# Sam Ballas

I am currently an an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Florida State University.

Previously I was an RTG visiting assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara. Before that I was a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin under the supervision of Alan Reid.

If you want to learn more about me feel free to check out my short Research Statement or CV.

## Research

My research is primarily concerned with understanding various types of geometric structures on manifolds. Studying these structures typically involves the interplay of techniques from algebra, geometry, and topology.

My research is currently supported by the National Science Foundation (grant DMS-1709097)

### Papers

1. Constructing thin subgroups of SL(n+1,R) via bending
joint with Darren Long, arXiv:1809.02689
2. Constructing convex projective 3-manifolds with generlized cusps
arXiv:1805.09274
Sage Notebooks containing some computations regarding the $$5_2$$ knot and the $$6_3$$ knot
3. Generalized cusps in real projective manifolds: classification
joint with Daryl Cooper and Arielle Leitner, arXiv:1710.03132
4. Rank 1 deformations of non-compact hyperbolic lattices
joint with Julien Paupert and Pierre Will, arXiv:1702.00508
5. Convex projective bendings of hyperbolic manifolds
joint with Ludovic Marquis, arXiv:1609.03046

### Work in progress

Copies may be available upon request

1. Generalized cusps in real projective manifolds: deformations
joint with Daryl Cooper and Arielle Leitner
2. Properly convex Dehn filling
joint wiht Jeff Danciger, Gye-Seon Lee, and Ludovic Marquis

## Teaching

### Current Courses

• Fall 2018: MAC2312 Calculus III
• Fall 2018: MTG5326 Topology I

### Outreach

Math Fun Day 2017

• Wisdom of the masses: a talk about using probability to calculate $$\pi$$.

## Activities

### Invited Talks

1. Thin groups from projective geometry
(Thin groups in number theory, geometry, and topology, Rice University, 5/15/2018)
2. Convex projective structures on low dimensions
(University of Georgia, Topology Seminar, 4/9/2018)
3. Generalized Cusps in Convex Projective Manifolds (Slides,Video)
(GEAR Retreat, Stanford Univeristy, 8/7/2017)
4. Generalized Cusps in Convex Projective Manifolds
(Workshop on Dynamics on Character Varieties, University of Rennes I, 6/29/2017)
5. Rank 1 Deformations of Non-cocompact Hyperbolic Lattices
(University of Texas at Austin, Topology Seminar, 3/6/2017)
6. Geometric Structures on Manifolds
(UF/FSU Topology and Dynamics Meeting, University of Florida, 2/25/2017)

### Things I'm Organizing/Have Organized

1. UF/FSU Topology and Geometry Meeting
(Florida State University, 2/8-2/9/2019)
2. GEAR Junior Retreat 2017
(Stanford University, 7/31-8/5/2017)

### Topology and Geometry Seminar Fall 2018

I will be organizing the Topology and Geometry Seminar this semester. We will be meeting this semester on Tuesdays at 3:35 in LOV 201.

## Contact

321 Love Building