The Chelluri Lecture series is offered in memory of Thyagaraju (Raju) Chelluri, who graduated magna cum laude from Cornell with a Bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1999. Raju was a brilliant student, a gifted scholar, and a wonderful human being who died on August 21, 2004 at the age of 26, shortly after completing all requirements for the Ph.D. at Rutgers University. He wrote a thesis called Equidistribution of the Roots of Quadratic Congruences under the supervision of H. Iwaniec and was awarded a Ph.D. posthumously.
The Chelluri Lecture Endowment was established in 2004 with support from family and friends of Thyagaraju (Raju) Chelluri. Each year, a distinguished mathematician will be invited to give the Chelluri Lecture.
Upcoming Lectures
Chelluri Lecture Series
Thursday, September 4th, 2025
The upcoming Chelluri Lecture Series will be held on September 4, 2025 from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. in room 253 Malott Hall.
Speaker: Sergey Fomin, University of Michigan
Title: Incidence Geometry and Tiled Surfaces
Abstract: We show that various classical theorems of linear incidence geometry, such as the theorems of Pappus, Desargues, Möbius, and so on, can be interpreted as special cases of a general result that involves a tiling of a closed oriented surface by quadrilateral tiles. This yields a general mechanism for producing new incidence theorems and generalizing the known ones.
This is joint work with Pavlo Pylyavskyy.
There will be a reception after the lecture in Baker Portico, Physical Sciences Building. The reception is from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
The Chelluri Lecture poster will be available soon.
Algebra Seminar
Friday, September 5th, 2025
Additionally, Professor Fomin will be speaking at the Algebra Seminar on Friday, September 5th at 4:00 p.m. in 206 Malott Hall.
Title: Expressive Curves
Abstract: A real plane algebraic curve C is called expressive if its defining polynomial has the smallest number of critical points allowed by the topology of the set of real points of C. We give a necessary and sufficient criterion for expressivity (subject to a mild technical condition), describe several constructions that produce expressive curves, and relate their study to the combinatorics of plabic graphs, their quivers, and links.
This is joint work with Eugenii Shustin.
For accommodations or accessibility, please contact Heather Peterson.