PhD Candidate, Mathematics

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Biography

Nick Meyer is a sixth-year Mathematics graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, advised by Alex Zupan. Nick’s current interests are primarily in the geometric and algebraic topology of 3- and 4-manifolds. In particular, he studies knot theory in dimensions 3 and 4, Heegaard splittings of 3-manifolds, and trisections of 4-manifolds. In addition, he is interested in the computational aspects of these areas, particularly computational algebraic topology and computational knot theory. A copy of his CV is available here.

Interests
  • Geometric and Algebraic Topology
  • Computational Topology
  • Mathematics Education and Pedagogy
Education

  • PhD in Mathematics (in-progress)

    University of Nebraska, Lincoln

  • MS in Mathematics

    University of Nebraska, Lincoln

  • BS in Mathematics with Honors

    Winona State University

Courses Taught

Current Students: Please see Canvas for more information

  • Math101 — College Algebra
    • Fall 2019, Instructor x1
  • Math103 — College Algebra and Trigonometry
    • Fall 2021, Convener and Instructor x1
    • Spring 2022, Convener Only
  • Math104 — Applied Calculus
    • Summer 2021, Instructor x1
  • Math107 — Calculus 2
    • Fall 2018, Recitations x2
    • Spring 2019, Recitations x2
    • Summer 2019, Recitations x1
  • Math203(J) — Contemporary Mathematics
    • Spring 2020, Instructor x1
    • Fall 2020, Instructor x2
    • Spring 2021, Convener and Instructor x1
  • Math 208 – Multivariable Calculus
    • Summer 2022, Course Development
    • Fall 2022, Recitations x5
    • Spring 2023, Instructor x1
    • Fall 2023, Recitatuions x5

Publications

  • (with Román Aranda, Sarah Blackwell, Devashi Gulati, Homayun Karimi, Geunyung Kim, and Puttipong Pongtanapaisan) Pants distances of knotted surfaces in $4$-manifolds. Submitted. arXiv

  • (with Wolfgang Allred, Manuel Aragón, Zack Dooley, Alexander Goldman, Yucong Lei, Isaiah Martinez, Devon Peters, Scott Warrander, Ana Wright, and Alex Zupan) Tri-plane diagrams for simple surfaces in $S^4$. Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218216523500414

Selected Talks

$4$-Manifolds Seminar at UNL:

  • November 2019: “Trisections from Morse $2$-Functions”
  • September 2019: “Heegaard-Kirby Diagrams for Trisections of $4$-Manifolds”

Groups, Semigroups, and Topology Seminar at UNL:

  • March 2023: “Group deficiency from a $4$-manifolds perspective”
  • September 2022: “The Casson-Gordon Signature Invariant and Sliceness Obstructions”
  • April 2022: “Ends of Surfaces and Classification Theorems”
  • February 2022: “A quest for residual finiteness: Geometrization and the word problem for $3$-manifolds”
  • October 2021: “Maps from $3$-manifolds to $4$-manifolds that induce isomorphisms on fundamental groups (Part 2)”
  • October 2020: “Heegaard splittings and Trisections 101: A crash course in manifold decompositions in dimensions three and four”
  • October 2019: “Orderings on $3$-Manifold Groups”

Graduate Students Talking Groups, Semigroups, and Topology Seminar at UNL:

  • September 2022: “An Introduction Sliceness Obstructions”
  • March 2021: “Pants: An Introduction to Oriented Cobordism Theory”
  • September 2019: “An Alexander Polynomial for Knots in Thickened Surfaces”
  • March 2019: “The Extension Problem for Topological Dynamical Systems via Monoid Actions”

Graduate Student Seminar at UNL:

  • April 2021: “Pants: An Introduction to Oriented Cobordism Theory”

Other Seminars and Conferences:

  • June 2022: “Meier-Zupan Square Links and the Andrews-Curtis Conjecture”, New Developments in Four Dimensions, University of Victoria, Victoria BC
  • June 2021: “A Geometric Introduction to Heegaard Splittings and Trisections”, GOSS (Graduate Online Seminar Series), University of Georgia, Athens, GA