Mathematics People

Mathematics People Montreal. I switched to math during my PhD at Princeton Arguin Awarded Aisenstadt because it was the beginning of a very prolific period for Prize probability theory. No regrets there as it is a very excit- ing field now. I left my position in Montreal recently to Louis-Pierre Arguin of the City accept a position at CUNY since my wife is a New Yorker. University of New York (Baruch I like to run. This is the best way to reboot the brain after College and Graduate Center) has a day of math.” been awarded the 2015 André- The Aisenstadt Prize recognizes outstanding research Aisenstadt Prize in Mathemat- achievement by a young Canadian mathematician in pure ics by the Centre de Recherches or applied mathematics. Mathématiques (CRM). The prize citation reads in part: “One of his —From a CRM announcement most spectacular breakthroughs came in a series of joint papers Louis-Pierre Arguin with Anton Bovier and Nicola Voisin Awarded Kistler on the extreme values of branching Brownian motion. This work has received con- Hopf Prize siderable international recognition and was the subject Claire Voisin of the Institut of a S minaire Bourbaki in March 2013. The impact of é de Mathématiques de Jussieu, the methods developed by Arguin and his collaborators Centre National de la Recher- goes beyond probability theory. In particular, Arguin, Be- che Scientifique (CNRS) has been lius, and Harper have applied this approach to probe the awarded the Heinz Hopf Prize by conjecture of Fyodorov, Hiary, and Keating stating that ETH Zürich “for her exceptional the maxima of the Riemann zeta function on a bounded Claire Voisin services to mathematics” as “one interval of the critical line have statistics similar to branch- of the world’s leading research- ing Brownian motion. In an earlier work with Aizenman, ers in the field of complex algebraic geometry”. One of Arguin developed a new approach to a long-standing open Voisin's most significant findings has been the solution problem in statistical mechanics now referred to as the to a fifty-year-old conjecture by Japanese mathematician Parisi ultrametricity conjecture. The conjecture is about Kunihiko Kodaira, for which she won the Clay Research a large class of interacting particle systems, called spin Award in 2008. This conjecture relates to so-called Kähler glasses. The ideas of Aizenman and Arguin were central manifolds, which also play a role in physical string theory. to the construction of a rigorous theory of spin glasses, Kodaira conjectured that it would be possible not only notably in the work of Panchenko, who proved the ultra- to transform two-dimensional Kähler manifolds into an metricity conjecture in the most general case in 2012.” algebraic variety but also to do so in higher dimensions. Arguin received his PhD in mathematics at Princeton Voisin solved the problem by presenting counterexamples University in 2007 under the supervision of Michael Aizen- to the Kodaira conjecture that are not transformations of man. His research interests lie in probability theory and this kind. The prize carries a cash award of 30,000 Swiss its applications to mathematical physics and other fields. francs (approximately US$29,500). Arguin told the Notices: “I grew up in Quebec City and On the personal side, Voisin told the Notices, “I grew finished with a masters in physics at the University of up in a large family, with three brothers and eight sisters, 190 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUmE 63, NUmBER 2 Mathematics People and I have five children myself, so I like staying alone and Technology in the mathematical sciences. Sandeep works working alone. I am much indebted to the CNRS for letting in partial differential equations, variational methods, and me work at home, which has made possible and even easy nonlinear functional analysis. Munshi’s work involves taking care of the children, while never stopping doing number theory. math, sharing all of this with my husband. I am happy Munshi told the Notices: “I grew up in a small town near that life gave me not only professional achievements but Calcutta (now Kolkata). During my school days my inter- also a lot of love that I did not really expect from my own est shifted from theoretical astrophysics to mathematics, childhood.” especially number theory. After school, I was told that the best way to learn mathematics in India would be to join the —From an ETH Zürich announcement Indian Statistical Institute at Calcutta as an undergraduate student in statistics. Indeed, it was one of the very few options available to students in mathematics at that time. Martirosyan Awarded Emil As a senior undergraduate, when the curriculum got more focused on practical statistics, I chose to supplement my Artin Junior Prize study with periodic visits to the Tata Institute of Funda- mental Research in Bombay (now Mumbai). During my Lilit Martirosyan of the University of California San first visit to the Tata Institute I came up with a new