WOMP 2011

"A Practical Guide to Life in Hyde Park and Beyond"
Answers to practical questions about living in the University neighborhood. Written by Elizabeth Csima and edited by Travis Schedler, Rachel Epstein, Anna Marie Bohmann, and Nguyen T. Nguyen.

We recommend that everyone get a Chicago Card for Chicago public transit.

Talks and forums take place in Eckhart 206 unless otherwise noted.

Purple events are mandatory or informational. Come to them.
Green events are math talks meant to refresh your memory or preview the first-year courses.
Orange events are for enjoyment and bonding. They are highly recommended.



Week 1

Day Morning Afternoon Evening
Monday
Sept. 12
10am: Welcome and Tour of Hyde Park
Meet in Eckhart 206.
1pm: Review
Point-set Topology (Francis Chung)

Metric spaces, topological spaces. Continuous functions, convergence, compactness, connectedness. Lots of examples.
Linear Algebra (Preston Wake)
Vector spaces, bases, linear independence, dimension, morphisms, matrices, rank, Jordan form, Cayley-Hamilton, semisimple and nilpotent decompositions.
8pm: Game Night in the Barn
Meet in the Barn (big room on the 3rd floor where Eckhart meets Ryerson) for board and card games. Sponsored by the UChicago chapter of the AWM.
Tuesday
Sept. 13
10am: Algebra I
Abstract Algebra
(Daniel Le and Robin Walters)

An examples-based introduction to rings, modules, localization, and the structure theorem for finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain. Tensor products, fields, and Galois theory.
1pm: Forum on Life in Chicago
Wednesday
Sept. 14
10am: Analysis I
Measure Theory and Real Analysis
(Ben Fehrman and Olga Turanova)

Motivation for Lebesgue integration. Lebesgue dominated convergence theorem. Function spaces. Notions of convergence: pointwise, uniform, L^p, in measure. Fourier series, Fourier transforms.
1pm: Exercise in the Quad
Meet on the front steps of Eckhart.
6pm: Dinner at Medici
For more information, see the Medici website and a map. Meet in the first year office at 5:45pm, or at the restaurant at 6pm.
Thursday
Sept. 15
10am: Geometry/Topology I
Algebraic Topology
(Alex Wright and Daniel Studenmund)

Homotopies, fundamental group, covering spaces and universal cover, fundamental theorem of covering space theory, group actions. Homology of spaces, Lefschetz fixed-point theorem. Examples.
1pm: Trip to Art Institute of Chicago
Meet at the #6 bus stop at 55th and S. Hyde Park Blvd.
Admission is free with UChicago student ID. Bus fare is $2.25 each way if you pay cash. See the museum website for more information.
Friday
Sept. 16
10am: Algebra II
Representation Theory (Daniele Rosso)
Representations of finite groups, characters, Lie algebras, representations of Lie algebras.
Commutative Algebra (Chris Skalit)
Topology of affine schemes: prime ideals and generic points. Varieties/finite-type k-algebras: Noether normalization, Nullstellensatz, dimension theory.
1pm: Analysis II
Functional Analysis and PDE
(Jessica Lin and Max Engelstein)

Banach/Hilbert space theory, Hahn-Banach theorem, duality, weak topologies, general PDE, variational formulation, Sobolev spaces.
5pm: Bowling at Seven-Ten Lanes
Meet at Seven-Ten Lanes, near 55th and Ellis.

7pm: Hyde Park Bar Crawl
We will start with dinner at Seven-Ten Lanes.To participate in the bar crawl, you must have either a passport or a US state ID/driver's license, it must not be expired, and it must say that you are at least 21 years old.
Saturday
Sept. 17
1pm: Trip Downtown
Meet at the #6 bus stop at 55th and S. Hyde Park Blvd. We'll start in the loop and walk northward, following a path that may include Millenium Park, the Cultural Centre, the Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier, the Hancock Tower, the beaches, Lincoln Park, and/or the Zoo. Those who would like dinner before returning home should bring their ID, just to be safe.
Sunday
Sept. 18
Day off

Week 2


Don't forget to sign up for your courses! The registration period is September 19-21. See Laurie's e-mail for instructions.

