Research Interests

I do research in Mathematical Physics. I apply algebra and geometry to solve problems motivated by String Theory. I am fascinated by supersymmetry and its many mathematical manifestations. In the past I have also worked on conformal field theory, integrable systems and even knot theory.

Research Groups

• Geometry and Topology
• Mathematical Physics

Current and Recent PhD Students

Dr Simon Philip (PhD 2005)
Dr Hannu Rajaniemi (PhD 2006)
Dr Sunil Gadhia (PhD 2007)
Dr George Moutsopoulos (PhD 2008)
Dr Elena Méndez-Escobar (PhD 2010)
Dr Patricia Ritter (PhD 2011)
Dr Paul Reynolds (PhD 2012)
Moustafa Gharamti
Noel Hustler

Recent Conference and Workshop Involvement

For a reasonably up-to-date list of conferences I've been involved with, please see this area of my website.

Biographical Statement

I was born in Havana six days after JFK was shot, but my mother assures me that this was a coincidence. Five years later we moved to Madrid where I lived through la transición. At 16 I moved to the USA: this means that instead of la movida, I suffered Reaganomics. After a year or so wondering what to do with my life, I went to MIT to study Physics and Mathematics. Three years later I hit the snooze button of the alarm clock of Life and went to Stony Brook where I did a PhD in Theoretical Physics. In 1989 I started the usual series of postdocs (Leuven, Bonn, QMW) and ten years later I moved to sunny Edinburgh as a lecturer, then a reader and finally as a piece of furniture.

Previous Employment

1989-91 KU Leuven
1991-93 RFWU Bonn
1993-99 QMW London

Education

PhD
SUNY Stony Brook (1989)

BSc
MIT (1984)

Publications

• Personal webpage with publications