Michael J. Falk

Topology, Geometry, Algebra & Combinatorics

At left, Desolation Canyon, Utah, USA

Welcome to the home page of me, Michael Falk. I teach and do research in mathematics at Northern Arizona University. My primary fields of interest are topology, combinatorics, algebra, and geometry, in particular in their applications to the theory of complex hyperplane arrangements. I play traditional music, and I have a family, and I have little bit of a life beyond mathematics. For more, or different information, you can find me on ResearchGate, Linked In, Instagram, Facebook.

Stuff for my students Office hours and links to course web pages, where students will find lots of information, including exercise lists, problem sets, solutions, exam information, exams and solutions, and many helpful remarks.

Serious stuff My curriculum vita, abstracts and preprints of some of my scholarly articles, a brief description of my research interests, stuff like that.

My academic ancestry Mathematicians consider their dissertation advisors to be their academic fathers. Their adivsors are our acedemic grandfathers. My academic lineage goes a long way back, and includes some names you might recognize. To check it out, click on this link (click here), and then click on my advisor's name (Peter Orlik) to see his advisor, and continue till you reach the Renaissance.

My 2018-19 sabbatical This link takes you to a brief description of my activities during my sabbatical in 2018-19. I visited several colleagues and conferences in Europe in the Fall, and lived in Wellington, New Zealand, and Montpellier, France, for ten weeks each, working with colleagues there, under a Fulbright Global Scholar award. Click on the links at the left to see what I did during myh previous two sabbaticals.

Advances in Applied Mathematics In March, 2010, I was invited to join the editorial board of this fine journal, published by Elsevier. It was founded by Gian-Carlo Rota as a companion journal to Advances in Mathematics. As former editor Henry Crapo described it in an email after Rota passed away, the journal publishes "good quality articles on applications, and, as tradition has it, in combinatorial theory." Have a look at the aims and scope, and, if you have a good paper that fits the description, and is in my area of expertise, send it to me - I promise to move it along quickly. I'm also on the editorial board of JP Journal of Geometry and Topology. Previously I have been on the editorial board of the open-access journal Mathematics.

Mathematics links:

Here are links that may be of interest to mathematicians and students of mathematics. It's a work in progress.

A listing of upcoming mathematics meetings and conferences

MSRI The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, in Berkeley, is a very nice place for doing mathematics, that hosts many interesting conferences, workshops, and other events.

Oberwolfach One of may favorite places on the planet is the mathematical research institute at Oberwolfach, in the very southwest corner of Germany, in the Black Forest. They host conferences Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning, fifty weeks per year, usually one or two per week, with occasional mini-workshops and RIPs (Research in Pairs). They give you a place to sleep, three incredible meals per day, and they tell you where to sit, provide snacks, beer, wine, and spirits on the honor system. There's a great library, and a pool table with no pockets. If you need a break you can hike through the forest; there's nothing else to do there ... There is no wireless in the rooms, so mathematicians are forced out of their rooms, against their nature. There is no better place for doing mathematics.

AMS Student Resource Page The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, in Berkeley, is a very nice place for doing mathematics, that hosts many interesting conferences, workshops, and other events.

 

Some recent meetings:

Arrangements at Western In May, 2019, I travelled round-trip from Montpellier, France, to London, Ontario, Canada, for the workshop associated with the research period "Arrangements at Western," organized by Graham Denham, Christin Bibby, and Alex Suciu. Here is the web page: click.

Combinatorial Geometries 2018: matroids, oriented matroids, and applications In September, 2018, I spent a week at the CNRS research institute CIRM in Marseille, at the 2018 edition of this large matroids meeting, that takes place every five years. (I was at the 2003 edition as well.) I saw many old friends and made some new ones, including another Bennington alum, Jo Ellis-Monaghan - it was fun connecting. Here is the web page: click.

Click on the travel page link to the left to see descriptions of other trips I've taken over the years.

