Jennifer Taback Address Department of Mathematics Phone (207) 725-3951 Bowdoin College Fax (207) 725-3750 8600 College Station E-mail jtaback@bowdoin.edu Brunswick, ME 04011 Web Page www.bowdoin.edu/ jtaback Education Academic Positions University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Ph.D. in Mathematics June, 1998. Advisor: Benson Farb. Thesis: Quasi-isometric rigidity for P SL 2 (Z[ 1 p ]). University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. M.A. in Mathematics, December 1994. Yale University, New Haven, CT. B.A. in Mathematics, May 1993. Professor Associate Professor Assistant and Visiting Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Visiting Scholar Bowdoin College July 2012 - present Bowdoin College July 2007 - June 2012 Bowdoin College July 2002 - June 2007 University at Albany September 1999 - June 2004 University of Utah January 2002 - June 2002 Charles B. Morrey Assistant Professor University of California-Berkeley July 1998-July 1999 Grants and Awards Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant for Mathematicians July, 2014-June, 2020. Bowdoin College Faculty Leave Fellowship September, 2012 - June, 2013 and September, 2018-June, 2019. National Science Foundation Research Grant DMS-1105407 September 1, 2011-August 31, 2014. Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Mellon Foundation Grant Crossing Boundaries: Fostering communication and collaboration among algebraists, number theorists and topologists, Fall, 2010. Bowdoin College Faculty Research Award January, 2009 - December, 2010. Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Mellon Foundation Grant A collaborative seminar in algebra and topology, September, 2007. National Science Foundation Research Grant DMS-0604645 August, 2006 - July, 2009. Bowdoin College Faculty Research Award August, 2006 - June, 2007. Bowdoin College Faculty Leave Fellowship January, 2006 - June, 2007. National Science Foundation Research Grant DMS-0305441 July, 2003 - June, 2006. National Science Foundation International Collaboration Grant #0305545 Joint with Sean Cleary, CUNY and Jose Burillo, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya.
Individual Development Award New York State/UUP Professional Development Committee, February, 2001, March, 2002. Association of Women in Mathematics Mentorship Grant Mentor: Linda Keen,CUNY, March, 2002. Association of Women in Mathematics Travel Grant October, 2001. Undergraduate Teaching Award University of California-Berkeley, June 1999. Graves Memorial Lectureship Teaching Prize The University of Chicago, June 1998. Preprints and Publications 1. Quasi-isometric rigidity of PSL(2,Z[1/p]), Duke Math. Journal, Vol. 101 No. 2 (2000), 335-357. 2. Equivalence of geometric and combinatorial Dehn functions (joint with Jose Burillo), New York Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 8 (2002), 169-179. 3. Bounding restricted rotation distance (joint with Sean Cleary), Information Proc. Letters, Vol. 88 No. 5 (2003), 251-256. 4. Geometric quasi-isometric embeddings into Thompson s group F (joint with Sean Cleary), New York Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 9 (2003), 141-148. 5. The Dehn function of PSL(2,Z[1/p]), Geom. Dedicata, Vol. 102 No. 1 (2003), 179-195. 6. Thompson s group F is not almost convex (joint with Sean Cleary), J. Algebra, Vol. 270 No. 1 (2004), 133-149. 7. Combinatorial properties of Thompson s group F (joint with Sean Cleary), Trans. AMS., Vol. 356 No. 7 (2004), 2825 2849. 8. The large scale geometry of some metabelian groups (joint with Kevin Whyte), Michigan Math. Journal, Vol. 52 No. 1 (2004), 205-218. 9. Dead end words in lamplighter groups and wreath products, (joint with Sean Cleary), The Quarterly Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 56 No. 2 (2005), 165-178. 10. Seesaw words in Thompson s group F, (joint with Sean Cleary), in Jose Burillo, Sean Cleary, Murray Elder, Jennifer Taback and Enric Ventura, editors, Geometric Methods in Group Theory, Contemp. Math., Vol. 372, American Mathematical Society (2005), 147-160. 11. Metric properties of the lamplighter group as an automata group, (joint with Sean Cleary), in Jose Burillo, Sean Cleary, Murray Elder, Jennifer Taback and Enric Ventura, editors, Geometric Methods in Group Theory, Contemp. Math., Vol. 372, American Mathematical Society (2005), 207-218. 12. Geometric Methods in Group Theory, Jose Burillo, Sean Cleary, Murray Elder, Jennifer Taback and Enric Ventura, editors, Contemp. Math., Vol. 371, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2005. 13. Cone types and geodesic languages for lamplighter groups and Thompson s group F (joint with Sean Cleary and Murray Elder), J. Algebra, Vol. 303 No. 2 (2006), 476 500. 14. Surface Symmetries and P SL 2 (p), (joint with Murad Ozaydin and Charlotte Simmons), Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. Vol. 359 (2007), 2243 2268. 15. Bounding right-arm rotation distances (joint with Sean Cleary), Internat. J. Algebra Comput. Vol. 17 No. 2 (2007), 69 399. 16. Combinatorial properties of Thompson s group T (joint with Jose Burillo, Sean Cleary and Melanie Stein), Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. Vol. 361 No. 2 (2009), 631 652. 17. Twisted conjugacy and quasi-isometry invariance for generalized solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups (joint with Peter Wong), J. Lond. Math. Soc. (2) Vol. 75 No. 3 (2007), 705 717.
