Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1 hour / session
Prerequisites
Description
The Kan seminar—named after the late MIT professor Daniel Kan—focuses on classic papers in algebraic topology. Each student gives one or two talks on each of three papers, chosen in consultation with the instructor, reads all the papers presented by other students, and writes reactions to the papers. This course is useful not only to students pursuing algebraic topology as a field of study, but also to those interested in symplectic geometry, representation theory, and combinatorics.
Calendar
Each student gives one or two talks on each of three papers, alternating presentations throughout the semester.
| SES # | TOPICS | PRESENTERS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Organization | Instructor |
| 2 | Sample Math Talk | Instructor |
| 3 | Math Talk | Student A |
| 4 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student B |
| 5 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student (Auditing) |
| 6 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student (Auditing) (cont.) |
| 7 | Student C | Student C |
| 8 | Practice Talk Session* | |
| 9 | Math Talk | Student D |
| 10 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 11 | Student E | Student E |
| 12 | Math Talk | Student (Auditing) |
| 13 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student F |
| 14 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 15 | Math Talk | Student G |
| 16 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 17 | Math Talk | Student A |
| 18 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 19 | Math Talk | Student B |
| 20 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 21 | Math Talk | Student C |
| 22 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student D |
| 23 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 24 | Math Talk | Student E |
| 25 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student F |
| 26 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student G |
| 27 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student A |
| 28 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 29 | Math Talk | Student B |
| 30 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student C |
| 31 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student D |
| 32 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 33 | Practice Talk Session (cont.) | |
| 34 | Math Talk | Student E |
| 35 | Math Talk (cont.) | Student F |
| 36 | Practice Talk Session | |
| 37 | Math Talk | Student G |
*About one-third of the practice talks were included in the course calendar; students scheduled the remaining two-thirds independently.
