by Maxime
Bergeron, Geometry & Topology (2014) [2]
17. Metabelian SL(n, C) representations of knot groups, III by H. Boden , S. Friedl, Q. J. Math. (2013) [1]
18. On compactifications of character varieties of n-punctured projective line by A. Komyo, arXiv:1307.7880 (2013) [1]
19. Commuting elements in reductive groups and Higgs bundles on Abelian varieties by I. Biswas, C. Florentino, Journal of
Algebra, Volume 388 (2013) [1]
20. G-Character varieties for G = SO(n, C) and other not simply connected groups by A. Sikora,arXiv:1303.7181 (2013)
[1]
21. Differential Geometry and Mathematical Physics Part I. Manifolds, Lie Groups and Hamiltonian Systems, by Gerd
Rudolph, Matthias Schmidt ISBN: 978-94-007-5344-0 (2013) [1]
22. The Quasi-Poisson Goldman Formula by Xin Nie, Journal of Geometry and Physics volume 74, (2013)[1]
23. Lectures on Representations of Surface Groups by F. Labourie, hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/62/79/16/PDF/
surfaces.pdf (2011) [1]
24. An L3-U3-quotient algorithm for nitely presented groups by S. Jambor, Ph.D. Thesis, darwin.bth.rwth-aachen.de/
opus3/volltexte/2012/4215/ (2012) [1]
25. Quasi-Poisson structures on representation spaces of surfaces by G. Massuyeau & V. Turaev, arXiv:1205.4898 (2012) [1]
26. Spherical Triangles and the Two Components of the SO(3)-character space of the fundamental group of a closed surface
of genus 2 by S. Choi, International Journal of Mathematics (2011) [1]
27. Trace coordinates on Fricke spaces of some simple hyperbolic surfaces by W. Goldman, Handbook of Teichmüller theory
(2009)[1]
28. Traces, Cross-ratios and 2-generator Subgroups of PU(2, 1) by P. Will, Canadian Journal of Mathematics (2009)[1]
29. Spherical CR geometry and Dehn surgery by Richard Schwartz, Annals of Mathematics Studies (2007)[1]
30. Character Varieties by A. Sikora, Transaction of the American Mathematical Society (2010)[8]
31. Character Varieties of Abelian Groups by A. Sikora, Math. Z. 277 (2014) [1]
32. Generating sets for coordinate rings of character varieties,Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, by A. Sikora, (2013)[2]
33. Group theory: birdtracks, Lie’s, and exceptional groups by P. Cvitanovic, Princeton University Press (2011)[1]
34. Ergodicity of Mapping Class Group Actions on SU(2)-character varieties by W. Goldman & E. Xia, Festschrift honoring
Robert Zimmer’s 60th birthday (2010) [2]
35. Trace diagrams, matrix minors, and determinant identities by E. Peterson & S. Morse, Involve (2010)[1]
36. The topology of moduli spaces of group representations: The case of compact surface by I. Biswas and C. Florentino,
Bulletin des Sciences Mathématiques (2011)[1]
37. Traces in complex hyperbolic geometry by J. Parker, Lecture Note Series IMS, (2010)[1]
38. Locally homogeneous geometric manifolds by W. Goldman, Proceedings of the 2010 International Congress of Mathematicians (2010) [1]
39. Spin Networks and SL(2, C)-Character Varieties by S. Lawton & E. Peterson, Handbook of Teichmüller theory (2009)[1]
40. Generators, Relations and Symmetries in Pairs of 3x3 Unimodular Matrices, S. Lawton, [1]
41. Poisson Geometry of SL(3, C)-Character Varieties Relative to a Surface with Boundary by S. Lawton, Transactions of
the American Mathematical Society (2009)[1]
42. Minimal Affine Coordinates for SL(3, C) Character Varieties of Free Groups by S. Lawton, Journal of Algebra (2008)[1]
43. Algebraic Independence in SL(3, C) Character Varieties of Free Groups by S. Lawton, Journal of Algebra (2010)[2]
44. Obtaining the One-Holed Torus from the Pair-of-Pants: Duality in an SL(3, C)-Character Variety by S. Lawton, Pacific
Journal of Mathematics (2009)[3]
45. The topology of moduli spaces of free group representations by C. Florentino & S. Lawton, Mathematische Annalen
(2009)[2]
46. Computing with SL(2, C) Central Functions with Spin Networks by S. Lawton & E. Peterson, Geometriae Dedicata
(2011)[2]
47. The Topology of Parabolic Character Varieties of Free Groups by I. Biswas, C. Florentino, S. Lawton, M. Logares,
Geometriae Dedicata (2013) [5]
48. Character Varieties and the Moduli of Quiver Representations by C. Florentino & S. Lawton, In the tradition of AhlforsBers, Papers from the 5th Ahlfors-Bers Colloquium held at Rice University, Contemporary Mathematics, American
Mathematical Society (2013) [1]
49. Singularities of Free Group Character Varieites by C. Florentino & S. Lawton, Pacific Journal of Mathematics (2012) [2]
50. Topology of Character Varieites of Abelian Groups, by C. Florentino & S. Lawton, Topology Appl. 173 (2014) [2]
51. E-polynomial of SL(2, C)-Character Varieties of Free groups, by S. Cavazos, S. Lawton, Internat. J. Math. 25 (2014) [2]
52. Topology of Moduli Spaces of Free Group Representations in Real Reductive Groups, A. Casimiro, C. Florentino, S.
Lawton, A. Oliveira,Forum Mathematicum (2014) [4]
53. Decision problems, complexity, traces, and representations, by S. Lawton, L. Louder, D. B. McReynolds, arXiv:1312.
1261 (2013) [2]
54. Fundamental Groups of Character Varieties: Surfaces and Tori, I. Biswas, S. Lawton, D. Ramras, http://www.math.
iupui.edu/~dramras/fgm-6-28-14.pdf (2014)[5]
55. Covering spaces of character varieties, S. Lawton, D. Ramras, arXiv:1402.0781 (2014) [4]
56. Fundamental Group of Moduli Spaces of Representations, I. Biswas, S. Lawton, arXiv:1405.3580 [3]
57. E-polynomial of the SL(3, C)-character variety of free groups, S. Lawton, V. Muñoz, arXiv:1405.0816 [4]
58. On the homotopy type of free group character varieties, A. Casimiro, C. Florentino, S. Lawton, A. Oliveira), Boletim da
Sociedade Portuguesa de Matemática (2014) [2]
59. Homotopy Groups of Free Group Character Varieties, C. Florentino, S. Lawton, D. Ramras, arXiv: [8]
Personal citation index is 5.41 (22 articles receiving 119 citations from 59 sources & 52 authors).