18. Random subgroups of Thompson s group F (joint with Sean Cleary, Murray Elder and Andrew Reichnitzer), Groups Geom. Dyn. Vol. 4 No. 1 (2010), 91 126. 19. The geometry of twisted conjugacy classes in wreath products (joint with Peter Wong), in Benson Farb and David Fisher, editors, Geometry, Rigidity and Group Actions, Chicago Lectures in Math., Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 2011, 561-587. 20. A note on twisted conjugacy and generalized Baumslag-Solitar groups (joint with Peter Wong), preprint. 21. Computing word length in alternate presentations of Thompson s group F (joint with Melanie Stein), Internat. J. Algebra Comput. Vol. 19 No. 8 (2009), 963 997. 22. A note on convexity properties of Thompson s group F (joint with Melanie Stein and Matthew Horak), Journal of Group Theory Vol. 15 No. 1 (2012), 37 46, electronic. 23. Free Limits of Thompson s group F (joint with Azer Akhmedov and Melanie Stein) Geometriae Dedicata Vol. 155 No. 1 (2012), 163 176. 24. Tame combing and almost convexity conditions (joint with Sean Cleary, Susan Hermiller and Melanie Stein), Mathematische Zeitschrift Vol. 269 No. 3 (2011), 879 915. 25. Metric properties of Diestel-Leader groups (joint with Melanie Stein), Michigan Math. J. Vol. 62 No. 2 (2013), 365 386. 26. C-graph automatic groups (joint with Murray Elder), J. Algebra 413 (2014), 289-319. 27. Automorphisms of Diestel-Leader groups (joint with Melanie Stein and Peter Wong), Internat. J. Algebra Comput. Vol. 25, no. 8, (2015), 12751299. 28. An Introduction to Lamplighter Groups, in M. Clay and D. Margalit, Editors, Office Hours with a Geometric Group Theorist, Princeton University Press (2017). 29. Bilipschitz versus quasi-isometric equivalence for higher rank lamplighter groups (joint with Tullia Dymarz and Irine Peng), New York Journal of Mathematics Vol. 21 (2015), 129 150. 30. Tree based language complexity of Thompson s group F (joint with Sharif Younes), Groups, Complexity, Cryptology, Vol. 7 no. 2, (2015), 135152. 31. Thompson s group F is 1-counter graph automatic (joint with Murray Elder), Groups, Complexity, Cryptology, Vol. 8 no. 1, (2016), 2133. 32. Higher rank lamplighter groups are graph automatic (joint with Sophie Berube and Tara Palnitkar), J. Algebra Vol. 496, (2018), 315343. 33. A quasi-isometry classification of iterated Baumslag-Solitar groups (joint with Tullia Dymarz and Kevin Whyte), in preparation. 34. Growth and medium-scale curvature in solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups (joint with Alden Walker), in preparation. 35. How close can a graph automatic group be to automatic? (joint with Murray Elder), in preparation. Invited Lectures and Seminar Talks The Graduate Center of the City University, New York, NY, February, 2019. University at Albany, Albany, NY, Spring 2019 Tufts University, Medford, MA, December, 2018. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, October 2018. Bowdoin-Bates-Colby Mathematics Seminar Colby College, Waterville, ME, May, 2017. Tufts University, Medford, MA, March, 2015.
