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Welcome to Pure Mathematics

We are home to 30 faculty, four staff, approximately 60 graduate students, several research visitors, and numerous undergraduate students. We offer exciting and challenging programs leading to BMath, MMath and PhD degrees. We nurture a very active research environment and are intensely devoted to both ground-breaking research and excellent teaching.


News

More than 100 researchers and students from across Canada and around the world attended the 53rd annual Canadian Operator Algebras Symposium (COSY), which took place from May 26-30 at the University of Waterloo.

Events

Monday, December 15, 2025 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Geometry and Topology Seminar

Sergey Grigorian, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Geometric structures determined by the 7-sphere

The 7-sphere is remarkable not only for its rich topological and algebraic properties but also for the special geometric structures it encodes. In this talk, we explore how the symmetries and stabilizer subgroups of Spin(7) acting on the 7-sphere, regarded as the set of unit octonions, give rise to G2-structures on 7-manifolds, SU(3)-structures on 6-manifolds, and SU(2)-structures on 5-manifolds. We will trace how these structures arise naturally via the inclusions of Lie groups and are reflected in the geometry of sphere fibrations. This perspective highlights the role of the 7-sphere as a unifying object in special geometry in dimensions from 5 to 8.

MC 5417