Paul Hacking

Paul Hacking is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research focuses on algebraic geometry, including moduli spaces of algebraic varieties, birational geometry, and mirror symmetry.

Education:

• PhD, Cambridge University, 2001

His research explores the deep connections between algebraic geometry and mathematical physics through mirror symmetry, cluster algebras, and birational transformations. Recent work examines moduli spaces of surfaces and their compactifications using advanced techniques from tropical geometry and derived categories.

His publications demonstrate sustained interest in geometric structures arising in mirror symmetry, with recent advances in homological mirror symmetry, toric degenerations, and cluster varieties. The mathematical themes consistently address foundational questions about moduli spaces and their combinatorial descriptions.

He has supervised seven graduate students on topics including mirror symmetry for Milnor fibers, Q-Fano 3-folds, the Morrison cone conjecture, cusp singularities, cluster varieties, and vector bundles on rational surfaces. His research has been supported by NSF grants including DMS-2200875.

Hacking coordinates the Valley Geometry Seminar and Algebraic Geometry North Eastern Series (AGNES), fostering collaborative research environments.