Group Theory Seminar The Graduate Center of the City University, New York, NY, November, 2014. Tufts University, Medford, MA, March, 2014. Geometric and Asymptotic Group Theory with Applications City College of New York, New York, NY, May, 2013. Seminar The Stevens Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, March, 2013 Group Theory Seminar The Graduate Center of the City University, New York, NY, March, 2013 Lecture Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, March, 2013 City University of New York, New York, NY, March, 2013 University at Albany, Albany, NY, November, 2012 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, November, 2012 Park City Mathematics Institute, Undergraduate Program Lecturer Park City, Utah, July, 2012. Lecture Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, April, 2012. Lecture Colby College, Waterville, ME, September, 2011. Examples of Groups, main speaker The Ohio State University, May, 2011. Tufts University, April, 2011. City University of New York, New York, NY, April, 2011. International Conference on Geometric and Combinatorial Methods in Group Theory and Semigroup Theory University of Nebraska-Lincoln, May, 2009. The Ohio State University, March, 2009. Geometric and Asymptotic Group Theory with Applications Stevens Institute of Technology, March, 2009. Tufts University, February, 2009. Second Conference for Women in Mathematics, main speaker City University of New York, May, 2008. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, April, 2008. Lecture Colby College, Waterville, ME, November, 2007. Introduction to Geometric Group Theory Workshop, invited speaker Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, CA, August, 2007. Geometry and The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, April 2007. Tufts University, Boston, MA, March 2007. City University of New York, New York, NY, January 2007. Asymptotic Subgroups in Groups Conference, main speaker Stevens Institute of Technology, January, 2007. Tufts University, Boston, MA, March 2006.
City University of New York, New York, NY, January 2006. AMS Special Session on Geometric Group Theory Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, October 2005. Bowdoin-Bates-Colby Mathematics Seminar Colby College, Waterville, ME, February 2005. Seminar Centre de Recerca Mathematica, Bellaterra, Spain, January, 2005. Albany Group Theory Conference Albany, NY, October 2004. Mathematical Association of America MathFest Providence, RI, August 2004. City University of New York, New York, NY, April 2004. Albany Group Theory Conference Albany, NY, October 2003. Geometry Seminar Tufts University, Boston, MA, November 2003. Geometry Seminar University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, December 2002. AMS Special Session on Geometric Group Theory Montreal, Canada, May 3, 2002. Max Dehn Seminar Seminar The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, April 9, 2002, April 30, 2002. Geometry Seminar The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, November 2001. Albany Group Theory Conference Albany, NY, October 2001. Karcher The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, January 2001. Capital Region Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Albany, NY, November 2000. Union College, Schenectady, NY, November 2000. Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, April 2000. City University of New York, New York, NY, October 1999. University at Albany, Albany, NY, March 1999. Group Theory Seminar University at Albany, Albany, NY, March 1999. Spring Topology Conference, main speaker University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, March 1999. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, November, 1998. California State University-Fresno, Fresno, CA, November, 1998. University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, November, 1998. Albany Group Theory Conference, main speaker SUNY Albany, Albany, NY, October, 1998. International Conference on Non-Positively Curved Geometry Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, May 1998. Tufts University, Medford, MA, April 1, 1998
Bowdoin College Lectures Conferences and Sessions organized Department Seminar, October, 2018 The large scale geometry of infinite groups Department Seminar, April, 2018 The geometry of the Baumslag-Solitar Groups Christie Lunchtime Mathematics Seminar, Fall, 2017 What is the shape of the universe? Christie Lunchtime Mathematics Seminar, Spring, 2016 The revenge of the irrationals Department Seminar, March, 2015 The large scale geometry of some infinite groups Faculty Seminar, Spring, 2014 The shape of the universe: history, mathematics and scandal Christie Lunchtime Mathematics Seminar, Fall, 2013 The revenge of the irrationals Christie Mathematics Seminar, November, 2011 Secret sharing among mathematicians Department Seminar, February, 2011 Groups, Graphs and Trees Christie Lunchtime Mathematics Seminar, Fall 2010 Deception and fraud in the digital age CBB-Mellon Algebra-Topology Series, Spring, 2009 The geometry of twisted conjugacy classes in Lamplighter groups Department Seminar, Spring, 2009 Probability in Infinite Groups Christie Lunchtime Mathematics Seminar, Fall 2007 Secrets of cryptography Christie Lunchtime Mathematics Seminar, Spring 2007, Fall, 2008 The revenge of the irrationals Christie Lunchtime Mathematics Seminar, Fall 2006 Deception and fraud in the digital age Department Seminar, Fall, 2006 Thompson s group and public key cryptography Department Seminar, Spring 2005 Groups and Machines: Cone types and geodesic languages for lamplighter groups Christie Lunchtime Mathematics Seminar, Fall 2004 What is non-euclidean Geometry? Department Seminar, Fall 2003 What is the shape of the universe? Department Seminar, Fall 2003 Thompson s group Faculty Seminar, Fall 2003 Questioning Euclid and Understanding Escher Department Seminar, Spring 2002 Looking out for number one: deception and fraud in the digital age No Boundaries: groups in algebra, geometry and topology The University of Chicago, October 2017. Co-organizers: T. Brendle (Glasgow), D. Margalit (Ga. Tech) and K. Wortman (Utah) American Mathematical Society Eastern Sectional Meeting Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, September 2016. Campus organizer. American Mathematical Society Special Session on Geometric Group Theory Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, September 2016. Co-organizers: Moon Duchin (Tufts Univ.) and Charles Cunningham (Bowdoin College).
