JOHN L. HARER

B.A., Haverford College

Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley

Professor and Department Chair

Areas of Expertise: Topology and Geometry.

Research Summary:

Professor Harer's primary research is in the use of algebraic, geometric and combinatorial techniques to study the moduli space of algebraic curves (Riemann surfaces).

Current research in this direction is on the homology of the moduli space, its level covers and Torelli sapce.

He also works on the topology of the moduli space of real algebraic curves.

Recent Publications:

1. Stability of the homology of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces with spin structure, Math. Ann. 287 (1990), 323-334.

2. The third homology group of the moduli space of curves, Duke Math. Journal 65, No. 1 (1991), 25-55.

3. Combinatorics of Train Tracks, Annals of Math. Studies, Study 125, pp. 216 (1992).

4. The rational Picard group of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces with spin structure, to appear in Contemporary Math. (1993).

5. The fourth homology group of the moduli space of curves, to appear in Math. Ann. (1993).

6. Improved stability for the homology of the moduli spaces of curves, to appear (1993).

7. The Steinberg module for the mapping class group of an orientable surface, in preparation.

8. The Euler Characteristic of the Moduli Space of Real Algebraic Curves , (joint work with David Jackson and Ian Goulden) in preparation.