Published: April 2012
A Boston College Minute: An introduction to mathematician Dawei Chen’s research, Carney 305, February 15, 2012.
A self-described “algebraic geometer with broad interests,” assistant professor Dawei Chen joined the mathematics faculty in 2011, as the department entered the second year of offering its Ph.D. program. On February 15, Chen gave a talk to first-year graduate students titled “Counting Branched Covers.” His summary of the talk begins: “A doughnut and a car tire are of the same type, because they both have one hole, but a pretzel with three holes is different. In mathematics, we can classify surfaces based on the number of holes and study their geometric structures.” Branch covers, he explains, are “finite maps from one surface to another.”