Andrew Cotton-Clay - Department of Mathematics - Harvard University

Andrew Cotton-Clay
Contact
Information
Research
Interests
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology E-mail: acotton@math.berkeley.edu
Department of Mathematics, Room 2-314 Phone: (510) 220-8000
77 Massachusetts Avenue Web: http://math.berkeley.edu/~acotton
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 USA
Symplectic and contact geometry and topology, Floer homology, low-dimensional topology
University of California, Berkeley 2003-9
Ph.D. in Mathematics expected May 2009.
• Dissertation: Symplectic Floer homology of area-preserving surface diffeomorphisms
and sharp fixed point bounds
• Advisor: Michael Hutchings
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2008-9
Exchange Scholar (Visiting Graduate Student)
• Advisor: Denis Auroux
Harvard University 1999-2003
A.B. and A.M. in Mathematics, magna cum laude with highest honors, May 2003.
• Undergraduate Thesis: Gromov’s Nonsqueezing Theorem
• Advisor: Peter Kronheimer
Publications • A. Cotton-Clay. A sharp bound on fixed points of area-preserving surface diffeomorphisms.
In preparation.
• A. Cotton-Clay. Symplectic Floer homology of area-preserving surface diffeomorphisms.
arXiv:0807.2488, accepted to Geometry & Topology pending revision, 47
pages.
• A. Cotton, D. Freeman, A. Gnepp, T. Ng, J. Spivack, and C. Yoder. The isoperimetric
problem on some singular surfaces. J. Austral. Math. Soc. 78:2 (Apr
2005), 167-199.
• A. Cotton and D. Freeman. The double bubble problem in spherical and hyperbolic
space. Internat. J. Math. Math. Sci. 32:11 (15 Dec 2002), 641-699.
Invited Talks • International Conference on Nielsen theory and related topics. TBA. June 9-13,
2009.
• Symplectic and Contact Topology special session at Worcester AMS sectional
meeting. TBA. April 25/26, 2009.
• Harvard Gauge Theory Seminar. TBA. April 10, 2009.
• UCLA/USC Joint Topology Seminar. Fixed point bounds for symplectic mapping
classes. Dec 1, 2008.
• MIT Symplectic Geometry Seminar. Symplectic Floer homology of area-preserving
surface diffeomorphisms and sharp fixed point bounds. October 6, 2008.
• Northern California Symplectic Geometry Seminar (Berkeley–Davis–Santa Cruz–
Stanford). Symplectic Floer homology of pseudo-Anosov and reducible maps. May
5, 2008.
• Columbia Symplectic Geometry and Gauge Theory Seminar. Symplectic Floer
homology of pseudo-Anosov and reducible maps. Nov 30, 2007.
1 of 2

Honors and
Awards
Teaching
Experience
Professional
Activities
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2003-6
• David Mumford Prize from Harvard Mathematics Department (most promising senior),
2003
• Robert Fletcher Rogers Prize from Harvard Mathematics Department (best talk by
an undergraduate), 2003
• Putnam Competition: Top 25, Top 60, Top 100 (twice).
• Phi Beta Kappa, 2002
• Two Bok Center Awards for Distinction in Teaching from Harvard, Spring and Fall
2001
• Detur Prize from Harvard (for outstanding scholarship freshman year), 2000
• John Harvard Scholarship from Harvard, 1999-2000 academic year
University of California, Berkeley
Instructor Summer 2007
Instructor for whole course. Prepared and gave lectures and led discussion sections
daily. Wrote and graded midterm, final exam, and semiweekly quizzes.
• Math 1B, Calculus, Summer 2007.
- Course evaluation average: 6.1 out of 7
Graduate Student Instructor Fall 2006, Fall 2007
Led semiweekly discussion sections. Wrote weekly quizzes. Graded exams,
quizzes, and homework.
• Math 54, Linear Algebra & Differential Equations (Prof. Ogus), Fall 2007.
- Course evaluation average: 6.1 out of 7
• Math 1B, Calculus (Prof. Olsson), Fall 2006
- Course evaluation average: 5.9 out of 7
Harvard University
Course Assistant Fall 2000, Spring 2001, Fall 2001
Led weekly discussion sections, often on supplemental topics. Graded homework.
• Math 192, Algebraic Combinatorics (Prof. Propp), Fall 2001
- Bok Center Award for Distinction in Teaching
• Math 55ab, Honors Advanced Calculus and Linear Algebra (Prof. Schmid), Fall
2000 and Spring 2001
- Bok Center Award for Distinction in Teaching
• MSRI Hot Topics Workshop on Contact structures, dynamics and the Seiberg-
Witten equations in dimension 3. Spring 2008
• FRG Workshop on Holomorphic Curves in Low-dimensional Topology. Fall 2007
• Oberwolfach Workshop on Four-dimensional Manifolds. Summer 2006
• IAS/PCMI Summer School on Low Dimensional Topology. Summer 2006
• AMS Summer Institute in Algebraic Geometry. Summer 2005
• CMI Summer School on Ricci Flow, 3-Manifolds and Geometry. Summer 2005
• CMI Summer School on Floer Homology, Gauge Theory, and Low Dimensional
Topology. Summer 2004
• IAS/PCMI Summer School on Automorphic Forms. Summer 2002
• REU at Duluth. Graph Theory. Summer 2001
- Advisor: Joe Gallian
• REU at Williams College. Geometry Group. Summer 2000
- Advisor: Frank Morgan
2 of 2