+ BERKELEY Newsletter of the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley Fall 2012

Message from the chairs hardly changed in the last hundred years, but this is not true at Berkeley! We are in- A TIME OF RENEWAL augurating a major new addition to our lower-division courses: Math 10, Methods Dear Friends, of Mathematics. This year-long sequence It is an exciting time for the Department offers a fresh perspective on twenty-first of Mathematics, and we have a lot of century mathematics to students who news to share with you. Restarting the intend to major in the life sciences by regular publication of this newsletter combining elements of calculus, sta- (the previous one was published over Chair Arthur Ogus Co-Chair Denis Auroux tistics and discrete mathematics. The course was first taught as a pilot project three years ago) is just one of the many Changes to the department’s leadership by Professor Lior Pachter during the last new strategic initiatives taking place in also include two new vice chairs: Profes- academic year; you will find his report the department. sor Bernd Sturmfels is now Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs, and Professor Martin on page 7. This initiative comes on New People Olsson is our new Vice Chair for Gradu- the heels of the recent updating of our ate Affairs. Professor Ken Ribet contin- upper division offerings, which saw the The department is first and foremost a creation of new courses in mathematical community of people, and this communi- ues as Vice Chair for Development, and Professors Michael Hutchings and James biology, wavelets and signal processing, ty is evolving at a rapid pace. This fall we and cryptography. are excited to welcome three new faculty Sethian continue to share the duties of Vice Chair for Undergraduate Affairs. members whose arrival will bolster our Thanks research leadership in several areas of Many of the seeds for these new ini- mathematics: Associate Professor An- Renovated Facilities tiatives were planted by the dedicated tonio Montalbán (mathematical logic), Perhaps the most visible sign of change stewardship of the previous chairs, Professor David Nadler (geometry and in the department is the recently com- Professors Hugh Woodin and Ted Slaman. representation theory), and Assistant pleted renovation of our common room, Let us take this opportunity to thank Professor Xinyi Yuan (number theory). 1015 Evans. The common room serves You will find their profiles on page 2. as the main space for social interactions continued on page 2 The renewal of our faculty will contin- among the entire Berkeley math commu- ue this year, with up to three faculty nity, both during scheduled events such Contents positions to be filled. We are also looking as the departmental teas and in the form A TIME OF RENEWAL 1 forward to the new opportunities offered of spontaneous, chance encounters. See NEW FACULTY 2 by the arrival on campus of the Simons the article and photos of the new com- Institute for the Theory of Computing, mon room on page 12, and please stop FAREWELLS AND WELCOMES 3 by next time you happen to be in Evans which will invigorate research at the IN MEMORIAM 4 interface of mathematics and computer Hall! The next key project in the renewal science. of our physical spaces concerns the ninth AWARDS AND HONORS 5 floor of Evans Hall. We are planning to GRADUATE PROGRAM NEWS 6 Meanwhile we were sad to bid farewell renovate the ninth floor courtyard in the to Barbara Peavy, who was the Director of near future and, if funds can be secured A NEW MATH COURSE 7 Student Services for many years until her for that purpose, turn the adjacent mail THE BERKELEY MATH CIRCLE 8 retirement this June. Although we will room into a graduate student lounge. miss her enormously, we are very pleased ALSO IN THE NEWS 9 to have been able to recruit Rebecca Paul- New courses ALUMNI BROADEN PARTICIPATION 10 ing, from the Berkeley/UCSF Bioengineer- It is often said that the basic curricu- FACILITIES UPDATE 12 ing program. lum in undergraduate mathematics has

MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY 1 A time of renewal Faculty Profiles continued from page 1 them for their service to the department. NEW FACULTY We would also like to thank all of the de- partment staff led by Mary Pepple for the Antonio Montalbán innumerable contributions they make to Associate Professor Antonio Montalbán comes to the life of our department day after day. Berkeley from the University of Chicago, where he Finally, we would like to thank all those joined the faculty in 2007. Montalbán’s research of you who have supported the Berkeley area is mathematical logic, and more specifical- Math Department over the past years, ly computability theory. His work studies the and those who may be thinking of doing complexity of mathematical objects, construc- so in the future (see page 11). In these tions, statements and proofs. After undergraduate times when the State of California is studies in his native Uruguay, Montalbán obtained cutting back on its support to our Uni- his PhD at Cornell University in 2005 as a student versity, and when our limited resources of Richard Shore; his dissertation was awarded the are placing us at risk of falling behind 2005 Sacks Prize. His more recent work earned our better-funded private peers, contri- him an AMS Centennial Fellowship in 2009 and a butions by alumni and other friends are Packard Fellowship in 2010. essential as we work hard to maintain our standing as the top mathematics department in a public institution worldwide. David Nadler Professor David Nadler joins our depart- Please Stay In Touch ment from Northwestern University, where We hope you will keep in contact with us. he began his faculty career in 2005. Nadler’s Please visit our new website (see page research is very broad, ranging from topolo- 9). We hope you will attend some of gy to representation theory and mathemat- the events listed there. We also hope you ical physics. His work illuminates central will send us your e-mail address so we questions of modern mathematics such as can stay in touch with you and send you the geometric Langlands program and the future issues of this annual newsletter. homological mirror symmetry conjecture. Please send your contact information to: Nadler obtained his PhD from Princeton [email protected]. We look University in 2001 as a student of Robert forward to hearing from you. McPherson; he was the recipient of a Sloan Arthur Ogus, Chair Fellowship in 2007. Denis Auroux, Co-Chair for Strategic Planning ______Professor Ogus (PhD Harvard 1972) has been a Xinyi Yuan member of the department faculty since 1974. His Assistant Professor Xinyi Yuan comes to our research area is . Professor Au- department from . Yuan roux (PhD Ecole Polytechnique 1999) joined the is an expert in number theory, and more spe- department in 2009. His research is in symplectic cifically Arakelov geometry, Shimura varieties geometry. They became respectively Department Chair and Co-Chair for Strategic Planning in Fall and automorphic forms. His work studies 2011. arithmetic intersection theory, algebraic dynamics, and special values of L-functions. Yuan obtained his PhD from in 2008 under the supervision of Shou-Wu Zhang. He was awarded a presti- gious three-year Clay Research Fellowship in 2008.

2 MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY Faculty and staff News FAREWELLS AND WELCOMES Ladder Faculty Even as we welcome three new members of the ladder faculty, Associate Professor Antonio Montalbán, Professor David Prof. Marina Ratner Prof. John Neu Prof. Don Sarason Barbara Peavy Nadler, and Assistant Professor Xinyi Yuan (see their profiles on page 2), New Visitors and Postdocs Steven Sam (Commutative Algebra), we must also bid farewell to several of PhD MIT 2012, Miller Research Fellow. our esteemed colleagues: The department welcomed a number of new postdoctoral fellows this fall: Ted Stadnik (Geometric Representation Professor Marina Ratner retired in July Florian Block (Combinatorics), PhD Theory), PhD Northwestern 2012, RTG 2011; Professor Don Sarason retired in Postdoctoral Fellow. January 2012; and Professor John Neu University of Michigan 2011, Humboldt retired in July 2012. Professor in Resi- Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. We are also hosting a number of distin- dence Emeritus Grigory Barenblatt will Atoshi Chowdhury (Algebraic Geome- guished Visiting Scholars, including be leaving the department in November try), PhD Stanford 2012, RTG Postdoctor- Federico Ardila, , Mei- 2012. These colleagues have made many al Fellow. Chu Chang, Alberto Ibort, Franz Luef, remarkable contributions to the field of Mariya Soskova and Masaru Tanaka. Mathematics and to the Department, and Damir Dzhafarov (Mathematical Logic), Finally, Dylan Thurston is this year’s we wish them well. PhD University of Chicago 2011, NSF Chancellor’s Visiting Professor. Postdoctoral Fellow. We are very saddened by the deaths of our former colleagues Professors Emeriti James Freitag (), PhD Uni- William B. Arveson, William G. Bade, versity of Illinois at Chicago 2012, NSF and Shoshichi Kobayashi (see In Me- Postdoctoral Fellow. moriam, page 4). The mathematical Noah Giansiracusa (Algebraic Geom- community also mourns the loss of etry), PhD 2011, NSF ­, who was our col- Postdoctoral Fellow. league from 1991 to 1996. Matthew Gill (Differential Geometry), Staff PhD UC San Diego 2012, RTG Postdoc- Damir Dzhafarov Noah Giansiracusa There were two departures among the de- toral Fellow. partment staff in the past year: Barbara Max Glick (Algebraic Combinatorics), Peavy, our Director of Student Services, PhD University of Michigan 2012, RTG retired in June 2012, while Lynn Greene Postdoctoral Fellow. left the department in August 2012 for a position in the Operational Excellence Owen Gwilliam (Quantum Field Program. Theory), PhD Northwestern 2012, NSF On the other hand, we are very happy Postdoctoral Fellow. to welcome Rebecca Pauling as our Eliana Hechter (Statistical Genetics), Matthew Gill Eliana Hechter new Director of DPhil Oxford 2011, Postdoctoral Fellow, Student Services. Laboratory for Mathematical and Com- Rebecca was putational Biology. previously an administrator for David Li-Bland (Symplectic Geometry), the joint Berke- PhD University of Toronto 2012, NSF ley/UCSF grad- Postdoctoral Fellow. uate program in Anatoly Preygel (Algebraic ), Bioengineering. PhD MIT 2012, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow. Rebecca Pauling David Li-Bland Steven Sam

MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY 3 In Memoriam IN MEMORIAM William B. Arveson (1934-2011) Shoshichi Kobayashi We are very saddened by the death of our (1932-2012) colleague Professor William B. Arveson on We were very sad to learn November 15, 2011, due to complications the death of our colleague of surgery. Professor Arveson joined our Professor Shoshichi department faculty in 1968. He had done Kobayashi on August his undergraduate studies at Cal Tech, and 29, 2012, at the age of 80. his graduate studies at UCLA, where he Professor Kobayashi joined obtained his PhD in 1964 under Henry Dye. our department faculty He soon came to be recognized as one of the in 1962. He had done his world’s leading research mathematicians undergraduate studies at studying algebras of operators on Hilbert spaces and their applica- the , and obtained his PhD from tions, especially to quantum physics. the , Seattle in 1956. Professor Arveson remained fully active in research up to the time of Professor Kobayashi was one of the most important his death. He strongly inspired and influenced many other research- contributors to the field of differential geometry in ers, and in particular, the 29 doctoral students who wrote their doctor- the second half of the twentieth century. His early al dissertations under his guidance. work concerned the theory of connections; another major interest of his was the relation of to topology, in particular on Kähler . William G. Bade (1924-2012) The majority of his career, though, was devoted to We sadly report the death of our colleague complex geometry. Notions such as the Kobayashi Professor William G. Bade, who died on pseudodistance and Kobayashi hyperbolicity have be- August 10, 2012, at the age of 88. Professor come indispensible tools for the study of mappings Bade received his PhD in 1951 at UCLA of complex manifolds. under Angus Taylor. He then spent three Several of Professor Kobayashi’s books are now stan- years at Yale, where he met Philip C. Cur- dard references in differential and complex geometry, tis, Jr; the two became close friends and among them his two-volume treatise with Katsumi longtime mathematical collaborators. Nomizu entitled “Foundations of Differential Geom- Professor Bade joined the Berkeley faculty etry” from which generations of students and other in 1955. He and Curtis were prominent contributors to the subject of scholars have learned the essentials of the subject. Banach algebras, which was rapidly expanding at the time. Notably, Professor Kobayashi served as Chair of the Depart- they pioneered the study of radical Banach algebras, an infinite-dimen- ment of Mathematics from 1978 to 1981, a time during sional generalization of rings of nilpotent matrices. Professor Bade which he stood up to the administration to preserve directed 24 successful doctoral dissertations, and many of his students the department’s space in Evans Hall. His legacy also made significant advances in the field he and Curtis had originated. includes the 35 PhD students whose dissertations he Professor Bade served for many years as our Vice Chair for Graduate supervised at Berkeley. Affairs. His devotion to our graduate students went far beyond the call of duty. He viewed his role not merely as a mathematical advisor but also as a personal friend. Professor Bade retired in 1991. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Elly, by six children, and by five grandchildren.

For donations in memory of our colleagues, please see http://math.berkeley.edu/about/donate

