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2022

NU MATH PROF. BRYNA KRA'S WORK FEATURED IN QUANTA MAGAZINE

Dec. 7, 2022

Prof. Bryna Kra's work on resolving an old conjecture of Erdős has been written up in a December 2022 article in Quanta Magazine. "Over the past few years, four mathematicians — Bryna Kra, Joel Moreira, Florian Richter and Donald Robertson — have developed Furstenberg’s techniques to find not just arbitrarily long progressions within any set containing a positive fraction of the integers, but infinite versions of structures called sumsets" (Leila Sloman). 

PROF. AUFFINGER ELECTED 2023 FELLOW OF AMS

Nov 9, 2022

NU Mathematics faculty member, Prof. Antonio Auffinger, has been elected a 2023 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.  Auffinger was cited for his “contributions to probability theory, mathematical physics, and, in particular, to the study of spin glasses and percolation theory”. The AMS, founded in 1888 to further the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, advocacy and other programs.

 

NU MATH FACULTY RECEIVES ASG NOMINATIONS

Nov 1, 2022

The Associated Student Government (ASG) collects nominations for the annual Faculty & Administrator Honor Roll from NU UG students. In the past year, over 100 students provided thoughtful and complex portraits of 2021-2022 faculty and staff who they believe made a powerful and exceptional impact on their Northwestern experience. NU Mathematics faculty members Prof. Aaron Peterson, Prof. John Alongi, Prof. Ursula Porod, Prof. Michael Maltenfort, and Prof. Santiago Canez received award nominations.

 

NU MATH DYNAMICS GROUP FEATURED IN WEINBERG COLLEGE NEWS

Oct 24, 2022

Northwestern University's Mathematics world-leading Dynamics Group is featured in this recent article of the Weinberg College News, highlighting the leadership of our Dynamics Group faculty members as well as the new $2.5 million Research Training Grant received from the National Science Foundation.  This will expand research, enliven student interest, and elevate Northwestern University’s standing in the fast-charging field of dynamics.

PROF. BRYNA KRA NAMED 2023 FELLOW OF AWM

Oct 24, 2022
NU Math faculty member, Prof. Bryna Kra, has been named a 2023 Fellow of the Association for Women in Mathematics. Kra was named a 2023 AWM Fellow "for her vision and work creating programs to support women in mathematics, especially GROW (Graduate Research Opportunities for Women) and AWM student chapters; for her leadership in the mathematics community, including serving on the AWM Executive Committee and serving as president of AMS; and for making advocacy for women a priority throughout her career."

 

NU Math Graduate Student Receives 2022 Eclipse Award

Sept 29, 2022

NU Mathematics PhD student Deven Manam was awarded an Eclipse Scholarship Award for Fall 2022 from Eclipse Laboratories, Inc.  The Eclipse Scholarship Award is intended to support students with strong backgrounds in mathematics, linguistics, and computer science.

2022 GLOBAL HARMONIC ANALYSIS

Aug 11, 2022
The Global Harmonic Analysis conference-- to be held via zoom Sept 8-11, 2022-- is dedicated to celebrating Steve Zelditch, Wayne and Elizabeth Jones Professor of Mathematics at Northwestern. Talks will focus on discussing recent advances in many areas of mathematics marked by Zelditch's prominent contributions. Organizers of the GHA 2022 conference are Nalini Anantharaman (University of Strasbourg), Colin Guillarmou (University of Paris-Saclay), Hamid Hezari (UC Irvine), Semyon Klevtsov (MIT), Fabricio Macia (UPM), and Alexander Strohmaier (University at Leeds).  Click here to register.

 

MPC 2022: OCT 20-22

Aug 11, 2022

Northwestern University's Mathematics Department will host the 43rd Midwest Probability Colloquium Oct 20-22. During the last decade, probability theory has seen a surge of tools and methods used in other branches of pure and applied mathematics. The Midwest Probability Colloquium has been an annual event for several decades, bringing together a wide-breadth of knowledge in the field of probability.  Sponsors of the 43rd Midwest Probability Colloquium are the National Science Foundation and Northwestern University.

Click here to register.


2022 NEMMERS PRIZE IN MATHEMATICS ANNOUNCED

July 13, 2022

Northwestern University has announced the 2022 Nemmers Prize winners.  The winner in mathematics is Bhargav Bhattof the University of Michigan and Princeton/IAS.  He received the Nemmers Prize in Mathematics for his "revolutionary contributions to algebraic geometry in mixed characteristic through a new synthesis of ideas in topology, algebra and arithmetic." Nemmers recipients spend some time in residenceat Northwestern University interacting with students and faculty.  Seminars and conferences are often held in conjunction with their visits.  Click here for more information regarding the Nemmers Prizes.

