Topology

Topology is the qualitative study of shapes and spaces by identifying and analyzing features that are unchanged when the object is continuously deformed — a “search for adjectives,” as Bill Thurston put it.

Topology took off at Cornell thanks to Paul Olum who joined the faculty in 1949 and built up a group including Israel Berstein, William Browder, Peter Hilton, and Roger Livesay. Together they founded the Cornell Topology Festival in 1962, which continues to be an annual event.

In the 1960s Cornell's topologists focused on algebraic topology, geometric topology, and connections with differential geometry. More recently, the interests of the group have also included low-dimensional topology, symplectic geometry, the geometric and combinatorial study of discrete groups, and dynamical systems.

Faculty Members

Daniel Halpern-Leistner	Algebraic geometry, homological algebra, mathematical physics, and representation theory
Tara Holm	Symplectic geometry
Martin Kassabov	Combinatorial group theory
Kathryn Mann	Geometric topology
Jason Manning	Geometric group theory, geometric topology
Timothy Riley	Geometric group theory
James E. West	Geometric topology, infinite-dimensional topology
Inna Zakharevich	Algebraic topology and algebraic K-theory

Emeritus and Other Faculty

Kenneth S. Brown	Algebra, topology, group theory
Sergio Chaves	Algebraic topology, math education
Inhyeok Choi	Geometric group theory, measured group theory
Marshall M. Cohen	Topology, geometric (combinatorial) group theory
Kelly Delp	Geometric structures, manifolds and orbifolds
David Freund	Low-dimensional topology
Allen Hatcher	Geometric topology
Matt Haulmark	Topology and geometric group theory
Peter J. Kahn	Algebra, number theory, algebraic and differential topology
Kelly Pohland	Algebraic topology, equivariant homotopy theory
Karen Vogtmann	Topology, geometric group theory