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ARTseminarimage

Organized by
Arun Ram and Aru Ray

Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Melbourne
Parkville VIC 3010 Australia
aram@unimelb.edu.au

ART could stand for, Arun's Rehearsal Time, or Around Research and Teaching, or Advanced Representation Theory, or Advice Reactions and Tribulations, or Art Revelations and Transcendence. All of these could be suitable titles for this seminar, depending on the week. Sometimes there will be outside speakers, and sometimes it will a collection of thoughts and material curated by the organizer or some other speaker.

EVERYONE is welcome to attend and participate. Please do contact me if you have even the slightest interest in presenting in this seminar. There are no "rules" for this seminar. Let's discuss.

The record of ART seminars for 2025 is found at the link ART seminars 2025

Seminars in March 2026

  1. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 17 March 2026
    Interviewer: Arun Ram -- Special guest: Jennifer Flegg
    Title: The Omar Khayyam show with special guest Jennifer Flegg
    Abstract: This session will be modeled on shows like the Johnny Carson Show, or David Letterman, where special guests come in for a chat.

  2. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 24 March 2026
    Presenters/facilitators: Sara Billey
    Title: 3D printing the affine symmetric group -- Higher Bruhat orders for affine permutations
    Abstract: Just as permutations are total orders on the integers from 1 to n, the affine permutations are total orders on all of the integers with a certain periodic property. They arise in the mathematics of Lie groups and reflection groups, but recently they have been applied in computer vision and cryptography. The affine permutations have many beautiful properties, including a geometric interpretation as alcoves in an affine hyperplane arrangement. In this talk, we will discuss some adventures in 3-d printing these alcoves for visualization, along with some theorems and conjectures on generalizing the higher Bruhat orders due to Manin-Schechtman to affine permutations. Our main theorem proves a conjecture of Ben Elias on the structure of commutation classes of reduced expressions of affine permutations. This talk is based on joint work with Herman Chau and Kevin Liu.

  3. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 3 March 2026
    Presenters/facilitators: Gypsy Akhyar
    Title: Community and mathematics
    Abstract: This talk is about my experience engaging with the mathematics community. It follows the stories of my relationships with three different mathematicians over my time at university. Each story begins with an inconspicuous email from me asking about homework, or to join a seminar, or to grab a coffee. Little did I know the profound impact each of these people would make on both my mathematical and personal lives.
    Music Intro: Gene Shinozaki -- Metamorphosis https://youtu.be/0rBG9BAiiC4?si=yphgx55OqNhr2lFZ

  4. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 10 March 2026
    Presenters/facilitators: Emanuel Godfried
    Title: Comedy hour double header: Making LaTeX documents accessible   and   Everything wrong with maths at The University of Melbourne
    Abstract 1: LaTeX makes beautiful documents ("mostly"), but (especially) mathematical content is not well supported for assistive technologies (such as screen readers) for visually impaired people. In this short talk, I will show how to make your future documents accessible for screen readers with minimal author input.

    Abstract 2: In this comedic (hopefully) talk, I will provide observations from my first year at The University as a PhD student coming from overseas. I will be lauding, critiquing The University and (hopefully) provide alternative solutions to make mathematics at The University even better.
    Music Intro: Ireneusz Krosny -- Historia tanca https://youtu.be/xCtXX9iQkuw?si=GzxtUkEEEItcNSRx

Seminars in February 2026

  1. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 3 February 2026
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Counting and polynomials -- Catalan and Hodge
    Abstract: Carefully counting points in spaces over finite fields produces (q,t) versions of Catalan numbers that specialize to usual Catalan numbers at q=t=1. These (q,t) polynomials are Hodge polynomials of affine Springer fibers, moduli spaces of Higgs bundles, character varieties and braid varieties. A more refined packaging of the point counts gives symmetric functions that capture the structure of representations of the symmetric group that have been studied by Garsia, Haiman and many others (generalized diagonal coinvariants).
    Music Intro: Sondheim - Sunday in the Park with George -- Color and light https://youtu.be/kFQGkm2VFy4?si=xDHW4VApUPVtv0Jx

  2. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 10 February 2026
    Presenters/facilitators: Chris Duffy and Trithang Tran
    Title: Mathematics involves people: reflective assessments in real analysis and calculus
    Abstract: How and why they are so rewarding.
    Music Intro: Joni Mitchell -- Both Sides Now https://youtu.be/7cBf0olE9Yc?si=zz1YkPBKbV8FGNJc
    Video suggestion: Corrine Yap -- Uniform Convergence https://vimeo.com/1082629326/8f14035191

