Erkao Bao

Erkao Bao is an Assistant Professor in the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota, where he is a member of the differential geometry group. His office is located at Vincent Hall 356, 206 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, and he can be reached at bao@umn.edu.

Dr. Bao specializes in Symplectic Geometry and Contact Geometry, with research focusing on Morse homology, Floer theory, and Lagrangian submanifolds. His work explores equivariant structures in geometric contexts, with recent publications addressing reflection actions via broken trajectories, coherent orientations in symplectic field theory, and immersed Lagrangian Floer cohomology.

His research demonstrates a clear progression from foundational work on J-holomorphic curves and contact homology toward increasingly sophisticated treatments of equivariant structures. The integration of geometric methods with potential applications in neural networks (as seen in his 2019 paper on equivariant neural networks) shows his ability to bridge pure mathematics with contemporary computational challenges.

• Office: Vincent Hall 356, 206 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455
• Email: bao@umn.edu
• Office Hours: Typically Monday and Friday 1:00-2:00 PM, or by appointment

As an educator, Dr. Bao teaches undergraduate courses including Math 2374 (CSE Multivariable Calculus) and Math 5378 (Differential Geometry), as well as graduate courses Math 8301-8302 and Math 8365 (Manifold and Topology), covering topics from vector calculus to advanced differential geometry and topological methods.