Aparna Dar

Aparna Dar is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK). With a PhD from SUNY Stony Brook (1984) and post-doctoral experience at IAS Princeton, TIFR Mumbai, IMSc Chennai and ICTP Trieste, she has been a faculty member at IIT Kanpur since 1989.

Education

• PhD, State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA – December 1984
  Thesis: “Intersection R-Torsion and Analytic Torsion for Pseudomanifolds” under Prof. Jeff Cheeger (NYU)
• MSc (Mathematics), IIT Kanpur – May 1980

Research Focus

Her core research area is Knot Theory, an approximately 100-year-old discipline rich with open problems. Specific interests include:

• Amphicheirality and knot symmetries
• Closed braids and braid index
• Knot polynomials, notably the Jones polynomial
• Intersection homology and analytic torsion on singular spaces

Selected Achievements

• Solved a Kirby open problem by constructing alternating amphicheiral knots of every even crossing number (2007)
• Discovered new infinite families of amphicheiral knots with braid index 3 (2011)
• Serves on the Editorial Board of Mathematics Student, the journal of the Indian Mathematical Society (since 2022)

Honours & Awards

• Distinguished Teacher Award – IIT Kanpur, 5 September 2020
• Excellence in Teaching Award – IIT Kanpur, 5 September 2020

Teaching & Service

She regularly teaches Real Analysis, Topology, Differential Geometry, Algebraic Topology and Knot Theory at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Beyond academics, she is an active member of Gayatri Pariwar and Manushi, contributing to spiritual and women-empowerment initiatives, and pursues Indian classical music in the Dhrupad tradition.