American Mathematical Society Special Session on Nilpotent Geometry Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, September 2016. Co-organizers: Moon Duchin (Tufts Univ.) and Peter Wong (Bates College) Collaboration Conference (part of CBB-Mellon grant) Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, March, 2011. Co-organizers: Thomas Pietraho (Bowdoin College), Scott Taylor (Colby College), Peter Wong (Bates College). American Mathematical Society Special Session on Geometric Group Theory Wesleyan University Middletown, CT, October, 2008. Co-organizers: Matthew Horak (Univ. of Wisconsin) and Melanie Stein (Trinity College). American Mathematical Society Special Session on Geometric Methods in Group Theory and Topology University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, April 2006. Co-organizers: Kim Ruane (Tufts University) and Peter Wong (Bates College). Fixed Point Theory and Related Topics Bates College, Lewiston, ME, April 2006. Co-organizer: Peter Wong (Bates College). AIM Workshop: Thompson s group at 40 years American Institute or Mathematics, Palo Alto, CA, January 2004. Co-organizers: Sean Cleary (CUNY), Steve Gersten (Univ. of Utah), John Stallings (UC- Berkeley). American Mathematical Society Special Session on Geometric Methods in Group Theory Joint meeting of the AMS and the RSME, Seville, Spain, June 2003. Co-organizers: Jose Burillo, Enric Ventura, Barcelona, Spain. American Mathematical Society Special Session on Geometric Group Theory Northeastern University, Boston, MA, October 2002. Co-organizer: Sean Cleary, City College, CUNY Professional Activiies Service to the American Mathematical Society (AMS) 1. Co-chair of the AMS Next Generation Fund Fundraising Committee, along with Ken Ribet (President of the AMS) and Robert Lazarsfeld (Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the AMS) (September 2017-present) 2. Member of the Executive Committee (February 2016 January 2018) 3. Member of the Council (February 2014 January 2018) 4. Member of the Rebranding Committee, along with Ken Ribet (President of the AMS) and Robert Lazarsfeld (Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the AMS) (2016-2017) 5. Chair of the Eastern Sectional Program Committee of the American Mathematical Society (2012-2014) Reviewer for National Science Foundation Individual Grant Proposals Reviewer for Birkhauser Press Reviewer for National Security Agency Individual Grant Proposals Referee for Geometriae Dedicata, Journal of Number Theory, Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, The New York Journal of Mathematics and Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society
Bowdoin Faculty Committees Student projects supervised and resulting publications Faculty Development Committee for Research and Teaching, Chair Fall 2013 - Spring 2017 Clare Boothe Luce Grant, Institutional Director Fall 2010 - Spring 2015 Lectures and Concerts Committee Chair: Fall 2011 - Spring 2012, Member: Fall 2010 - Spring 2011 Fellowships and Scholarships Committee Fall 2005, Fall 2008 - Spring 2010 Student Affairs Committee Fall 2004-Spring 2005 Hanzhao Li, Honors project, 2017-18 Convexity properties of higher rank lamplighter groups To be combined with the work of Peter Davids (below) and submitted to the Journal of Group Theory. Tara Palnitkar, Maine Space Grant Symposium Scholar, Summer 2015 Graph automaticity and Diestel-Leader groups S. Berube, T. Palnitkar and J. Taback. Higher rank lamplighter groups are graph automatic, J. Algebra Vol. 496, (2018), 315343. Sophie Berube, NSF Research Fellow, Summer 2015 Graph automaticity and Diestel-Leader groups Peter Davids, NSF Research Fellow, Summer 2013-Spring 2014 Almost convexity of higher rank lamplighter groups Sharif Younes, NSF Research Fellow, Spring 2012-Spring 2013 Cayley graph automaticity and Thompson s group F S. Younes and J. Taback. Tree based language complexity of Thompson s group F, Groups, Complexity, Cryptology, Vol. 7 no. 2, (2015), 135152. Molly Ridley, Clare Boothe Luce Scholar, 2011-2012 Explorations into subgroups of Thompson s group F Christina Argueta, Honors Project, 2010-11 Constructing minimal length representatives for elements of Thompson s group F Susanna Kimport, Honors Project, 2009-2010 An algorithm for computing word length in Thompson s group F Gregory Kelsey, Honors Project, 2004-5 Word Length in Alternative Presentations for Thompson s group F Micah Miller, Honors Project, 2003-4 Finding Minimal Length Representatives in Thompson s group F Miller, M. Finding Minimal Length Representatives in Thompson s group F, Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1.