Mentors from a distance
The people whose work I read, and whose books and notes I'm learning from. I keep this list partly to follow what they publish, and partly as a reminder that behind every paper is a person who was once also stuck. If you ever write to one of them, do it carefully — here's how I'd go about it.
Before you write to anyone
Contact details are on each person's official homepage. They aren't copied here so they stay current and don't get scraped. Being listed here reflects published work, not an endorsement by the person.
Subject: Question about [specific result] in [paper/notes], [section/page] Dear Professor [Name], I'm teaching myself Ricci flow and have been working through [text], currently [chapter/section]. I'm stuck on [one precise point: an equation, a step in a proof]. Here is what I tried: [2–4 lines]. Could you point me to where my reasoning goes wrong, or to a reference that treats this step in more detail? Thank you for your time. I know it's limited. Best wishes, [Your name] [Link to your learning journal]
Researchers
Their newest papers show up here on their own, pulled in with the daily arXiv sync. I last went through the list on Sep 22, 2026.
UC Berkeley
Good to ask aboutThe modern theory of singularities, and Ricci flow beyond dimension 3.
NYU Courant Institute
Good to ask aboutFollowing Perelman's arguments in detail.
UC Berkeley
Good to ask aboutPerelman's papers, geometrization, and synthetic notions of curvature.
University of Warwick
Good to ask aboutAnything from his lecture notes, which makes him a natural first contact for a self-learner.
Columbia University
Good to ask aboutSingularity models, solitons, and curvature pinching.
Columbia University
Good to ask aboutAncient solutions and parabolic PDE methods.
Rutgers University
Good to ask aboutHow singularities form and what they look like.
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Good to ask aboutNeckpinches and the fine structure of singularities.
University of Texas at Austin
Good to ask aboutMaterial from the Chow–Knopf textbook, and neckpinches.
University of Oregon
Good to ask aboutNeckpinches, and connections to physics.
UC San Diego
Good to ask aboutThe standard textbooks, and Harnack inequalities.
Peking University
Good to ask aboutThe complete proof of the Poincaré conjecture, and Kähler–Ricci flow.
Lehigh University
Good to ask aboutRicci solitons, and the Cao–Zhu exposition.
Rutgers University
Good to ask aboutThe complex-geometric side of the flow.
NYU Courant Institute
Good to ask aboutKähler–Ricci and Chern–Ricci flows.
Northwestern University
Good to ask aboutAn accessible entry into Kähler–Ricci flow.
MIT
Good to ask aboutThe finite-extinction route to the Poincaré conjecture.
University of Toronto
Good to ask aboutWeak and singular flows, and links with mean curvature flow.
University of Warwick
Good to ask aboutFlows from singular initial data.
Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
Good to ask aboutSmoothing rough metrics with Ricci flow.
University of Münster
Good to ask aboutInvariant curvature conditions and sphere theorems.
No one matches that filter.
Content creators & expositors
The notes, talks and books that made something click for me, or that I'm saving for when I get there.
Stay current
These are the places new results turn up first.