I am an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Vanderbilt University. I received my Ph.D from the University of Chicago in 2011, where I was a graduate student of Benson Farb.
My research interests are in low-dimensional topology and geometric group theory, with particular focus on mapping class groups, Teichmüller spaces, and free group automorphisms. Check out my publications and preprints for more details.
See the teaching page for information about some of my previous courses. (Lately most course webpages are instead hosted on Brightspace.)
Since Fall 2018, I am organizing the Geometric Group Theory Seminar (formerly Topology & Group Theory seminar) here at Vanderbilt; please contact me with any questions or suggestions. The seminar meets Wednesdays from 4:10–5:00 unless otherwise notied. See the Geometric Group Theory Seminar website for the current schedule.
Contact Info
email: firstname.lastname AT vanderbilt DOT edu
phone: 615-322-1555
fax: 615-343-0215
office: Stevenson Center 1508
postal mail:
Spencer Dowdall
Department of Mathematics
1326 Stevenson Center
Station B 407807
Nashville, TN 37240
USA