My name is Catherine Pfaff. I'm an American from a small town (primarily established by my grandfather) in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
My love for mathematics sprung out of my college years at the
University of Chicago,
where my studies primarily focused on abstract algebra, geometry, and topology. I specifically grew from the Directed Reading Program at the University of Chicago, which I thus established a
duplicate
of at
Rutgers University and am working to establish a duplicate of at Queen's University. I earned my PhD from
Rutgers University (New Brunswick)
under the advisement of
Lee Mosher.
During these years my primary focus shifted.
My oral qualifying exam topics were manifolds, algebraic geometry, and coarse geometry. Through my study of coarse geometry, I became interested in geometric group theory.
Working with Lee Mosher, this interest in geometric group theory focused into the rich subjects of mapping class groups and outer automorphisms of free groups (the Out(F_r)).
My passion for research is heavily rivaled by my passion for teaching. My students are one of the greatest joys in my life. In the fall I will be teaching Introduction to Topology (Math 499). And I am excited that Troy Zeier is joining Queen's as a masters student working with me on topological data analysis.