4 MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY Department News Newly promoted faculty members: from left to AWARDS AND HONORS right, Profs. Ian Agol, Michael Hutchings, and Faculty and Staff Honors Jon Wilkening • Professors Ian Agol, Ted Slaman and Daniel Tataru were awarded Simons Sabbatical Fellowships by the ; • Professor Bernd Sturmfels was a • SPOT Awards for Outstanding Per- search Fellowships. Andrew Marks recipient of the Sarlo Distinguished formance were awarded to our staff was also awarded a Turing Research Graduate Student Mentoring Award; members Mike Kim, Kim Oyler, Scholarship by the John Templeton Kathy Santos, and Barb Waller. Foundation. • Professor Alan Schoenfeld was awarded the Felix Klein Medal for Faculty Promotions Undergraduate Honors Lifetime Achievement by the Interna- • Ian Agol and Michael Hutchings were • The 2011-2012 Departmental Citation tional Commission on Mathematics promoted from Associate Professor to was awarded to Class of 2012 Valedic- Instruction; Professor; torian Bharath Ramsundar. • Professor James Sethian and his • Jon Wilkening was promoted from student Robert Saye were awarded Assistant Professor to Associate Pro- the Cozzarelli Prize by the National fessor. Academy of Sciences for their paper “The Voronoi Implicit Interface Method for Graduate Student Honors computing multiphase physics”; • The Herb Alexander Prize for an out- Class of 2012 • Professors and Olga standing dissertation in pure mathe- Valedictorian Holtz received the Best Paper award matics was awarded to Yi Liu. Bharath Ramsundar from the SIAM group on Linear Alge- • The Bernard Friedman Memorial Prize bra for their work “Minimizing Commu- in Applied Mathematics was awarded • Sophomore Shiyu Li received a Hon- nications in Numerical Linear Algebra”; to Darsh Ranjan and Thomas Vidick. orable Mention for her performance in • Assistant Professor Lauren Williams the 2011 Putnam Competition. • The Kenneth Ribet & Lisa Goldberg received the Hellman Family Faculty Award in Algebra was awarded to • Tyler Arant, Dominic Culver, Julian Fund Award; Morgan Brown. Landaw, Milashini Nambiar, Matthew • Professor Lior Pachter was the recip- Nichols, Bharath Ramsundar, Yohei • Rob Bayer and Ivan Ventura were ient of the first Raymond and Beverly Rosen and Zhixin Zhou were award- awarded the Nikki Kose Memorial Sackler Chair in Computational Bi- ed the Dorothea Klumpke Roberts Teaching Prize. ology, while Professor James Sethian Prize in Mathematics in recognition of holds the James H. Simons Chair in • Adam Boocher, Andrew Critch, their truly exceptional scholarship. Mathematics; Noah Forman, Daniel Greengard, • Brendan Bulik-Sullivan, Kelli-Jean Vinicius Gripp, Alex Kruckman, • Professor Denis Auroux and Visiting Chun, Kabalan Gaspard, Donald James McIvor, Felipe Rincon and Professor Zvezdelina Stankova were Hsu, Pawarit Kreepok, Huamin Peyam Tabrizian were 2011-2012 included in The Princeton Review’s Li, Danielle Maddix, Daniel Smith, recipients of Outstanding Graduate Best 300 Professors list; River Snively and Hairan Zhu were Student Instructor Awards. awarded the Percy Lionel Davis Award • Professor Ian Agol was awarded the • Boaz Haberman, Alexander Shapiro for Excellence in Scholarship in Math- 2012 Senior Berwick Prize by the Lon- and Qiaochu Yuan were awarded NSF ematics. don Mathematical Society; Graduate Research Fellowships. • Department Manager Mary Pepple • Recent PhDs Melody Chan, Andrew won the Chancellor’s Outstanding Marks, Douglas Rizzolo and Cynthia Staff Award; Vinzant received NSF Postdoctoral Re-

MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY 5 Graduate Program News GRADUATE PROGRAM NEWS Prof. Martin Olsson, Vice Chair for Graduate Affairs Our graduate program remains one of the top rated graduate programs worldwide (in the most recent US News ranking of math graduate programs we tied for second place), and the top graduate program among public universities in the . The excellence, energy, and creativity of our graduate students is felt throughout the research and teach- ing missions of the department.

This past year we welcomed 31 new students to our PhD Prof. Lauren Williams hosted a dinner to welcome new graduate students. From program. These new students were selected from an extraor- left to right: Prof. Michael Hutchings, Dr. Florian Block, Prof. Lauren Williams, dinarily talented group of applications, and include some of and first-year PhD students Patrick Wilson, Qiao Zhou, and Grace Liu. the most promising young mathematicians both domestic and international. Among the entering cohort, 14 were interna- graduate students take their mathematical skills into industry tional students, with 10 foreign countries represented. positions. Last year we awarded 31 PhDs and 7 Masters degrees. Many of Our graduate students have won numerous awards and fellow- these degree recipients went on to academic postdoc positions ships; at last year’s commencement ceremony we also honored in mathematics, including prestigious positions at many of the several students with departmental prizes. (see Awards and top institutions around the world. We also saw several of our Honors, page 5).

