Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Email: lchen (at) swarthmore (dot) edu
Research Interests
:
Algebraic geometry and algebraic combinatorics, including quantum cohomology, equivariant cohomology, Schubert calculus, moduli spaces of curves, affine Grassmannians, and other aspects of enumerative and combinatorial geometry.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Swarthmore, PA 19081
Email: lchen (at) swarthmore (dot) edu
Office: Science Center 153
Algebraic geometry and algebraic combinatorics, including quantum cohomology, equivariant cohomology, Schubert calculus, moduli spaces of curves, affine Grassmannians, and other aspects of enumerative and combinatorial geometry.
Ongoing Events:
Prior to arriving at Swarthmore College in Fall 2008, I was an Assistant Professor at Ohio State University, and a VIGRE postdoctoral fellow and Ritt Assistant Professor at Columbia University. I received my Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Chicago under the direction of William Fulton, and received my A.B. in Mathematics from Harvard College. I grew up mostly in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but was born in upstate New York, and lived in New York City and New Jersey before moving to Michigan. I was away from Swarthmore in 2011-13, when I worked at the National Science Foundation as a Program Director in the Topology and Geometric Analysis Programs in the Division of Mathematical Sciences.
- I co-organize the annual Mid-Atlantic Algebraic Geometry and Combinatorics (MAAGC) Workshop. The seventh annual workshop will take place in March 2020 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, and is funded by NSF conference grant DMS-1728937.
- I co-organize the Philadelphia Combinatorics, Algebra, and Geometry (CAGE) Seminar, usually held Thursdays 3:00-4:00pm, at the University of Pennsylvania/Drexel University.
- I co-organize the Philadelphia Junior Math Circle (PK-4).
- The Math-Physics Joint Seminar is usually held Tuesdays or Thursdays 4:30-5:30pm, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Current and Upcoming Activity:
- I have been elected to a four-year term on the Executive Committee of the Association for Women in Mathematics, 2020-2024.
- I am an Associate Editor for The American Mathematical Monthly.
- I am currently serving a five-year term on the Prize Committee for the American Mathematical Society (AMS) Mary P. Dolciani Prize for Excellence in Research, 2018-2022.
- I will be speaking in the Mid-Atlantic Algebraic Geometry and Combinatorics (MAAGC) Workshop in March 2020.
- I will a keynote speaker for the Sixth Annual Graduate Student Conference in Algebra, Geometry, and Topology (GTA Philadelphia) in May 2020.
- I will be a group leader for the Women in Algebraic Geometry Collaborative Research Workshop at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM), July 27-31, 2020.
Selected Past Activity:
- I was elected to a three-year term on the American Mathematical Society (AMS) Nominating Committee and served 2017-2019. I was on the AMS Committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Employment Security in 2016-2018.
- I was a speaker in the Facets of Algebraic Geometry conference in October 2019.
- I was a plenary speaker for the MAA NJ Section Meeting in October 2018.
- I was a speaker in the Western Algebraic Geometry Symposium in March 2018 .
- I was a speaker in the Georgia Algebraic Geometry Symposium in February 2018.
- I gave the Alice Dickinson Lecture in Mathematics at the Women in Mathematics in New England (WiMiN 2015) conference in September 2015.
- I was on the Program Committee for the 27th Annual International Conference on Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics, July 6-10, 2015, at KAIST in Daejoon, Korea.
- I gave a Colloquium talk at the 2015 IAS Program for Women and Mathematics, "Aspects of Algebraic Geometry" in May 2015.
- I co-organized the Special Session on Algebraic Geometry at the AWM Research Symposium, University of Maryland, April 11-12, 2015.
About Me:
Prior to arriving at Swarthmore College in Fall 2008, I was an Assistant Professor at Ohio State University, and a VIGRE postdoctoral fellow and Ritt Assistant Professor at Columbia University. I received my Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Chicago under the direction of William Fulton, and received my A.B. in Mathematics from Harvard College. I grew up mostly in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but was born in upstate New York, and lived in New York City and New Jersey before moving to Michigan. I was away from Swarthmore in 2011-13, when I worked at the National Science Foundation as a Program Director in the Topology and Geometric Analysis Programs in the Division of Mathematical Sciences.