Speaker: Ben Spitz (University of Virginia)Title: The Tambara Affine LineAbstract: In equivariant stable homotopy theory, objects called "Tambara functors" play the role of commutative rings. Tambara functors are abstract algebraic objects: they consist of sets with certain operations satisfying certain axioms; however, the theory of Tambara functors is much less developed than the theory of commutative rings, in part because it is not clear exactly how to define the "Tambara analogs" of many classical notions. Nonetheless, we expect that Tambara functors admit a theory of commutative algebra and algebraic geometry, akin to the story for ordinary commutative rings. In this talk, I will discuss recent progress in developing such a theory for Tambara functors – in particular, we prove a version of the going-up theorem, which allows for the first computation of the "affine line" in Tambara algebraic geometry. This is joint work with David Chan, David Mehrle, J.D. Quigley, and Danika Van Niel.

Please join us for an Emerson/Harris Masterclass with pianist Scott Cuellar!February 10, 2025 4:30pm | Thomas Tull Concert HallPianist Scott Cuellar is an assistant professor of applied music and performance (piano) in the Setnor School of Music, where he teaches applied piano as well as other keyboard-related courses.In reviewing Cuellar’s debut recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, David LaMarche of the New York Concert Review described Cuellar’s performance as “virtuosic in scope and expression, like a great man of the theater,” and praised his “ability to illuminate both the external structure and the emotional core of the work he plays.” He has been described by Cleveland Classical as possessing “nerves of steel, a formidable technique, and an architect’s understanding of structure.” The San Antonio Express-News praised his “luxuriant exploration” of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto, adding that his “technique was clean, his melodies and cadenzas were expressive, but most noticeable was his keyboard fluidity.”Cuellar has given solo recitals at major venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, the Newport Music Festival, the Polytheatre Chongqing and the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in the People’s Republic of China, and has been a guest recitalist at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, the Gijón International Piano Festival in Asturias, Spain, the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Lima, Peru, Boston Conservatory, and at the University of Washington. He has presented masterclasses at Renmin University in Beijing, Lee University, Grand Valley State University, and has lectured at the Juilliard School. He has appeared as a soloist with the San Antonio Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, the Oberlin Orchestra, the Lima Symphony Orchestra, and several others.Cuellar is featured on composer Gity Razaz’s debut album “The Strange Highway” (2022) with violinist Francesca DePasquale, released on BIS Records. He has performed with many of the world’s great artists, including Cho-Liang Lin, Jennifer Koh, Chee-Yun, Mark Nuccio, Desmond Hoebig, the Miró Quartet, and Timothy Jones. He is a founding member of the Rodin Trio, along with assistant concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Philip Marten and current Karajan Fellow Joshua Halpern. He has performed at the La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival and the Cactus Pear Chamber Music Festival. He has been heard on WQXR in New York, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Seattle’s King FM, Houston Public Media, and others.Cuellar won the gold medal at the 2016 San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he also received prizes for the best performance of both a Romantic work (Schumann’s “Humoreske”), as well as of a Russian work (Prokofiev’s 4th Sonata). He was the gold medalist in the solo division of the 2013 Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, where he was also awarded the silver medal in the concerto division, and was the winner of the Krenek Prize for the best performance of a sonata by Ernst Krenek. Additionally, he was the bronze medalist at the 2016 New Orleans International Piano Competition.Cuellar holds a doctor of musical arts from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Jon Kimura Parker; he earned a master of music from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Julian Martin; and he received a bachelor of music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Alvin Chow. During his time at Oberlin, he won three of the largest prizes offered to pianists: the Oberlin Concerto Competition, the Arthur Dann Competition, and the John Elvin Prize for Juniors. He was previously an assistant professor at the Oberlin Conservatory of music, where he taught chamber music, secondary piano, and class piano.The Emerson/Harris Masterclass Series is supported in part by the Robert L. Malster (1956) Fund.

Scott Taylor (University of Calgary)

Ryan Kellogg (University of Chicago)

An invitation to think on the edges, surfaces, and turns of the literary artifact when it crosses cultural boundaries.Co-hosted by the MIT Global Mediations Lab, Literature at MIT, MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing, and MIT Comparative Global HumanitiesPresented by Rosario Hubert, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Trinity CollegeIn Discussion with Koichi Hagimoto, Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Wellesley College In the absence of specialized programs of study, intellectual discussions of China in Latin America took shape in contingent critical infrastructures built at the crossroads of the literary market, cultural diplomacy, and commerce. In Disoriented Disciplines: China, Latin America, and the Shape of World Literature Rosario Hubert decenters the authority of the text by connecting seemingly untranslatable cultural traditions. In this book, chinoiserie, “coolie” testimonies, Maoist prints, visual poetry, and Cold War memoirs compose a massive archive of primary sources that cannot be read or deciphered with the conventional tools of literary criticism. As Hubert demonstrates, even canonical authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz, and Haroldo de Campos, write about China from the edges of philology, mediating the concrete as well as the sensorial.Advocating for indiscipline as a method, Disoriented Disciplines challenges us to interrogate the traditional contours of the archives and approaches of comparative literary studies. In dialogue with the rise of China globally and the opening of the humanities beyond the university, this book poses a crucial question for the present: what does it mean to be a specialist in a foreign culture? BIO: Rosario Hubert is Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Trinity College, where she works on the crossover of world literature, geography, and the visual arts. Her book Disoriented Disciplines. China, Latin America, and the Shape of World Literature (2023, Northwestern University Press, FlashPoints Series) was recipient of the ACLA Helen Tartar First book subvention award and was funded by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies. She is currently working on new project about poetics of the inhospitable and polar modernity.

The MIT wrestling club holds practices in the du Pont Wrestling Room on weeknights 5:30-7pm. All levels of experience welcome! Whether you're looking to learn how to grapple or just want to get in a good workout, wrestling practice is a good time to learn technique, get in some live goes, and have fun with a great group of people.Current schedule is: structured practice MTRF, open mats W, and technique sessions 9-10:30am on Saturday. For more information, contact wrestling-officers@mit.edu.