Structure from Motion (SfM) is a problem which asks: given photos of an object from different angles, can we reconstruct the object in 3D? This problem is important in computer vision, with applications including urban planning and autonomous navigation. A key part of SfM is bundle adjustment, where initial estimates of 3D points and camera locations are refined to match the images. This results in a high-dimensional nonlinear least-squares problem. In this talk, I will discuss how dimensionality reduction methods such as block coordinates and sketching can be used to improve solver scalability for bundle adjustment problems.

Abstract: In 2016 Ayyer, Prasad and Spallone proved that the restriction to 
S_{n-1} of any odd degree irreducible character of S_n has a unique irreducible 
constituent of odd degree.
This result was later generalized by Isaacs, Navarro Olsson and Tiep.
In this talk I will survey some recent developments on this topic.

Signed permutation modules of symmetric groups and Iwahori-hecke algebras
 

Poor economies not only produce less; they typically produce things that involve fewer inputs and fewer intermediate steps. Yet the supply chains of poor countries face more frequent disruptions - delivery failures, faulty parts, delays, power outages, theft, government failures - that systematically thwart the production process.

To understand how these disruptions affect economic development, we model an evolving input-output network in which disruptions spread contagiously among optimizing agents. The key finding is that a poverty trap can emerge: agents adapt to frequent disruptions by producing simpler, less valuable goods, yet disruptions persist. Growing out of poverty requires that agents invest in buffers to disruptions. These buffers rise and then fall as the economy produces more complex goods, a prediction consistent with global patterns of input inventories. Large jumps in economic complexity can backfire. This result suggests why "big push" policies can fail, and it underscores the importance of reliability and of gradual increases in technological complexity.