WAGS / Spring 2006

Western
Algebraic
Geometry
Seminar

• Poster
• Location
• Schedule
• Social Events
• Organizers
• Registration
• Financial Assistance
• Accommodation
• Transportation
• Contact Us
• Local Information
• About WAGS

Confirmed Speakers:

• Jean-Louis Colliot-Thelene, Universite Paris-Sud
  Flasque tori and linear algebraic groups

• Jordan Ellenberg, University of Wisconsin
  Distribution of rational points on varieties over global fields

• Kevin Purbhoo, University of British Columbia
  Geometry of the Horn recursion

• Yongbin Ruan, University of Wisconsin
  Symplectic birational geometry

• Constantin Teleman, Cambridge University
  The splitting principle for bundles on Riemann surfaces and Newstead's Chern class conjecture

• Michael Thaddeus, Columbia University
  Mirror symmetry for finite quotients of tori

All meetings will take place in 60 Evans, on the ground floor of the building housing the Department of Mathematics of the University of California, Berkeley. Evans Hall is located near the North-East corner of campus. See also the campus map and building index.

We are hosting two social events:

• On Friday evening, we will have an informal, ongoing late dinner/drinks meeting at Au Coquelet, on University below Shattuck, starting at 7:30 pm. For anyone getting in from the airport and wanting to eat something, drink something, or socialize, this should be a good opportunity.
• On Saturday night, we will have the conference party at the Osserman residence. The party will begin at 8:00; location and details will be distributed at the conference, but we anticipate arranging carpooling, and strongly encourage everyone to plan to come.

Dagan Karp and Brian Osserman.

If you have any questions, send us an e-mail at Our postal address is

Department of Mathematics
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3840
U.S.A.

Please, help us have everything ready on time! Register as soon as you know that you will be attending. Just send an e-mail to stating your name, position, and if you will be applying for financial support. Note the Feb 24 deadline for the hotel group rate, so please apply immediately.

Some financial support will be available for students and young unsupported faculty. Please state in your registration if you need financial assistance.

We've got 30 (single and double) rooms blocked out at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza for the nights of 17-18 March. The room rate is $79 (plus tax) for a single, $89 for a double. Reservations must be made by 24 February, directly through the Hotel. (See the website for the contact information.) When reserving a room, please say that you are part of the WAGS/Math room block.

Those who are seeking for funding should try to share the double rooms. If you have difficulty finding another person to share the room, please email us at .

You can travel to Berkeley by airplane or by car:

By plane: Oakland and San Francisco international airports are the most convenient to Berkeley, although San Jose is also an option. Both Oakland and San Francisco have BART connections to Downtown Berkeley, although from Oakland a shuttle is necessary to get to BART. The shuttle costs $2, and exact change is required. Car rentals are of course also an option, and by car Oakland is substantially closer to Berkeley than San Francisco is.

By car: Major highways through the Bay Area are Interstate 80, and 101. We suggest that you check the standard internet sites (for instance Google Maps, Yahoo Maps or MapQuest) to obtain maps and driving directions to the hotel. Be careful of the portion of highway running through Berkeley which is simultaneously 80 East and 580 West, and vice versa.

Parking: Parking in the area is not a lot of fun. The closest campus lot is the Lower Hearst lot, on Hearst below Euclid on the north side of campus, which has (rather expensive) public parking on the second level at all times, and on all levels on weekends. On the other side of campus, the city of Berkeley operates the Sather Gate Garage, with entrances on Durant and Channing, just below Telegraph. Substantial discounts are available with tickets validated at local businesses.

• Weather: Current weather conditions can be checked here.
• City of Berkeley web site.
• The University of California has a webpage for visitors. It contains links to campus map, direction to campus, etc.

The Western Algebraic Geometry Seminar traces back its origin to the Utah - UCLA Algebraic Geometry Seminar started in 1989 by H. Clemens, D. Gieseker, M. Green, J. Kollár, and R. Lazarsfeld. Later on, it became the Utah - UCLA - Chicago Algebraic Geometry Seminar.

The institutions currently participating in WAGS include Colorado State University, Stanford University, the University of British Columbia, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Utah, and the University of Washington. Support for the Seminar is provided by NSF and the participating institutions.

WAGS meets twice per year and congregates an international group of more than 50 mathematicians, from students to experts in the field of Algebraic Geometry. The last few meetings were: Fall 2002 (Utah), Spring 2003 (Stanford), Fall 2003 (Vancouver), Spring 2004 (Utah), Fall 2004 (Colorado State), Spring 2005 (Washington), Fall 2005 (Utah).