AndreasHolmsen Archives - Discrete Mathematics Group

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026

2026 Workshop on Topological Combinatorics Successfully Held at GIST

The 2026 Workshop on Topological Combinatorics was successfully held at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) from June 28 to July 11, 2026. The workshop was organized by Andreas Holmsen (KAIST & IBS DIMAG), Jinha Kim (Chonnam National University & IBS DIMAG), and Minki Kim (GIST), with support from GIST, IBS Discrete Mathematics Group (DIMAG), and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).

This workshop is the fifth in the international series on topological combinatorics initiated by Ron Aharoni. It brought together researchers working in topological combinatorics, discrete geometry, algebraic topology, geometric transversal theory, topological methods in combinatorics, and related areas. The first week consisted of invited lectures and research presentations, while the second week was devoted to collaborative research and open problem discussions.

More than 60 researchers from Korea and overseas participated during the two-week program. Participants represented a wide range of institutions, including IBS DIMAG, KAIST, GIST, Chonnam National University, Ajou University, DGIST, KIAS, Princeton University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Waterloo, Charles University, Université Paris Cité, École nationale des ponts et chaussées, Arizona State University, Iowa State University, Binghamton University, UNAM, MPI-CBG Dresden, Singapore University of Technology and Design, and several other universities and research institutes.

The scientific program featured invited lectures by leading researchers together with short research presentations covering recent developments in topological combinatorics and its interactions with geometry, topology, algebra, and combinatorics. The collaboration week provided participants with ample opportunities to initiate new research projects and strengthen existing international collaborations.

February 1, 2024July 6, 2024

Welcome Prof. Andreas Holmsen from KAIST, a new Visiting Research Fellow in the IBS Discrete Mathematics Group

The IBS Discrete Mathematics Group welcomes Prof. Andreas Holmsen from the Department of Mathematical Sciences, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea. He will visit the IBS Discrete Mathematics Group for 1 year from February 1, 2024 during his sabbatical leave from KAIST. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Bergen in 2004 under the supervision of Prof. Helge Tverberg and was at the University of Bergen, New York University, City College of New York before coming to KAIST.

August 10, 2023July 6, 2024

The 2023 Mini-Workshop on Discrete Geometry was held on August 9 with three talks by Michael Dobbins, Andreas Holmsen, and Minki Kim

On August 9, 2023, the 2023 Mini-Workshop on Discrete Geometry was held at the IBS. This workshop consisted of three talks by Michael Dobbins from SUNY Binghamton, Andreas Holmsen from KAIST, and Minki Kim from GIST. Here is the list of talks.

Michael Dobbins (SUNY Binghamton): Colorful intersections, Tverberg partitions, and geometric transversals
Andreas Holmsen (KAIST): The topology of the complex of ordered partitions
Minki Kim^김민기 (GIST): Some variants of the colorful Helly theorems

May 17, 2022July 6, 2024

Andreas Holmsen gave a talk on a colorful generalization of the Goodman-Pollack-Wenger transversal theorem

On May 16, 2022, Andreas Holmsen from KAIST presented a theorem proving a colorful generalization of the Goodman-Pollack-Wenger theorem, answering a conjecture of Arocha, Bracho, and Montejano, at the Discrete Math Seminar. The title of his talk was “A colorful version of the Goodman-Pollack-Wenger transversal theorem“.

Andreas Holmsen, A colorful version of the Goodman-Pollack-Wenger transversal theorem

Hadwiger’s transversal theorem gives necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a line transversal to a family of pairwise disjoint convex sets in the plane. These conditions were subsequently generalized to hyperplane transversals in $\mathbb{R}^d$ by Goodman, Pollack, and Wenger. Here we establish a colorful extension of their theorem, which proves a conjecture of Arocha, Bracho, and Montejano. The proof uses topological methods, in particular the Borsuk-Ulam theorem. The same methods also allow us to generalize some colorful transversal theorems of Montejano and Karasev.

January 11, 2022July 6, 2024

Andreas Holmsen gave a talk about a counterexample to the Bárány-Kalai conjecture on line transversals of a finite family of convex sets at the Discrete Math Seminar

On January 11, 2022, Andreas Holmsen from KAIST gave a talk at the Discrete Math Seminar about the counterexample to the Bárány-Kalai conjecture on line transversals of a finite family of convex sets. The title of his talk was “Some recent results on geometric transversals“.

Andreas Holmsen, Some recent results on geometric transversals

A geometric transversal to a family of convex sets in $\mathbb R^d$ is an affine flat that intersects the members of the family. While there exists a far-reaching theory concerning 0-dimensional transversals (intersection patterns of convex sets), much less is known when it comes to higher-dimensional transversals. In this talk, I will present some new and old results and problems regarding geometric transversals, based on joint work with Otfried Cheong and Xavier Goaoc.

January 12, 2021July 6, 2024

Andreas Holmsen gave a talk on combinatorial geometry in convexity spaces at the Discrete Math Seminar

On January 12, 2021, Andreas Holmsen from KAIST gave a talk on the combinatorial geometry in convexity spaces. The title of his talk was “Discrete geometry in convexity spaces“.

This seminar talk was in honor of Helge Tverberg, who passed away in December 28, 2020 and was the Ph.D. advisor of Andreas Holmsen.

Andreas Holmsen, Discrete geometry in convexity spaces

The notion of convexity spaces provides a purely combinatorial framework for certain problems in discrete geometry. In the last ten years, we have seen some progress on several open problems in the area, and in this talk, I will focus on the recent results relating to Tverberg’s theorem and the Alon-Kleitman (p,q) theorem.

June 16, 2020July 6, 2024

Andreas Holmsen gave a talk on a recent work generalizing the fractional Helly theorem under very weak topological assumptions at the Discrete Math Seminar

On June 16, 2020, Andreas Holmsen from KAIST presented his recent work with Xavier Goaoc and Zuzana Patáková on generalizing the fractional Halley theorem under very weak topological assumptions. The title of his talk was “Fractional Helly and topological complexity“.

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