 

PROF. BRYNA KRA RECEIVES 2022 VER STEEG AWARD

July 5, 2022

Bryna Kra, Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Mathematics, has received the 17th annual Dorothy Ann and Clarence L. Ver Steeg Distinguished Research Fellowship Award. The Ver Steeg Fellowship supports scholarship and research by tenured Northwestern faculty whose work enhances the national and international reputation of the University. Prof. Kra is a leading expert in ergodic theory and dynamical systems, working at the intersection of dynamics, combinatorics and number theory. Through her research, teaching and service, Kra has been a leader in her field and a forceful advocate for diversity in STEM. 

 

2021-2022 NU MATH DEPT NEWSLETTER

June 22, 2022

The 2021-2022 academic year has seen a wide variety of conferences, events, innovative programs launched, and awards won by our faculty members and students in the Mathematics Department. Catch up on our recent academic year's conference highlights, student awards, events, faculty news, and innovative new programs in our 2021-2022 Math Dept Newsletter! Thank you, to all of our donors, for your continued support.

 

2022 MATH GRADUATION RECEPTION AND WEINBERG DEPARTMENTAL HONORS

June 13, 2022

The NU Mathematics Department hosted its Graduation Reception for all graduating 2022 Math Majors and Minors on June 13, on the lawn behind Lunt Hall. Congratulations to all 2022 graduates on your academic success and future endeavors!

In recognition of their outstanding work as Math Majors, the Weinberg College Committee on Undergraduate Academic Excellence has awarded departmental honors in mathematics for 2021-2022 to Gunnar Anderson, Alain Kangabire, and Benjamin Major.

2022 POSTDOC AND GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS ANNOUNCED

May 31, 2022

The 2022 Postdoc Teaching Awards and Graduate Student Awards were presented at a reception in Lunt Hall-- attended by staff, NU faculty members, and students.  Shuyi Weng, John Enns, and Yotam Hendel won the 2022 awards for Excellence in Teaching by a Postdoctoral or Visiting Faculty Member.  The 2022 Best Thesis Award was given to Pax Kivimae and Mengxuan Yang.  The 2022 Gelfand Prize, for Service to the Graduate Committee, was presented to Catherine Ray. Nick Lohr and Benjamin Zhou received the 2022 Awards for Excellence as a Graduate Teaching Assistant.

 

NU MATH DEPT AWARDED NSF RESEARCH TRAINING GRANT (RTG)

May 25, 2022

NSF has awarded a Research Training Grant (RTG) in Dynamics to NU Mathematics.  The Principal Investigator is Bryna Kra, with co-PI's Nir Avni, Aaron Brown, Ilya Khayutin and Jared Wunsch.  This major grant award will support graduate students, postdocs and many research training activities in the math department. The proposal aims to increase the strength of research in the field of dynamics, both at Northwestern and across the US, and to address the severely constricted pipeline of talented students entering dynamics. The larger goal is to increase the number of US citizens well-prepared to carry out research in the mathematical sciences, with a focus on increasing the numbers from historically underrepresented groups.

 

NU FACULTY MEMBERS AWARDED GRANT FROM MAA TENSOR SUMMA PROGRAM

May 20, 2022

NU faculty members Christian Geske, Aaron Greicius, Maria Nastasescu, and Shuyi Weng were awarded a grant from the MAA Tensor SUMMA program to continue the Northwestern Emerging Scholars Program.

NESP aims to bring a wider swath of students into the math major by revealing some of the beauty of mathematics to students in courses that focus on applications or mathematics as a prerequisite for study in other disciplines.

2022 NU MATHEMATICS UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS ANNOUNCED

May 18, 2022

The 2022 NU Math UG Student Awardswere presented on Wednesday, May 18th with featured speaker, Prof. Ami Radunskaya of Pomona College. The UG Awards and Lecture Presentation was followed by the UG Awards Dinner in Evanston, attended by NU Math faculty members, UG students, graduate students, and staff. These annual awards are given to celebrate both students' academic achievements as well as their contributions to the NU Mathematics community.

Robert R. Welland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mathematics                                                             

Senior Career Award in Mathematics                                                                                                                                   

Junior Career Award in Mathematics                                                                                                                                   

Junior Career Award, Honorable Mention                                                                                                                           

Award for Excellence in Mathematics by a First-Year Student                                                                           

Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Mathematical Life                                              

 Award for High Achievement on the William Lowell Putnam Examination                                                      

Award for Excellence as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant                                                                      

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Service Award                                                                                                  

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY HOSTS 24TH ANNUAL CHICAGO SYMPOSIUM

April 22, 2022

On Thursday, May 5, Northwestern University will host the 24th annual Chicago Symposium Series on Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science: Research and Practice. The Chicago Symposium is a forum for faculty and graduate students in education, mathematics, and science devoted to improving teaching and learning of mathematics and science. Our inter-disciplinary forums bring together people from universities, 4-year colleges and 2-year colleges. During the past 23 years, more than 1000 faculty and graduate students representing over 150 institutions have participated in the symposia.

