DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

2023

Aug 31st, 2023

Professor Aaron Naber, of the Department of Mathematics, was named a 2023 Simons Investigator in Mathematics. Naber, the second Northwestern professor ever to receive this honor, is a geometric analyst working on the regularity, singularity and topology of geometrically motivated equations. Naber has proved, together with collaborators, the rectifiable structure for singularities of geometric equations, including nonlinear harmonic maps, minimal hypersurfaces and spaces with lower Ricci bounds. This direction of analysis has led to the resolution of several open problems and conjectures, including the energy identity for Yang Mills and the L2 curvature conjecture. In another direction, Naber has settled, together with coworkers, a variety of open problem on spaces with lower Ricci bounds, including the codimension four conjecture and the Milnor conjecture.

MATH MAJOR WINS TRJITZINSKY MEMORIAL AWARD

Aug 9th, 2023

NU Math Major, Colin Brennan, has won the 2023 Waldemar J. Trjitzinsky Memorial Award of the AMS. This $3000 award was a bequest from the estate of Waldemar J., Barbara G., and Juliet Trjitzinsky, the income from which is used to assist students who have declared a major in mathematics at a college or university that is an institutional member of the American Mathematical Society. A private donor supplemented the fund in 2018. These funds help support students who lack adequate financial resources and who may be in danger of not completing the degree program in mathematics for financial reasons.

Colin Brennan’s response on winning the award:

“Growing up, math was always my favorite subject and greatest passion. There was something about the structure and the beauty of each concept that always made learning feel like I was unlocking a new part of my brain. Being from just south of Chicago and knowing I wanted to pursue math in college, Northwestern has always been ‘the school’ for me. Both the stunning campus here and flexibility in each degree made it the obvious choice. Once getting here, I decided to sign up for the MENU 291 sequence in my first quarter hoping for a challenging experience that would help me adapt to college-level math quickly. It definitely lived up to my expectations, especially considering that the first quarter was conducted remotely during the pandemic. Despite the difficulties I faced in the course and the moments of doubt when I questioned if math was truly the right path for me, the connections and friendships I formed with my classmates reminded me that I belonged. There's something truly remarkable about the sense of community that can be found at Northwestern, among professors and students alike.

As I got more experienced with upper-level classes under my belt and with some encouragement from my friends, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Abrams in the applied math department on his pain dynamics research. Having the chance to work on interesting projects with such a knowledgeable mentor genuinely solidified my interest in focusing on mathematical modeling in the future. Overall, if there's one main takeaway I have from the math department, it's that there is an abundance of support waiting for you coming from any direction. Whenever there's a moment of doubt, there is always a fellow student or a professor ready to believe in you and remind you of your purpose here.”

YUCHEN LIU AWARDED NSF CAREER GRANT

Aug 9th, 2023

Yuchen Liu has been awarded a prestigious CAREER grant from the NSF.  The 5-year award titled “K-stability and moduli spaces of higher dimensional varieties” will bring exciting research and training activities in algebraic geometry to our departments. 

NU FACULTY MEMBERS WIN FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE AWARDS

July 17, 2023

Our department was well-represented at the Frontiers of Science Awards by China’s International Congress for Basic Science. Papers by Aaron Brown, Xiumin Du, Yuchen Liu and Steve Zelditch won awards.  

NU MATH GRADUATE STUDENTS RECEIVE NSERC SCHOLARSHIPS

May 2, 2023

NU Mathematics graduate students, Alex Karatepyan and Curtis Grant, have received a Postgraduate Scholarship from the Natural Science and Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships – Doctoral (PGS D) program awards financial support to high-calibre scholars who are engaged in doctoral programs in the natural sciences and engineering.

PROF. AUFFINGER AND PROF. AVNI AWARDED 2023 SIMONS FELLOWSHIPS

PROF. XIUMIN DU RECEIVES CAREER AWARD FROM NSF

ARTHUR PANCOE, BENEFACTOR AND FRIEND OF NU MATHEMATICS PASSED AWAY JAN 16, 2023

Arthur Pancoe, benefactor and longtime friend of the mathematics department, died on Jan 16, 2023 at the age of 97.  Arthur Pancoe received a Masters degree in mathematics at Northwestern after returning from service in the Pacific in the second world war.  In 1995, Arthur and Gladys Pancoe endowed the Pancoe Chair of Mathematics.  In 1997 Arthur gave a colloquium talk in our department, titled “Some Reflections on Mathematics, Technical Analyses and the Efficient Market Theory”.   He was a philanthropist and generous donor to Northwestern.  In 2003, the Arthur and Gladys Pancoe NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion was opened at Northwestern and dedicated to his granddaughter Beth Elise Pancoe.

The first Pancoe chair was held by our former colleague, Professor Emeritus Donald Saari, who wrote the following:“I met Art and his family at the ceremony where I received the inaugural “Pancoe Chair of Mathematics.”  It was there that his and my family immediately bonded.  From our many interactions, I learned that he lived a full, meaningful life, that included his Masters degree in Math from Northwestern where he analyzed issues raised by Painleve about differential equations; his suing the federal government, and winning, over a defense policy concern. His work on the market was so successful that a trade journal asserted “take two Pancoe stocks in the evening and wake up rich in the morning.”  An active person, who in his 70s, was still participating in ski races at Vail.  Above all, a friendly person who definitely embraced Northwestern.  He enjoyed talking with students when he would give guest lectures in my Math of Finance course, and he would gab away with colleagues at parties at my home.  Even after I left NU,  every fall we would have long phone conversations discussing the performance of the current year’s “NU football team.”  A good man with a full, rich life who made strong contributions to Northwestern and elsewhere.  He will be missed!”

The Pancoe Chair is currently held by Prof. Zhihong Jeff Xia who wrote, “Art was a very dedicated professional and passionate person.  I have a lot of fond memories of the times my wife and I spent together with him and his wife Hap. We will miss him greatly.”

BRYNA KRA ELECTED AS A MEMBER OF THE CHILEAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Jan 18, 2023

NU Mathematics faculty member, Prof. Bryna Kra, has been elected a Corresponding Foreign Member of La Academia Chilena de Ciencias, the Chilean Academy of Sciences. The members of the Academy are of four categories: Number, National Correspondents, Foreign Correspondents, and Honoraries.

MMMM2023 MAY 20-21

Jan 10, 2023.  

Northwestern University will host the 2023 May Midwestern Microlocal Meeting on May 20-21, 2023.  The MMMM2023 organizers are Kiril Datchev (Purdue University), Antônio Sá Barreto (Purdue University), David Sher (DePaul University), and Jared Wunsch (Northwestern University).

The MMMM23 Conference is free and open to the mathematical public but participants are asked to register online.

PROF. YURI I. MANIN, 1937-2023

PROF. ZASLOW APPOINTED AS NEW NOYES CHAIR