Author: Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson

Call for Papers
Special Issue of Foundations of Data Science
“Recent Advances in Topological Deep Learning”

Description: Data-driven discovery is widely regarded as the fourth paradigm that can fundamentally change scientific research landscape and pave the way for a new industrial revolution. The great success, from AlphaFold to ChatGPT, has demonstrated enormous power of artificial intelligence (AI)-based approaches. However, efficient representations and featurization of complex systems are still one of the central challenges for all the AI-based discoveries. Recently, topological data analysis (TDA) has brought in a new way for data characterization and modelling. Deeply rooted in algebraic topology and computational topology, TDA enables an effective balance between data description and model generalization. TDA-based deep learning models have already shown tremendous power in various applications, such as image processing, drug design, materials design, gene analysis, virus evolution, etc. Topological deep learning has emerged as a new interdisciplinary area between applied topology, data science, and machine learning.

The objective of this special issue is three-fold. First, it aims to showcase recent progress and success in TDA and topological deep learning. Second, it promotes new algorithms, methods, and models in topological deep learning. Third, this special issue is devoted to the 4th conference on “Computational Topology and Application” at the Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics Forum (TSIMF) in Sanya, China, Dec 18-22, 2023. 

To this end, this special issue of Topological deep learning seeks original papers on the following topics including, but not limited to:
• Topological data analysis and its applications
• Multidimensional persistence, Zig-zag persistence
• Reeb graph, discrete Morse theory, Conley index,
• Path complex, Neighborhood complex, Dowker complex, hypergraph,
• hyperdigraph and their persistent homology and/or Laplacians
• Geometric anomaly detection, differential geometry, discrete exterior calculus
• Spectral graph, spectral simplicial complex, spectral hyper(di)graph
• Topological Laplacians and topological Diracs
• Persistent homology, persistent Laplacian, and other persistent forms
• Cellular Sheaves, periodic cell complex, periodic topology, and local topology
• Dimension reduction (manifold learning, Isomap, Laplacian eigenmaps, diffusion maps, UMAP, MAPPER, hyperbolic geometry, Poincaré embedding, etc)
• Geometric deep learning, graph neural network, simplex complex neural network

Target Dates:
• Manuscript submission Deadline: October 10, 2023 (Will be extended)
• Completion of Peer Reviews: December 10, 2023
• Publication Date: January 30, 2024

Guest Editors:
• Guowei Wei ([email protected]), Michigan State University
• Jie Wu ([email protected]), Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (BIMSA)
• Duc Nguyen ([email protected]), University of Kentucky
• Kelin Xia ([email protected]), Nanyang Technological UniversityMore detailed information can be found https://www.aimsciences.org/FoDS/news/3825

Francois Petit writes:

The team METHODS of the Centre de Recherche Epidémiologie et Statistiques/Université de Paris (CRESS-UMR1153) is looking for a post-doctoral fellow on an ANR-funded project (lead by Francois Petit).

The aim of the ToROTR project is to develop and study topological, geometric and statistical methods to develop optimal treatment rules and evaluate their robustness. This interdisciplinary project encompasses a diverse range of domains, including topological data analysis, causal inference, and machine learning. We warmly welcome applicants from various backgrounds who are eager to learn and explore new topics.

We are searching for a dedicated candidate with a strong mathematical background and a doctoral degree in mathematics, statistics, or machine learning, who possesses a keen interest in applying their skills to health sciences.

Candidates with strong expertise in topological data analysis and experience in coding and working with real data are very welcome.

Team: The team METHODS of CRESS, located at Hôtel-Dieu hospital in the center of Paris, is affiliated to Université Paris-Cité and Inserm. It offers a dynamic international research environment.
Activities:

Education level: Doctoral degree in mathematics or (bio-)statistics or computer science
Duration: 12 months
Contact: [email protected]
How to Apply: Your application should include a cover letter with a brief account of your research interests and motivation for applying for the position, a resume and a complete list of publications, the name, and email address of 2 references.

The deadline to apply is the 15h of September 2023.

Grigory Garkusha writes:
This is to bring to your attention the permanent Lectureship position in applied algebra or applied topology at the Mathematics Department of Swansea University. 

The deadline for applications is 4^th September, 2023. All information can be found at the webpage:

https://www.swansea.ac.uk/jobs-at-swansea/current-vacancies/details/?nPostingId=138178&nPostingTargetId=167574&id=QHUFK026203F3VBQB7VLO8NXD&LG=UK&languageSelect=UK&mask=suext

Rémi Molinier writes:

There is a one year Postdoc position in Grenoble to work on TDA applied to material science, as a part of the chair MAGNET of the MIAI institute of Grenoble, under the guidance of Noël Jakse and myself. The starting date should be before the end of December 2023. 

The goal is to construct topological descriptors for local environment of atoms to study cristal nucleation in alloys. This is the continuation of the work here which study only the case of monoatomic metals where the main issue will be to deal with different type of atoms.

We are looking for someone with an expertise in TDA and interested in applications. Experience of computing and working with data will be really appreciated. Knowledge and interest in physics and basics in machine learning is not mandatory but will be a plus.

To apply, interested candidates should send a CV with a list of publication and two reference letters to myself ([email protected]). Feel free to contact me for any questions regarding the position of the project.

The 3rd workshop on Computational Persistence will take place from Sep 25 to Sep 29 in hybrid mode at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. This workshop provides a forum to exchange ideas on computational aspects of topological persistence that fertilize advances in topological data analysis.

The schedule will be composed of invited and contributed talks on computational aspects of topological data analysis. Contributed talks can be suggested in the form of an abstract of at most two pages. A scientific committee will check the submissions and make a selection.

