Topology Seminar: The Calculus of Functors and DeRham cohomology

The calculus of functors provides a framework for analyzing functors of spaces, and more generally, model categories, in terms of polynomial-like approximations to the functors. In this talk, I will give an introduction to the calculus of functors and discuss recent work with Kristine Bauer and Randy McCarthy aimed at using calculus to better understand DeRham cohomology in new contexts.