Faculty-Professors

Educational background:

◆ Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of Minnesota, 2013.

◆ B.S. in Mathematics, Peking University, 2007.

Working Experience：

◆ February 2020 to present, Tenure-track assistant professor, Southern University of Science and Technology

◆ December 2016 to January 2020, Visiting assistant professor, Southern University of Science and Technology

◆ October 2016 to January 2017, Visiting scholar, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences

◆ September 2013 to August 2016, Visiting assistant professor, Northwestern University

Publication List:

◆ With C. T. Chan, Jing Hu, Hongwei Jia, Xiaoping Ouyang, Yixiao Wang, and Ruo-Yang Zhang, Non-Hermitian swallowtail catastrophe revealing transitions among diverse topological singularities, Nat. Phys. 19 (2023), 1098–1103.

◆ Norm coherence for descent of level structures on formal deformations, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 224 (2020), 106382, 35 pp.

◆ The Hecke algebra action and the Rezk logarithm on Morava E-theory of height 2, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3733–3764.

◆ Semistable models for modular curves and power operations for Morava E-theories of height 2, Adv. Math. 354 (2019), 106758, 29 pp.

◆ Morava E-homology of Bousfield–Kuhn functors on odd-dimensional spheres, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 146 (2018), 449–458.

Yifei Zhu’s current research focuses on interactions of algebraic topology with algebraic geometry and number theory, especially moduli spaces from spectral algebraic geometry in the context of the Langlands program, as well as applications of topology and geometry to interdisciplinary research, including condensed-matter physics and materials science, time series analysis, human—computer interaction, and systems science.

Research grants:

• 2024–2027, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) General Program grant 12371069, “Methods of algebraic topology to study moduli spaces: with applications to homotopy theory, condensed matter physics, and time series analysis.”

• 2023–2025, Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2023A1515030289), “Computations, structures, and applications in unstable chromatic homotopy theory.”

• 2018–2020, NSFC Young Scientists Fund grant 11701263, “Methods of algebraic geometry and number theory in algebraic topology.”

Fall 2023: MA323 (Topology);

Spring 2022: MAT8021 (Algebraic Topology), MA215 (Probability Theory)

Fall 2022: MA323 (Topology);

Spring 2022: MAT8021 (Algebraic Topology), MA107a (Linear Algebra)

Fall 2021: MA323 (Topology);

Spring 2021: MAT8021 (Algebraic Topology);

Fall 2020: MA323 (Topology);

Spring 2020: MAT8024 (Differentiable Manifolds);

Fall 2019: MA323 (Topology);

Spring 2019: MA327 (Differential Geometry), MAT8010 (Combinatorics);

Fall 2018: MA323 (Topology);

Spring 2018: MA102a (Mathematical Analysis II);

Fall 2017: MA101a (Mathematical Analysis I), MA301 (Functions of Real

Variables);

Spring 2017: MA101a (Mathematical Analysis I).

With C. T. Chan, Jing Hu, Hongwei Jia, Yixin Xiao, Ruo-Yang Zhang, and Shuang Zhang, Topological classification for intersection singularities of exceptional surfaces in pseudo-Hermitian systems, Commun. Phys. 6 (2023), 293.

With C. T. Chan, Jing Hu, Hongwei Jia, Xiaoping Ouyang, Yixiao Wang, and Ruo-Yang Zhang, Non-Hermitian swallowtail catastrophe revealing transitions among diverse topological singularities, Nat. Phys. 19 (2023), 1098–1103.

Norm coherence for descent of level structures on formal deformations, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 224 (2020), 106382, 35 pp.

The Hecke algebra action and the Rezk logarithm on Morava E-theory of height 2, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3733–3764.

Semistable models for modular curves and power operations for Morava E-theories of height 2, Adv. Math. 354 (2019), 106758, 29 pp.

Morava E-homology of Bousfield–Kuhn functors on odd-dimensional spheres, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 146 (2018), 449–458.

The power operation structure on Morava E-theory of height 2 at the prime 3, Algebr. Geom. Topol. 14 (2014), 953–977.

Faculty