proof Diego has been awarded the 2016 Emil Artin Junior Prize of Hilbert’s Nullstellensatz. It turned out to play a crucial in Mathematics for her paper “The representation theory role in my career. I passed the undergraduate program of the exceptional Lie superalgebras F(4) and G(3)”, Jour- with a gold medal. In 2001, I joined the graduate school nal of Algebra 419 (2014), 167–222. Established in 2001, of Princeton University as a centennial fellow. My thesis the Emil Artin Junior Prize in Mathematics carries a cash advisor was Professor Andrew Wiles. During 2006–2009 I award of US$1,000 and is presented usually every year to was a Hill Assistant Professor at Rutgers University, and a student or former student of an Armenian educational during 2009–2010 I was a member at the Institute for Ad- institution under the age of thirty-five for outstanding vanced Study, Princeton. I returned to India in 2010 and contributions to algebra, geometry, topology, and number joined the Tata Institute as reader, and I was promoted to theory—the fields in which Emil Artin made major contri- associate professor in 2013. In August 2015 I took leave butions. The prize committee consisted of A. Basmajian, from the Tata Institute to join my alma mater, Indian Sta- Y. Movsisyan, and V. Pambuccian. tistical Institute, as a full professor. Presently I am also a SwarnaJayanti Fellow of the Department of Science and —Victor Pambuccian, New College, Technology, Government of India. I am also the recipient Arizona State University of the B M Birla Science Prize for the year 2013.” The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is awarded by the Council of Scientific Research and Industrial Develop- Ullrich Receives 2015 IBC ment to recognize outstanding Indian work in science and technology. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar was the founding Young Researcher Award director of the Council. It is the highest award for science Mario Ullrich of the Institute of Analysis, Johannes in India. The prize carries a cash award of 500,000 rupees Kepler University, has been chosen as the recipient of the (approximately US$7,500). Joseph F. Traub Information-Based Complexity Young Re- searcher Award for 2015 “for his outstanding work in the —Council of Scientific Research and Industrial field of information-based complexity”. The award consists Development, India of US$1,000 and a plaque. The name of the award has been changed to honor Joseph F. Traub, the founder of this prize. Infosys Prize —Henryk Wozniakowski, Columbia University Awarded Mahan Mj of the Tata Institute Sandeep and of Fundamental Research has been awarded the 2015 Infosys Munshi Receive Prize in mathematical sciences by the Infosys Science Foundation. Bhatnagar Prize He was honored “for his out- K. Sandeep of the TIRF Centre for standing contributions to geo- Applicable Mathematics and Rita- Mahan Mj metric group theory, low-dimen- brata Munshi of the Tata Institute sional topology, and complex of Fundamental Research have been geometry”, in particular for work that “established a awarded the 2015 Shanti Swarup central conjecture in the Thurston program to study hy- Ritabrata Munshi Bhatnagar Prize for Science and perbolic 3-manifolds and introduced important new tools FEBRUaRY 2016 NOTICES OF THE AMS 191 Mathematics People to study fundamental groups of complex manifolds”. The research in neuroscience in the United States, Japan, and prizewinners are selected based on significant progress France. She is also the Arts Chair of the Harvard Crimson showcased in their chosen spheres, as well as for the im- and was the president of the Radcliffe Union of Students. pact their research will have on the specific field. Mahan She has qualified several times for US National and Junior Mj told the Notices that, in addition to his mathematical Olympic fencing championships. She plans to pursue a life, he is “a monk with no particular (organized) religious DPhil in neuroscience at Oxford. affiliation”. Megan G. Musilli, El Dorado Hills, California, is a senior at the US Naval Academy, where she majors in math- —From an Infosys Science Foundation announcement ematics and is training to become a physician in the Navy. Her research spans the study of traumatic brain injury and MRI-scanning techniques at Walter Reed National Military 2015 Prix la Recherche Medical Center, satellite tracking at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the concept of genetic algorithms Bertrand Deroin, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Chris- and state machines in data compression at the Naval Acad- tophe Dupont, Université de Rennes, and Victor Klept- emy. She has served as squad leader, platoon commander, syn, Université de Rennes, have been awarded the 2015 and regimental commander at the Naval Academy. She Prix la Recherche for their use of innovative methods to earned a scholarship to study abroad at Koç University in study differential equations.

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