Background
I hail from Bucharest, Romania. I did my undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Bucharest. Here is a picture from those days.
For my graduate studies, I went to Columbia University, receiving my Ph.D. degree in 1984. Here is a picture from around that time, taken in Cambridge, UK.
After a J.W. Gibbs Instructorship at Yale University, I came in 1986 to Northeastern University, where I've been ever since.
Research
My research interests are in Topology, and how it relates to Algebra, Geometry, and Combinatorics. I currently investigate cohomology jumping loci, and their applications to algebraic varieties, low-dimensional topology, and toric topology, such as the study of hyperplane arrangements, Milnor fibrations, moment angle complexes, configuration spaces, and various classes of knots, links, and manifolds, as well as the homology and lower central series of discrete groups. Below are some recent papers and preprints (click here and here for a complete list).
- Infinitesimal finiteness obstructions (with S. Papadima), J. London Math. Soc. 99 (2019), no. 1, 173-193.
- Cup products, lower central series, and holonomy Lie algebras (with H. Wang), J. Pure Appl. Alg. 223 (2019), no. 8, 3359-3385.
- Naturality properties and comparison results for topological and infinitesimal embedded jump loci (with S. Papadima), Adv. in Math. 350 (2019), 256-303.
- Formality properties of finitely generated groups and Lie algebras (with H. Wang), Forum Math. 31 (2019), no. 4, 867-905.
- Chen ranks and resonance varieties of the upper McCool groups (with H. Wang), Adv. in Appl. Math. 110 (2019), 197-234.
- The topology of compact Lie group actions through the lens of finite models (with S. Papadima), Int. Math. Res. Notices IMRN 2019 (2019), no. 20, 6390-6436.
- Rank two topological and infinitesimal embedded jump loci of quasi-projective manifolds (with S. Papadima), J. Inst. Math. Jussieu 19 (2020), no. 2, 451-485.
- Residually finite rationally p groups (with T. Koberda), Commun. Contemp. Math. 22 (2020), no. 3, 1950016 (44 pages).
- Homology, lower central series, and hyperplane arrangements (with R.D. Porter), Eur. J. Math. 6 (2020), no. 3, 1039-1072.
- Taylor expansions of groups and filtered-formality (with H. Wang), Eur. J. Math. 6 (2020), no. 3, 1073-1096.
- Poincaré duality and resonance varieties, Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A. 150 (2020), no. 6, 3001-3027.
- Sigma-invariants and tropical varieties, Math. Annalen 380 (2021), no. 3-4, 1427-1463.
- Cohomology jump loci of 3-manifolds, Manuscripta Math. 67 (2022), no. 1-2, 89-123.
- Differential graded algebras, Steenrod cup-one products, binomial operations, and Massey products (with R. Porter), Topology Appl. 313 (2022), 107987.
- Alexander invariants and cohomology jump loci in group extensions, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (to appear)
- Formality and finiteness in rational homotopy theory, EMS Surv. Math. Sci. (to appear).
- Cohomology, Bocksteins, and resonance varieties in characteristic 2, Contemp. Math. (to appear).
- Lower central series and split extensions, preprint May 2021.
- Reduced resonance schemes and Chen ranks (with M. Aprodu, G. Farkas, and C. Raicu), preprint March 2023.
Teaching
I teach a variety of math courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. If you are interested in taking a directed study course or a reading course with me (in addition to those courses regularly offered), please contact me.
- In Summer-2 2020, I taught MATH 3175, an undergraduate course in Group Theory.
- In Fall 2021, I taught MATH 4565, an undergraduate course in Topology.
- In Spring 2022, I taught MATH 7721, a Readings in Topology course.
- In Summer-2 2022, I taught MATH 3175, an undergraduate course in Group Theory.
- In Fall 2022, I taught MATH 3150, an undergraduate course in Real Analysis and MATH 4565, an undergraduate course in Topology.
- In Fall 2023, I will teach again MATH 3150 Real Analysis and MATH 4565 Topology.