Catherine Pfaff's Webpage

Address:

Catherine Pfaff
Bard College at Simon's Rock
84 Alford Rd
Great Barrington, MA
01230

I am now a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Bard College at Simon's Rock

Electronic Mail Address:

cpfaff "at" simons-rock.edu

Catherine the Mathematician:

I am finishing my PhD from Rutgers University studying Geometric Group Theory under the guidance of the Amazing Professor Lee Mosher
My thesis is on the construction, identification, and classification of fully irreducible outer automorphisms of free groups (for those more familiar with Mapping Class Group Theory, you can think of these as Pseudo-Anosov analogues).
This has involved delving deep into the Bestvina-Feighn-Handel train track theory, as well as playing around with long strings of letters and colorful graphs.

Here's a draft of My Thesis/Preprint (Please remember that this is still a DRAFT).
Here's my Research Statement .
Here's my Curriculum Vitae

In the spring of 2008, I organized a Graduate Student Seminar on Teichmuller Theory and Mapping Class Groups.
For two years I organized a Graduate Student Seminar in Geometric Group Theory.
I had a wonderful time at the MSRI Fall 2007!
Pictures in personal section, But check out the notes that I took as an official notetaker for a course on Out(F_n):
Lecture 1 , Lecture 2 , Lecture 3 , Lecture 4

Catherine the Teacher:

I am currently teaching Geometric Group Theory and 2 sections of Precalculus at Bard College at Simon's Rock.

I also founded the Rutgers Directed Reading Program in Mathematics.
I mentored Chris Skalit (now in grad school at the University of Chicago), Charles Siegel (now in grad school in algebraic geometry at UPenn), Aaron Samkoff, Avi Rashin, and Jordan Ledvina.

Catherine Beyond the Mathematician and Teacher:

Pictures from my stay at the MSRI:
Scenes from the MSRI , Yosemite , San Francisco Day Trip , Napa Hike , Big Sur , MSRI Friends , Another Hike

I ran the 2005 & 2008 Philadelphia Marathons for Asha for Education (literacy in India): Pictures from 2005 Marathon. (Not so many photographers in 2008, I also, unfortunately, had to walk the last 6 mi's in 2008 due to a joint injury)
Thank you to all of my sponsors who helped me raise over $2,000 those years!

Other than math and running, I enjoy bicycling, family and friends, traveling, cooking and baking, learning Hindi & Bengali, kids, playing the piano, writing stories, being outdoors and physically active, basketball, and soccer.

Other Pictures (more to come, eventually): Arvind's Engagement, Driving Sister Rebecca to Med School, Padmini's BDay '05, Grad Student Topology Conf '08