James Leslie
About Me
Since mid 2022, I have been employed by Waymont Consulting as a Software Consultant, developing software using C++ and React. Outside of work, I develop most of my projects using Haskell.
In 2018, I graduated with a Masters in Mathematics from The University of Edinburgh (2018), with my thesis introducing toposes and their logic. From 2019-2021, I was a PhD student at The University of Western Ontario, researching the syntax and semantics of homotopy and cubical Type Theories. Academically, my interests are in the foundations of mathematics through logic, set and topos theory, and (homotopy) type theory. I am in the process of building an Agda library for homotopy type theory, mainly based off of work from The HoTT Book. Outside of mathematics, I enjoy programming in Haskell and learning about its interactions with category theory. I am a Linux and Emacs user and enjoy system crafting as a hobby. My dotfiles repository for my NixOS system can be found here. I use my own custom Emacs framework which is highly tailored to my uses. While I don’t think anyone else will gain anything by using it, it might give some ideas about how to make your own Emacs “distribution”. It can be found here. Outside of Mathematics and coding, I enjoy running, cycling, swimming, and more recently, I have also taken up bouldering as a hobby.
Talks
I have given talks throughout my time as a student. This is a list of them.
Date | Title | Resources |
---|---|---|
March 2021 | The Canonical Model Structure on Cat/Gpd | Notes |
June 2020 | Homotopy Theory in Contextual Categories | |
June 2020 | Modelling Dependent Type Theories | |
April 2020 | The HoTT Book - 8.2 and 8.3 | Notes |
December 2019 | A Survey of Infinity Toposes | Notes |
November 2019 | Toposes and their logic | |
April 2018 | Toposes (Masters thesis talk) | Slides |
April 2017 | Mathematics and Logic: A theory of Sets (Bachelors project talk) | Slides |
Conferences
This is a list of pre-pandemic conferences I attended, in person.
Date | Conference | Location |
---|---|---|
October 2019 | Midwest Homotopy Type Theory Seminar (dead link) | Ann Arbor |
July 2019 | Category Theory 2019 | Edinburgh |
June 2019 | Higher Topos Theory and Univalent Foundations | Leeds |
September 2017 | British Logic Colloquium 2017 | Brighton |
July 2015 | Hilbert Bernays Summer School on Logic and Computation | Goettingen |
Courses
Courses I have taken in my PhD program at Western.
Date | Courses |
---|---|
Winter term 2021 | Homotopical Algebra Reading Seminar |
Winter term 2020 | Algebraic Topology Field Theory (audited) |
Fall term 2019 | Higher Category Theory Complex Analysis (audited) |
Tutoring and Teaching Assistant work
I have been a teaching assistant at both Edinburgh University and Western University, for a plethora of mathematics and engineering courses.
Date | Coures |
---|---|
Winter term 2021 | Math 1600B Math 2156 |
Fall term 2020 | Calculus 1500 Math 1600A |
Winter term 2020 | 1120B |
Fall term 2019 | Calculus 1000A |
Semester 2 2019 | Calculus and its Applications Mathematics for Engineering 1B Honours Algebra Proofs and Problem Solving |
Semester 1 2018 | Introduction to Linear Algebra Mathematics for Engineering 1A Mathematics for Natural Sciences Commutative Algebra |
Other
During my time at Western, I participated in the Directed Reading Program as a mentor.
Date | |
---|---|
2020 Semester 1 | I was a mentor for the directed reading program for a project on bicategories and mates. |
2019 Semester 1 | I was a mentor for the directed reading program covering category theory. |