An Introduction to Applied Category Theory
Emma Phillips
University of New Hampshire
Studying category theory is like taking a bird’s eye view of mathematics. It allows us to look for patterns across seemingly disparate mathematical fields and to use tools from one field to solve problems in another. Recently, category theory has been applied not only to mathematics but to other disciplines, including computer science, physics, the natural sciences, and even human language. This talk will introduce categories and discuss how category theory can be used both in mathematics and in other applications. Much of this talk will be motivated by examples.
Emma Phillips is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of New Hampshire. Her research is in homotopy theory, a topic in algebraic topology, and category theory. Recently, that has meant that she spends a lot of time thinking about hammocks and trees (mathematical ones, of course). Before graduate school, Emma was a mathematics instructor at Phillips Exeter Academy.