  3. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 17 February 2026
    Presenters/facilitators: Aru Ray
    Title: Decomposition for good
    Abstract: Given a partition D of a topological space X, we can consider the quotient X/D, namely the space obtained by collapsing the points in each element of D to an individual point. Under what conditions on D can we conclude that X and X/D are homeomorphic? This is the central question in "decomposition space theory", which is responsible for some of the most counterintuitive theorems in topology - Brown's (Schoenflies) theorem, Cannon's double suspension theorem, and Freedman's disc embedding theorem.
    Music Intro: Beethoven - Ode to Joy, Osaks Japan https://youtu.be/Ayw4l58IWb8?si=MHHeT_HaS2vjVclt

  4. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 24 February 2026
    Presenters/facilitators: Adam Monteleone
    Title: Mirror Symmetry for Quintic Hypersurfaces
    Abstract: How dualities from String theory turned period integrals into curve counts.
    Music Intro: Beethoven -- Coriolan Overture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1PKSoi9lNk

Seminars in January 2026

  1. Location: Room 162 (Alison Harcourt Seminar Room) Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 13 January 2026
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Linear algebra 1,2,3
    Abstract: What you actually need to know.
    Music Intro: Yuja Wang -- Philip Glass Piano Etude No. 6 https://youtu.be/rWMQMd2VKEk?si=U_tuIqs2qk-eo73r

  2. Location: Room 162 (Alison Harcourt Seminar Room) Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 20 January 2026
    Presenter/facilitator: Sepideh Mohammadi
    Title: Motivated by the CRing project
    Abstract: The CRings project and a generalization of a depth result from the local case to the semilocal case.
    Music Intro: Seiji Ozawa -- Bach Air https://youtu.be/5G7Vc0zFnOM?si=j-QwQaUYEC8jhRj7

  3. Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 27 January 2026
    Presenters/Facilitators: David Ridout and Dhruv Gupta
    Title: The mathamagic of Vacation Scholarships
    Abstract: All about choosing and working and living the Vacation Scholarship experience.
    Music Intro: The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Paul Dukas -- from the movie Fantasia https://youtu.be/B4M-54cEduo?si=FqLk6oyzS6TrLPfW

The program below is currently under construction. Some ideas are below but the ordering and timing and topics are, at the moment, only suggestive and may change. Please give me your suggestions and requests regarding the program.

Please do contact me if you have even the slightest interest in presenting in this seminar. There are no "rules" for this seminar. Let's discuss.

Possible future seminars: Tell Arun Ram if you have an interest in having any of these in the Seminar

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 31 March 2026
    Persenter/Facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Getting started with an MSc research project advisor (focus: Xi Geng)
    Abstract: I'm doing a Math Masters and I should organise a research project advisor. How do I get into this? How do I read a paper?

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ?? February 2026
    Presenters/facilitators: ????????
    Title: Travel Stories
    Abstract: Stories, stories, stories

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday 1????? January 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Scenes from the movie Amadeus
    Abstract: This talk will be an analysis of selected music, delivery, content from the movie and how it relates to a career in mathematics research.

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ????? January 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Readings
    Abstract: Readings from favorites: Feynman, Anne of Green Gables, Solzhenitsyn, Consuelo, Tolkein, ... TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ????? January 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Some poems
    Abstract: Sunbeams, Queensland, The Mossman Cane cutters, Come let's away to prison, BeHolding, The tallest of the pines, TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ?????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Compiling and curating 40 years of Calculus teaching
    Abstract: What do we actually teach in Calculus? What are good ways to say this? to 19 year olds? We'll explore why and how this is the most thrilling and midblowing activity one can undertake in a lifetime.

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Thinking about discovery model learning
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: A new plan for the undergraduate math curriculum
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Why learn Chapter II of Macdonald' book on symmetric functions?
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Why learn Chapter II of Macdonald' book on symmetric functions?
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to be a mentor
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to be a member of the hiring committee
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to apply for grants
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to write reports
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to write recommendation letters
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to get a job
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to practice effectively
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to procrastinate
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to spend money
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: How to host visitors
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Career Secrets: The inquisition
    Abstract: TBA

  • Location: Room 162 Peter Hall Building University of Melbourne
    Time: 15:30-17:00 on Tuesday ???????? 2025
    Presenter/facilitator: Arun Ram
    Title: Career secrets: Shoes
    Abstract: TBA