28/07/2023

Claudia Polini dedicates lecture to mathematician Wolmer Vasconcelos

Researcher at the University of Notre Dame, Claudia Polini dedicated the plenary session held this Friday (28) to the Brazilian mathematician Wolmer Vasconcelos (1937-2021), who was a professor at Rutgers University and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) . According to Claudia, Vasconcelos was her advisor and responsible for her first trip to Brazil. “He was from Recife. He was the one who taught me to love this country and Blowup algebras ” – the topic of the lecture.

An international leader in the field of Commutative Algebra and a member of the American Mathematical Society, Claudia maintains a close relationship with Brazil. The 34th Brazilian Mathematics Colloquium (CBM) marks her 20th visit to the country.

“It’s a pleasure to be here and to have the opportunity to give this lecture. I love Brazil. It’s the country I love most after Italy. It’s a great country to do research in, and you are lucky to be here and spend time with these wonderful people,” said the researcher.

In her presentation, Claudia explained that blowup algebra is at the heart of commutative algebra. Both play an important role in algebraic geometry. In her lecture, the researcher also addressed possible applications and mentioned open problems in the field.

For Giovana Leal, a doctoral student at PUC-Rio, the lecture was objective. “I liked the dynamic she chose to explain the problems rather than provide proofs. I attended the lecture because I enjoy algebra, and I found it very good,” said the student of algebraic topology.

“Claudia Polini, director of the Notre Dame Center for Mathematics, has made important contributions to the field of Commutative Algebra. The researcher is also the editor of several mathematics journals, including ' Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society' and ' The Journal of Algebra',” highlighted Carolina Araujo, researcher at IMPA and organizer of the 34th CBM, when announcing the lecture.