NU MATH UNDERGRADUATE COLLOQUIUM ON APRIL 21

April 8, 2022

Robin Neumayer, Gregg Zeitlin Early Career Professor for the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, will be the featured speaker at the NU Mathematics Undergraduate Colloquium on Thursday, April 21 from 6-7pm in Lunt Hall Rm 105. Abstract details of Prof. Neumayer's Talk are listed below.

Shape Optimization: From Soap Films to Acoustics                                                                                                                                     The task of optimizing an object's shape to make it the most efficient, least costly, or most streamlined arises in nature as well as across engineering and design fields. For instance, due to surface tension, soap bubbles take the shape with the least surface area among all possible shapes enclosing a fixed amount of air — a sphere! We will introduce the mathematical study of so-called “shape optimization problems” and survey some classical and contemporary results in the field.

 

AARON GREICIUS AND RUOYU WANG AWARDED 2022 WEINBERG TEACHING AWARDS

April 8, 2022

 

NU Mathematics faculty member and Director of Calculus, Aaron Greicius, has been awarded the 2022 Arts and Sciences Alumni Teaching Award. Ruoyu Wang has been awarded the 2022 Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Award. 

 

Weinberg College, recognizing the accomplishments of its faculty and graduate student teachers, provides a variety of awards for excellence in teaching and encourages faculty members to share their honors, fellowships, and accomplishments. Each year the College selects three members of the tenure-line faculty to receive Weinberg College Distinguished Teaching Awards and three teaching assistants to receive Weinberg College Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Awards, one per Division. 

 

2022 PINSKY DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERIES

March 4, 2022

In 2008,  Professor Emeritus Mark Pinsky and Joanna Pinsky decided to endow The Pinsky Distinguished Lecture Series to enhance the department’s research program tradition.  The 2022 Pinsky Lectures will be hosted by Northwestern University April 6-8.  

This year's featured speaker will be Burt Totaro of UCLA.

Lecture 1: Varieties of General Type with Small Volume
Wed April 6, 4pm in Lunt Hall Rm 105
Lecture 2: The Hilbert Scheme of Points on Affine Space
Thurs April 7th, 4pm in Lunt Hall Rm 105
Lecture 3: The Failure of Vanishing TheoremsFri April 8th, 4pm in Lunt Hall Rm 105

 

YUCHEN LIU WINS 2022 SLOAN FELLOWSHIP

Feb 16, 2022

NU Mathematics member, Yuchen Liu, has won a 2022 Sloan Fellowship. The Sloan Research Fellowship Program recognizes and rewards outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study. These Fellowships are awarded yearly to early career researchers in recognition of distinguished performance.

Professor Liu’s research primarily focuses on algebraic geometry and its interactions with differential geometry and commutative algebra. His goal is to investigate canonical metrics and moduli spaces of higher dimensional varieties from the viewpoint of algebraic stability.

 

MARCH 2022: HOMOTOPICAL METHODS IN GEOMETRY AND PHYSICS CONFERENCE

Feb 11, 2022

In honor of NU Mathematics faculty member Ezra Getzler’s sixtieth birthday, the conference Homotopical Methods in Geometry and Physics will take place March 21–25 at Northwestern University. It will be preceded by a mini-school on Open-Closed Field Theories that will take place March 19–20. 

Click here for registration information, speaker list and additional conference details.

 

2022 ALEXANDRA BELLOW LECTURE SERIES ANNOUNCED

Feb 4, 2022

Northwestern University's Mathematics Department will host the 2022 Bellow Lecture Series March 2-4, 2022, with featured speaker, Prof. Ian Agol of UC Berkeley.

In 2012, Alexandra Bellow decided to make a gift to Northwestern University, specifically to the Math Department. This gift was used to endow the annual lecture series which became known as the Alexandra Bellow Distinguished Lecture Series in Mathematics, or simply the Bellow Lecture Series.  Each year a world-class mathematician is invited to come to Northwestern and lecture. 

BRYNA KRA WINS PROVOST'S AWARD FOR EXEMPLARY FACULTY SERVICE

Feb 2, 2022

Bryna Kra, Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Mathematics at Northwestern University, has been awarded the Provost's Award for Exemplary Faculty Service.  She is being recognized for her outstanding support and mentorship of young mathematicians as well as her service to both her department and the University. Contributions include expanding the department’s postdoctoral programs, establishing mentoring groups within the department and across the University, and serving on a diverse list of University committees.

NU MATH GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDED NSF POSTDOC FELLOWSHIP

January 27, 2022

Pax Kivimae, graduate student at Northwestern University's Mathematics Department, has been awarded a highly competitive NSF postdoctoral fellowship to work at New York University.  Prof. Antonio Auffinger is Pax Kivimae's advisor. The purpose of the Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships is to support future leaders in mathematics and statistics by facilitating their participation in postdoctoral research environments that will have maximal impact on their future scientific development.