The Fall 2012 meeting of the Texas Geometry and Topology Conference will be at Rice University on November 9-11, 2012. The conference will be focused on the moduli space of curves, broadly defined to include Teichmuller theory, cohomological topics surrounding the Mumford conjecture (Madsen-Weiss theorem) and the tautological ring, the mapping class group, and other related topics in algebraic geometry and geometric topology. The Texas Geometry and Topology Conference has been held spring and fall since its founding in 1989, a total of 47 times. The conference has become an extremely successful semi-annual event in the Southwest. The next series of conferences will have seven primary sponsoring universities: Rice University, Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston, Texas Tech University, Texas Christian University/University of Texas at Arlington (jointly). The conference is designed to enhance both the educational and the research atmosphere of the active community of geometers and topologists in Texas and the surrounding states. The conference is committed to bring researchers of national and international stature to discuss their research and to interact with mathematicians from Texas and surrounding states. Summaries of talks with notation of important results are publicly reported.
By design, the Texas Geometry and Topology Conference has two high-impact foci. First, the conference makes it possible for the community of geometers and topologists from Texas and surrounding states (a huge geographic region) to meet and share mathematics on a regular basis. This both stimulates individual research and generates productive cooperative efforts between schools. Second, the conference is committed to the strengthening and enrichment of the mathematics personnel base. In order that there be no barrier to participation, the conference is widely advertised, participation is open, and there are no registration fees. Graduate students, junior faculty, women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are especially encouraged to participate and to apply for support. Furthermore the conference is partnering with two historically black universities (Fayetteville State University and Prairie View A&M University) on a pilot project to foster research opportunities for junior faculty.
The permanent web page for the Texas Geometry and Topology Conference is here: www.math.tamu.edu/~tgtc/archive/.
