Date: Friday 1 October 2010, 4:30pm
Location: Hempfield High School, Room 213
 Speaker: John Meier, La Fayette University 
   Title: Combinatorics, Morse Theory and Topology at Infinity

Abstract. Asymptotic topology has been an important tool in both
the study of infinite groups and aspherical manifolds.  This expository
talk will survey a few instances where questions about asymptotic
topology have been reduced to combinatorial questions, and then solved.
We will start with the construction of Davis manifolds and then move to
a discussion about how the insights gained from Mike Davis's original
work extend to interesting examples that arise in the context of cube
complexes.