Alex Suciu

Background

I hail from Bucharest, Romania. I did my undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Bucharest. Here is a picture from those days.

For my graduate studies, I went to Columbia University, receiving my Ph.D. degree in 1984. Here is a picture from around that time, taken in Cambridge, UK.

After a J.W. Gibbs Instructorship at Yale University, I came in 1986 to Northeastern University, where I've been ever since.

Research

My research interests are in Topology, and how it relates to Algebra, Geometry, and Combinatorics. I mainly study hyperplane arrangements, cohomology jumping loci, and generalized moment angle complexes. I also study various problems concerning the topology and geometry of knots, links, and manifolds, and the homology and lower central series of discrete groups. Below are some recent papers and preprints (click here for a complete list).

Quasi-Kähler Bestvina-Brady groups (with A. Dimca and S. Papadima), J. Algebraic Geom. 17 (2008), no. 1, 185-197.
Alexander polynomials: Essential variables and multiplicities (with A. Dimca and S. Papadima), Int. Math. Res. Not. 2008, no. 3, article ID rnm119, 36 pp.
The boundary manifold of a complex line arrangement (with D. Cohen), Geom. Topol. Monogr. 13 (2008), 105-146.
Toric complexes and Artin kernels (with S. Papadima), Adv. Math. 220 (2009), no. 2, 441-477.
Non-finiteness properties of fundamental groups of smooth projective varieties (with A. Dimca and S. Papadima), J. Reine Angew. Math 629 (2009), 89-105.
Which 3-manifold groups are Kähler groups? (with A. Dimca), J. Eur. Math. Soc. 11 (2009), no. 3, 521-528.
Topology and geometry of cohomology jump loci (with A. Dimca and S. Papadima), Duke Math. J. 148 (2009), no. 3, 405-457.
Geometric and algebraic aspects of 1-formality (with S. Papadima), Bull. Math. Soc. Sci. Math. Roumanie 52 (2009), no. 3, 355-375.
The spectral sequence of an equivariant chain complex and homology with local coefficients (with S. Papadima), to appear in Trans. Amer. Math. Soc.
Algebraic monodromy and obstructions to formality (with S. Papadima), to appear in Forum Math.
Bieri-Neumann-Strebel-Renz invariants and homology jumping loci (with S. Papadima), to appear in Proc. London Math. Society
Quasi-Kähler groups, 3-manifold groups, and formality (with A. Dimca and S. Papadima), preprint, Oct. 2008.
Fundamental groups, Alexander invariants, and cohomology jumping loci, preprint, Oct. 2009.

Teaching

I teach a variety of math courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. If you are interested in taking a directed study course or a reading course with me (in addition to those courses regularly offered), please contact me.

In Summer 2008, I taught an Honors Project course on Explorations in topological group theory.
In Fall 2008, I taught an undergraduate Ordinary Differential Equations course and a graduate Topology 2 course.
In Spring 2009, I taught graduate courses in Topology 1 and Topology 3.

Activities

In May 2007, I was at the Palazzone di Cortona in Italy for a Conference on Braids and their Ramifications. In August, Michael Farber, Sergey Yuzvinsky and I organized a mini-workshop on Topology of closed 1-forms and cohomology jumping loci at MFO, in Oberwolfach, Germany. In September, I visited the University of Nice; here is a photo from a hike on the hills above the Med. And in October, I visited IMAR, in Bucharest.
In early June, 2008, I visited Stockholm University, where I was the "opponent" on Alexander Berglund's thesis defense. From late June to mid-July I was back at IMAR, for an Algebraic Geometry Conference; here is a photo taken next to a fallen statue. In August, I was at the Fields Institute, for a Conference in honour of Peter Orlik.

Alexandru I. Suciu

Professor · Mathematics Department · Northeastern University

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