Other interests of mine...

I also play traditional music—Celtic (Irish, Scottish, and Breton), bluegrass, old-timey and fiddle tunes, jazz and swing, and other eclectic stuff—on the mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, tenor banjo, and I frail old-time Appalachian tunes on an open-back banjo. I have played in several string bands over the years: Faint Praise, with Bill Vernieu and Joanna Joseph, with my wife Darcy joining us on most recently; The Joan Wyatt Band, with Joan, Bill, and Reno and Sheila McCormick from Lake Montezuma; the short-lived but very fun Erogenous Jones Band, with Kate Watters, Bob Ed Chambers, Hans Drexler, and Ean Dunder.All those bands are defunc, along with the Stompin' Mountain Shoats contra dance band, and the Pizza Band. These days when I play out it is with my friend Tony Norris, for whom I occasionally fill in for his musical partner Bill Burke.

I am former board member, secretary, and president of Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music. I was heavily involved in producing the Pickin' in the Pines festival (pickininthepines.org) for the first four years of its existence.

Musical stuff - Some (very) old pictures and sound files of my mandolin, some music I've transcribed in abc format, pictures of me and my friends playing for people, stuff like that. (Note: The Summit no longer belongs to me - in its place I have a 1983 Steve Carlson-signed Flatiron Model A5-1, a great mandolin. Maybe I'll put up some pictures and sound one of these days.)

And my family.

Darcy Falk Textile Arts My lovely wife Darcy Falk is an artist and writer - she's good. Check out her web page by clicking on the link. She's been involved in many arts organizations in Flagstaff: she was involved in the founding of the Coconino Quilters' Guild; she and Ann Beck started the Flagstaff Children's Museum (with some help from thier spouses and many other people); she was part of the group that started the Artists Coalition of Flagstaff; she was on the task force that advised the County on the development of Flagstaff Cultural Partners, now Flagstaff Arts Council, land for several years was an integral part of the group that produces the Pickin' in the Pines Festival. Here is one of her latest projects, the Kevlar Kimono.

Keenan and David We have two sons, Keenan and David, ages 33 and 29. Keenan got an A.A. in Automotive Technology, at St. Cloud Community College in Minnesota, and now he's living in Tucson, working for a fire prevention company. David is also now living in Tucson, managing the coffee program at Rincon Market - pop in and say hi. (He was the first male graduate of the Cococnino Community College Dance program.)

My siblings My older sister, Judy Russell, also lives in Prescott. She tutors English and ESL for Yavapai Community College and is active in the Baha'i community locally and regionally. My younger brother, Don, lives in Berkeley and is Executive Director of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, a non-profit corporation that develops low-income housing and provides services for the formerly homeless in San Francisco's Tenderloin. They do great work. Here's a link: click.

My parents My parents have both now passed away, after spending their lives working on behalf of others less fortunate. My father, Alfred Falk, died on April 1, 2017, five days before his 98th birthday. He lived on his own until the last few days of his life. From the mid-1990's until 2014, he worked for Prescott's Project Aware, which has developed and maintains short-term housing for homeless men - he and Rohda were part of the group that started the organization. A few years ago Governor Napolitano attended the dedication of their new apartment buidling, which is called The Alfred Falk House. Here's a picture: click. Both my parents were involved in many other non-profit service organizations, such as Prescott People Who Care and the Jewish Foundation. In 2006 they were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arizona Commission to End Homelessness - here's a picture: click. Before he retired 25 years ago, he worked in retail home furnishing stores - when I was growing up he managed a furniture store. He was originally an engineer, but that career ended during the McCarthy era, for political reasons. My mother, Rhoda Goodman Falk, died in June, 2008, after a lifetime spent in social work, helping people of little means and families in distress. She worked for many years for the American Red Cross, helping military families and fire and flood victims, and spent her retirement working on behalf of the elderly. She was also a talented pianist - I owe my musical talent and abilities to her.