Dan Christensen's home page

I am an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics at The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, with a cross appointment to the Department of Applied Mathematics, and an affiliation with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

During 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, I am a UWO Faculty Scholar.

Here are photos from some trips I have been on.

Contact information is below.

Research

My research interests include algebraic topology (especially stable homotopy theory and model categories), derived categories, modular representation theory, mathematical physics (quantum gravity), algebraic and scientific computation, and category theory (especially higher categories).

Research group

Dan Christensen (faculty)

Sam Isaacson (postdoctoral fellow, July 2009 to June 2011)
Wade Cherrington (postdoctoral fellow, May 2009 to April 2010)
Jeff Morton (postdoctoral fellow, July 2007 to June 2010)

Enxin Wu (Ph.D. student, Sept 2008 to present)
Gaohong Wang (M.Sc. student, August 2009 to present)

What's this?

I intend to accept one new graduate student in 2010, probably in the area of homotopy theory. If you are interested, please contact me.

I encourage eligible people in topology or physics to apply for an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, an NSF PDF (e.g. a International Research Fellowship Program postdoc, or a Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships or a Distinguished International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship) or similar to be held at Western.

Citizens of New Zealand, The United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea and Switzerland are eligible to apply for postdoctoral support from the Government of Canada.

My papers and preprints
My curriculum vita: dvi, ps, pdf.
I can supervise graduate students in the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Applied Mathematics and the Program in Theoretical Physics at Western.
A learning seminar on the Steenrod algebra.
Information on topology at Western
Information on spin foam models of quantum gravity
Departmental seminars and colloquia. The algebra seminar includes a lot of topology, and we also have a geometry and topology seminar.
I am an affiliate member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics which is located in Waterloo, about a 75 minute drive from Western. Talks at Perimeter.
I am managing editor of Homology, Homotopy and Applications.
Western is part of SHARCNet, Canada's largest academic supercomputer. A profile of my research, written by SHARCNet staff. Another by the Faculty of Science.

Teaching

Winter 2010	Representation Theory, Math 9140b.
Fall 2009	Linear Algebra 1600a.
Winter 2009	Linear Algebra 1600b.
Fall 2008	Linear Algebra 1600a.
	Algebraic Topology II, Math 9152a.
Winter 2008	Algebraic Topology, Math 414b/501b.
Winter 2007	Representation Theory, Math 562b.
Fall 2006	Advanced Calculus I, Calculus 250a, both sections.
Fall 2004	Advanced Calculus I, Calculus 250a.
Summer 2004	Homotopy Theory, Math 546a.
Winter 2004	Differential Geometry, Math 572b.
Summer 2003	Representation Theory, Math 562a.
Fall 2002	Discrete Structures I, Math 222a.
Winter 2002	Discrete Structures II, Math 223b.
Fall 2001	Discrete Structures I, Math 222a, sections 2 and 3.
Winter 2001	Algebraic Topology, Math 414b
Fall 2000	Homotopy Theory I, Math 546a.

Other

The Hopf archive of research papers in topology. The Front for the xxx Mathematics Archive. Direct to the xxx archive. The K-theory archive. MathSciNet, which contains searchable reviews of almost all mathematics publications and many physics publications as well.

SAGE is a wonderful program which interfaces to Magma, Maple, Mathematica and MATLAB, and the free programs Axiom, GAP, GP/PARI, Macaulay2, Maxima, Octave, and Singular. It is freely available and open source.

Dave Rusin's Mathematics Essays, and his article about algebraic topology. If you find math fun, consider becoming a math major. Talk to me or anyone else in the department if you're curious.

A java calculator that performs exact computation with the constructable reals, using a java library. Python and C++ libraries that are similar.

The Rainbow Cinemas at the Galleria.

How to get to London, Ontario, and where to stay.

I've produced some beautiful plots of roots of polynomials, some of which appeared in a Scientific American article.

Contact information

Dan Christensen
Department of Mathematics
The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario N6A 5B7
Canada

Office phone: (519) 661-2111 x86530
Fax: (519) 661-3610 (include my full name)

E-mail: j d c at u w o . c a

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