This summer I'll be moving back to Princeton, NJ for a new job that I'm very excited about. Let me know if you're in the area & would like to catch up!

Pierre says Happy New Year!

I'm really fascinated right now with how sufaces, foliations, Culler-Vogtmann outer space, tropical geometry, & physics all fit together. So we have a surfaces, tropical geometry, & physics working group. Today I talked about the CP coordinates.

I'm in Montreal :D. But I can guarantee that my mom has been updating me on the Mariners enough for everyone! She's very excited!

I have a new webpage with a research image carousel: www.catherinepfaff.com . Click on an image & see what happens!

I'm in Hawaii this week giving a minicourse! sites.google.com/hawaii.edu/s...

Something extraordinary for me about the IAS is the intergenerationality & inclusion of "wise elders." I will always treasure the special bond Pierre & I developed with the greatests of greats, Karen Uhlenbeck. Our many meals, math & life conversations, something very special...

Always wonderful to see a former student thriving & sharing that they'll be at your location! Howie Hong at IAS!

Constructing Mathematical Objects | Institute Instances – Catherine Eva Pfaff YouTube video by Institute for Advanced Study

It's somehow not the most flattering video of me, but here I am talking about talking about simplicial complexes at the Institute: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhcm...

I'm excited that I'll be spending 2 months at l'Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Orsay (right outside Paris) Spring 2026!

Reading a book from 1989 that refers to a book from 1985 as an up-to-date reference. Perhaps that wording doesn't quite stand the test of time...

Among last week's IAS shenanigans was trying to reenact an Oppenheimer scene with Professor Flores. I chose to asssume that in reality there was actually a dog present in that moment of history.

Linear Flows on Translation Prisms - Jayadev Athreya YouTube video by Institute for Advanced Study

Last Groups & Dynamics Seminar talk of the year. It's been lovely, thank you to everyone for your time & generosity! youtu.be/Q9Y1AReegNg?...

Aspects of the large scale geometry of Out(Fn) - Lee Mosher YouTube video by Institute for Advanced Study

There was a bit of a mix-up on the IAS end, but here now is Lee's excellent talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB-r...

PhD advisor Lee Mosher & his current student Sarasi Jayasekara visited me at IAS today for Lee's talk. Really wonderful talk & day!

@petraschwer.bsky.social I think that the real problem is that you're an expert on too many things :).

Oh, wait, it's on CAT(0) cube complexes!?! Very cool! And sorry I mixed up the topic :)

Buildings, Galleries and Beyond - Petra Schwer YouTube video by Institute for Advanced Study

Btw, her colloquium talk at IAS can be found at youtu.be/z9lg-y19ajs?...

Pierre was attending her "What is...?" seminar talk. She also wrote a book on buildings.

Pierre enjoyed learning about buildings this week from Petra Schwer!

Thurston Elements in the Mapping Class Group - Joseph Maher YouTube video by Institute for Advanced Study

Great talk by Joseph Maher this week!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaKc...

This beautiful mathematical story was a highlight of the week for sure! Thanks Rob Silversmith!

Really great visiting Yale earlier this week & chatting with Eduardo Reyes there!

Episode 2 today with her collaborator also. Very fun & exciting conversations!

Short Curves of End-Periodic Mapping Tori - Brandis Whitfield YouTube video by Institute for Advanced Study

Dr. Brandis Whitfield defended her thesis last week & spoke at IAS this week! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjtt...

Using Logic to Investigate Homeomorphism Groups of Manifolds - Thomas Koberda YouTube video by Institute for Advanced Study

Thomas Koberda's excellent talk here at the Institute for Advanced Study! www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKNj...

Maybe it makes my papers look expensive too? :)

Yep! I discovered that I have an easier time reading black on ivory than black on white & figured I'm likely not the only person like that. So I've started using it as much as possible, have overall tried shifting to a more eye-friendly palette over time...

I have one of those too! And I also often misread people's math tweats when my brain isn't in full focus mode :).

So much going on that I forgot to share that Chi Cheuk Tsang & I have a new preprint! Really fun project, where we give a "cubist" decomposition of the collection of axes for a fully irreducible & use it for the conjugacy problem. arxiv.org/abs/2503.16360