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Pablo S. Ocal ║ オカル パブロ
Curriculum Vitae

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About Me

I am a postdoctoral scholar at OIST, under the mentorship of Liron Speyer. Previously, I have been a postdoctoral researcher under the mentorship of Paul Balmer at UCLA, a PhD student and Fulbright scholar of Sarah Witherspoon at Texas A&M, a Masters student of Bruno Kahn at Paris 6, and an undergraduate student of Jaume Aguade Bover at the UAB.

My research is in noncommutative algebra and geometry. My main interests are in homological algebra, monoidal categories, and their relationship through representation theory. I find the connections to quantum symmetries and tensor triangular geometry particularly appealing, specifically through the lens of support varieties for quantum groups and the finite generation conjecture for the cohomology of finite tensor categories. Other areas of tangential interest and occasional overlap are low dimensional topology and topological quantum field theory.

Recently my curiosity has broadened to real-life applications of my background to biology and computer science, predominantly concerning biochemical regulatory networks and locally recoverable algebro-geometric codes. These interests were piqued by the works of A. Grothendieck and J.-P. Serre in algebraic geometry, an area I hold dear.

I enjoy finding categorical explanations to elementary mathematical facts and describing things in terms of universal properties, especially if it involves using unnecessarily sophisticated machinery to accomplish a menial task. Thankfully, Terry Gannon expressed himself in what I can only describe as one of the most memorable quotes I have ever witnessed.

For full disclosure, here you may find the context of the talk that the above excerpt is from. As a graduate student, I was featured in the third Next Generation of Mathematics promotion of the American Mathematical Society. As an undergraduate student, I was featured in the article Matematicas + fisica = un placer from the newspaper La Vanguardia.

— Last update: 2024 October 10