Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: Understanding Fukaya categories through Homological Mirror Symmetry

Dr. Catherine Cannizzo is awarded a National Science Foundation Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research, education, and activities related to broadening participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship supports the research project entitled "Understanding Fukaya categories through Homological Mirror Symmetry". The project activities will be conducted at the host institution, University of California, Berkeley, under the mentorship of Professor David Nadler. The PI will use the Fukaya category and homological mirror symmetry to study the symplectic geometry of Landau-Ginzburg models, including algebraic implications from microlocal sheaf theory and automorphism groups. Other projects include studying the A-infinity structure of the Fukaya category as well as regularity in its structure map computations. To broaden participation by groups underrepresented in STEM, the PI will build on previous experience co-facilitating a virtual reading group, part of a call to action called Symplectic Group Action, centered around Black Lives Matter in mathematics teaching and advocating for students of color. She will facilitate a similar reading group with department members at the host institution. She will volunteer at the Expanding Your Horizons conference at UC Berkeley, one of TechBridge Girls’ STEM events for 6th-8th grade students, whose mission is to increase participation of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) girls in STEM. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.