Day Morning Afternoon Evening
Monday
Sept. 19
10am: Geometry/Topology II (Eckhart 312)
Manifold Theory (Kate Turner)

Definition of smooth and topological manifolds. Examples. Calculus in R^n, change of variables. Partitions of unity. Inverse and implicit function theorems. Tangent spaces.
Differential Topology (Wouter van Limbeek)
Transversality and intersection theory, Hopf degree theorem, Poincaré-Hopf and Hairy Ball theorems, Morse theory and some applications.
1pm: Analysis III
Complex Analysis (Laurie Field)

Basic definitions and properties of holomorphic and meromorphic functions. Poles, residues and Cauchy's formula. Theorems of Morera, Liouville, Montel and Vitali. Some examples and applications. Riemann Mapping Theorem.
Probability Theory (Zack Madden)
Random variables and distribution functions. Expectation. Independence. Behavior of sums of independent identically distributed random variables. Simple random walk and the central limit theorem.
8pm: Bonfire at the Point
Meet at Promontory Point.
Tuesday
Sept. 20
11am: Graduate Student Orientation
Begins at Rockefeller Chapel, following a procession at 10:15am from the Main Quad. See the event website for more information. The event includes a welcome convocation, lunch, an information fair, and 30-minute rotating panel discussions in the Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes.

1:30pm-5:30pm Peter May's Open House (Eckhart 314)
Everybody is welcome to drop in if and when you feel like it. Peter would like to meet those of you he hasn't yet met, and to see the rest of you again.

3pm: Graduate Student Social Hour
Takes place in the Pub and Cloister Club of Ida Noyes.
Wednesday
Sept. 21
10am: Geometry/Topology III
Bundle Theory (Simion Filip)

Fiber bundles, vector bundles. Many examples.
Riemannian Geometry (Katie Mann)
Riemannian metrics, geodesics, the exponential map, parallel transport for dummies (a.k.a. how do I think about connections?) and curvature. If time permits: some theory of Lie groups.
1pm: Algebra III
Category Theory (Daniel Schaeppi)

Basic definitions and motivation;,lots of examples of categories. Functors and natural transformations, products and coproducts. Limits, colimits, and adjoint functors if time permits. Applications: Brouwer's fixed point theorem and topological social choice.
Homological Algebra (Galya Dobrovolska)
Chain complexes, free and projective modules, projective resolutions. Derived functors, Ext, Tor, Yoneda Ext, extensions. The Koszul complex. Time permitting, Homological dimension, Hilbert's syzygy theorem.
6:30pm-10:30pm Fall Poker Tournament Spectaculár (featuring Chicken!)
Hosted by Math Frat, 5442 S. Ellis. This is for everyone who has been asking when the next poker tournament is, but it is also for everyone who hasn't been asking but should have been.

For those interested, come at 6pm for a chris-tastic explanation of the rules. Cheat sheets will be provided.

We will order ribs 'n' bibs (and vegetarian options) for dinner for all those interested. Please bring a little cash for food if you want it. Beer and fancy cocktails will be available.
Thursday
Sept. 22
10am: Department Orientation

1pm: International Student Orientation
The OIA Orientation is mandatory for international students. It takes place at the International House Assembly Hall (map). Click for more information on the OIA and IHouse.
6pm: Dinner in Chinatown and North Side Bar Crawl
Meet at the #55 bus stop at 55th and Woodlawn.
You will need a Chicago Card (preferred) or a lot of $1 bills to pay for transit.
If you are coming to the bar crawl after dinner, you must have either a passport or a US state ID/driver's license, it must not be expired, and it must say that you are at least 21 years old.
Friday
Sept. 23
11am: Sleep in / Pancake Breakfast
Meet at the Pancake House, near 51st St. and Harper Ave.
1:30pm: First-Year Photo
Meet on the front steps of Eckhart

2pm: Forum on How to Get Through the First Year Program
Older graduate students will give their take on the first year program, and advice about what you can do to make it more useful and enjoyable.
5pm: Department Picnic
Organized by the second-year class.
Takes place outside, behind Eckhart.
Saturday
Sept. 24
2:30pm: Walk Downtown for Dinner
Meet in the first-year office (or at the Point at 3pm) for a lakeside walk downtown to Giordano's Pizza at 223 W. Jackson Blvd (map). Please bring an umbrella! We will reach the restaurant at around 6pm. Anyone planning to meet us at the restaurant should phone Wouter at 312-342-4874 by 4pm so he can make reservations.

This weekend is also the Hyde Park Jazz Festival! Click for the schedule.
Sunday
Sept. 25
Nothing planned. Classes begin Monday!