Topic:  Curvature and contact topology

Abstract:  Contact geometry is a beautiful subject that has important
interactions with topology in dimension three. In this talk I will give a
brief introduction to contact geometry and discuss its interactions with
Riemannian geometry. In particular I will discuss a contact geometry analog
of the famous sphere theorem and more generally indicate how the curvature
of a Riemannian metric can influence properties of a contact structure
adapted to it. This is joint work with Rafal Komendarczyk and Patrick
Massot