About OTTER

OTTER — Operator Theory Talks for Early Researchers — connects early-career researchers in operator theory and complex analysis: graduate students, postdocs, and visiting faculty. Function-theoretic operator theory is the main focus, though the scope is broad.

Continuity

OTTER was founded in 2020 by Meredith Sargent, Douglas Pfeffer, Meric Augat, and Christopher Felder, and relaunched by a new organizing team in 2026 — same name, same mission, same structure. The full story, from a cancelled conference to a hundred-member mailing list in its first weeks, is on the History page.

The team

• Nic Berkopec (Washington University in St. Louis) — primary organizer
• Enrique Díaz-Ocampo (UAEM) — co-organizer; Latin America and Spanish-language outreach
• Vangmay Jayant (University of Florida) — co-organizer
• George Roman (University of Florida) — co-organizer
• John E. McCarthy (Washington University in St. Louis) — faculty advisor

An advisory board of senior researchers in the field is being recruited for fall 2026.

How it runs

OTTER runs on free-tier services, in-kind departmental support, and a few hours a week from its organizers — deliberately, so that it survives leadership handoffs. A new first- or second-year graduate student joins the organizing team each year. If you’d like to help, see get involved.