We study the fundamental group of an open n-manifold of nonnegative Ricci curvature with some additional condition on the Riemannian universal cover. We show that if the universal cover satisfies certain geometric stability condition at infinity, the \pi_1(M) is finitely generated and contains an abelian subgroup of finite index. This can be applied to the case that the universal cover has a unique tangent cone at infinity as a metric cone or the case that the universal cover has Euclidean volume growth of constant 1-\epsilon(n).

Isoparametric hypersurfaces in the sphere are those whose
principal curvatures are everywhere constant with fixed multiplicities. In
some sense, such hypersurfaces represent the simplest type of manifolds we
can get a handle on. They have rather complicated topology and most of them
are inhomogeneous, and thus they serve as a good testing ground for
constructing examples and counterexamples. The classification of such
hypersurfaces was initiated by E. Cartan around 1938, and the completion of
the last case with four principal curvatures will appear soon in
publication. Since the classification is a long story covering a wide
spectrum of mathematics, I will highlight in this talk the decisive moments
and the key ideas engaged in the intriguing pursuit.

Since the mid 1990’s, the leading candidate for a unified theory of all fundamental physical interactions has been M Theory.

A full formulation of M Theory is still not available, and it is only understood through its limits in certain regimes, which are either one of five 10-dimensional string theories, or 11-dimensional supergravity. The equations for these theories are mathematically interesting in themselves, as they reflect, either directly or indirectly, the presence of supersymmetry. We discuss recent progresses and open problems about two of these theories, namely supersymmetric compactifications of the heterotic string and of 11-dimensional supergravity. This is based on joint work of the speaker with Sebastien Picard and Xiangwen Zhang, and with Teng Fei and Bin Guo.