The first two issues of the workshop were online conferences – the upcoming workshop is the first one where on-site participation is possible. We encourage this option, but equally welcome submissions of researchers that attend remotely.

Dates:
Deadline for abstracts of contributed talks: June 23, 2023
Notification of acceptance: July 14, 2023

Submission server: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=compper2023

Web-page: https://www.cs.purdue.edu/ComPerWorkshop/

Scientific committee:
Tamal Dey (Purdue)
Tao Hou (De Paul University)
Michael Kerber (Graz University of Technology)
Steve Oudot (INRIA Saclay)
Yusu Wang (Univ of California, San Diego)

Organizers: Tamal Dey, Michael Kerber, Soham Mukherjee, Shreyas Samaga, Tao Hou

We would like to draw your attention to the “Third Graduate Student Conference: Geometry and Topology meet Data Analysis and Machine Learning” to be held at Northeastern University on June 8th to June 10th, 2023. 

The goal of the conference is to gather graduate students and postdocs to share their research work in applications of Geometry and Topology to Data Analysis and Machine Learning. The aim is to build bridges between academic institutions, and to enhance discussion and collaboration via poster sessions, short presentations, and discussion panels. A plenary lecture will be delivered by Prof. Justin Solomon (MIT).

We anticipate having some amount of funding to support students who would like to attend.  Registration details can be found in https://gtdaml.wixsite.com/2023. The deadline for applying for

financial support is May 10, 2023.

This is the third installment in the series of conferences (GDTAML 19’ https://tgda.osu.edu/gtdaml2019  and GTDAML 21’ (https://gtdaml.wixsite.com/2021) and follows other synergistic activities run by the organizers in the past (e.g., https://www.ams.org/programs/research-communities/2022MRC-DataSci).

Please contact the organizing committee via [email protected] if you have any questions.

Benedikt Fluhr writes:
Dear colleagues and investigators of applied topology,

we are pleased to announce the forthcoming BIREP summer school on persistence modules and the interplay of representation theory and topological data analysis.

This events program consists of a series of three talks by this years invited speaker Wojciech Chachólski (KTH Stockholm) as well as a number of different talks to be delivered by the participants.

Date: July 31–August 4, 2023

Location: Hotel Waldcafé Jäger, Bad Driburg, Germany

Registration Deadline: June 1, 2023

For more details, please visit our webpage or leave us a message at [email protected] .

Kind regards, 
the organisers 
Raphael Bennett-Tennenhaus, Rudradip Biswas, Benedikt Fluhr, Jan-Paul Lerch, Janina Letz, and Julia Sauter

Dear colleagues,
It is our pleasure to announce the Danish-Swedish summer school on TDA and spatial statistics to be held at Aalborg University from June 26-30, 2023.

The school is a five-day event with the aim of educating researchers to work at the interface of Topological Data Analysis (TDA) and Spatial Statistics. The principal target group are PhD students and postdocs in applied topology, statistics, and related subjects. Although dealing with similar problems, until recently there has been little interaction between TDA and spatial statistics. The summer school will thus be a major stepping stone for networking and knowledge sharing between these branches of applied topology and statistics.

The invited lecturers are:

    Wojciech Chachólski (KTH) TBA
    Anne Estrade (Université Paris Cité) The geometry of Gaussian fields
    Érika Roldán (MPI Leipzig) Topology and Geometry of Random Cubical Complexes
    Rasmus Waagepetersen (Aalborg University) Cox processes – mixed models for point processes

Further information and the registration can be found on the website https://www.dstda.com/

The registration fee of 50 Euros covers the lunches and coffee breaks; registration deadline: April 30, 2023.

We are looking forward to an inspiring event.

Best regards, the organizers
Christophe Biscio, Wojciech Chachólski, Ottmar Cronie, Lisbeth Fajstrup, Adélie Garin, Christian Hirsch, Martina Scolamiero

Martina Scolamiero writes:
We currently have an open position for a two year postdoc to join our Topological Data Analysis group at the mathematics department of KTH in Stockholm.

https://www.kth.se/en/om/work-at-kth/lediga-jobb/what:job/jobID:561932/type:job/where:4/apply:1

The group has been growing lately and we are currently  two faculty members: Wojciech Chacholski and Martina Scolamiero, five postdocs and four PhD students.

We are interested in a variety of topics including: definition and computation of persistence based invariants, homological methods for the study of discrete dynamical systems, homological algebra for poset representations, applications to neuroscience and machine learning. 

The position is financed by WASP, which also offers great opportunities for networking and collaboration with researchers working in mathematical foundations of A.I. 

Dear all,
We invite you to rejoin the Persistence, Sheaves and Homotopy Theory online seminar, held the second Tuesday of each month, from 3pm to 4:30pm CET. We send reminders and Zoom coordinates to the seminar’s mailing list closer to the seminar days. 

The aim of the seminar is to gather together the mathematical communities who have a common interest in the theoretical aspects of persistence, such as its connections to sheaf theory, homotopy theory, symplectic geometry, and representation theory.

Here is the program for the next two sessions; please visit the seminar’s website for abstracts:

November 8th, 3-4:30 pm CET:

– Ezra Miller (Duke university)
– Benjamin Blanchette (Université de Sherbrooke)

December 13th, 3-4:30 pm CET:

– Claudia Landi (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia)
– Benedikt Fluhr (Technical University of Munich)

Website: https://psht-seminar.github.io/index.html
Mailing list: https://groups.google.com/g/psht-seminar

Please don’t hesitate to spread the word with your colleagues and we hope to see you on November 8th!

Best regards,
Nicolas Berkouk, François Petit, and Luis Scoccola