Congratulations to our students who received their PhDs this past academic year! Tonci Antunovic, “Two Probabilistic Mod- Matthias Goerner, “Visualizing Regular Yi Liu, “Nonzero Degree Maps Between els of Competition,” under Yuval Peres and Tessellations: Principal Congruence Links Three Dimensional Manifolds,” under Ian Sourav Chatterjee. Tonci is now a Hedrick and Equivariant Morphisms from Surfaces Agol. Yi is now a Taussky-Todd Instructor Assistant Professor at UCLA. to 3-Manifolds,” under Peter Teichner and at Caltech. Rob Bayer, “Lowness For Computational Ian Agol. Matthias is now a Postdoc at the Andrew Marks, “Recursion Theory and Speed,” under Theodore Slaman. Rob is University of Maryland. Countable Borel Equivalence Relations,” now attending medical school at the Mayo Erica Isaacson, “Some Periodic Solutions under Theodore Slaman. Andrew is now an Clinic. of the Two-Dimensional Stokes-Oldroyd-B NSF Postdoc at Caltech. Morgan Brown, “Cox Rings and Partial System With Stress Diffusion,” under Jon Diogo Oliveira e Silva, “Oscillatory Inte- Amplitude,” under . Mor- Wilkening. Erica is now an Adjunct Lectur- grals and Extremal Problems in Harmonic gan is now an RTG Postdoc at the Universi- er at Indiana University. Analysis,” under Michael Christ. Diogo is ty of Michigan. Benoît Jubin, “The Tangent Functor Monad now a Postdoc at the University of Bonn. Melody Chan, “Tropical Curves and Metric and Foliations,” under Alan Weinstein. David Penneys, “Planar Structure for Graphs,” under Bernd Sturmfels. Melody is Benoît is now a Postdoc at the University Inclusions of Finite von Neumann Alge- now an NSF Postdoc at . of Luxembourg. bras,” under Vaughan Jones. David is now a Yann-Shin A. Chen, “Impulse Control and Aaron Kleinman, “Combinatorial Phylo- Postdoc at the University of Toronto. Optimal Stopping,” under Craig Evans and genetics of Reconstruction Algorithms,” Daniel Pomerleano, “Curved String To- Xin Guo. Yann-Shin is now a Quantitative under Lior Pachter. Aaron is now a Postdoc pology and Tangential Fukaya Categories,” Researcher at Citadel Securities. in Computational Biology. under Constantin Teleman. Daniel is now a Ka Lun Choi, “Constructing a Broken Chul-hee Lee, “Algebraic Structures in Postdoc at IPMU. Lefschetz Fibration with a Spun or Twist- Modular q-Hypergeometric Series,” under René Quilodrán, “On Extremizers for Spun Knot Fiber,” under Rob Kirby. Richard Borcherds. Chul-hee is now a Adjoint Fourier Restriction Inequalities Postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for and a Result in Incidence Geometry,” under Jeffrey Doker, “Geometry of Generalized Mathematics. Permutohedra,” under Federico Ardila Michael Christ. and Matthias Beck. Jeffrey now works for Baoping Liu, “Low Regularity Solutions Alex Rennet, “Ultraproducts of O-Min- Bloomberg Sports in New York. of Korteweg-de Vries and Chern-Si- imal Structures,” under Thomas Scanlon. mons-Schrödinger Equations,” under Anton Geraschenko, “Toric Stacks,” under Alex is now a Postdoc at the University of Daniel Tataru. Baoping is now a Dickson Toronto. Vera Serganova. Anton is now a Bateman Instructor at the University of Chicago. Instructor at Caltech. continued on page 7

6 MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY 2011-2012 PhDs, continued from page 6 Venkatesh and Ken Ribet. George is now an Ivan Ventura, “Applications of Semiclassi- Felipe Rincón, “Tropical Linear Spaces and RTG Postdoc at UCLA. cal Analysis to Partial Differential Equa- Applications,” under Olga Holtz and Bernd William Slofstra, “Strong Macdonald The- tions,” under Maciej Zworski. Ivan is now a Sturmfels. Felipe is now a Postdoc at the ory and the Brylinski Filtration for Affine Postdoc at the University of Arizona. University of Warwick. Lie Algebras,” under Constantin Teleman. Alan Wilder, “Smooth Field Theories and Douglas Rizzolo, “Scaling Limits of Ran- William is now a Krener Assistant Profes- Homotopy Field Theories,” under Peter dom Trees,” under James Pitman. Douglas sor at UC Davis. Teichner. Alan now works at Credit Suisse is now an NSF Postdoc at University of Hung Tran, “Some New Methods For Ham- in New York. Washington. ilton-Jacobi Type Nonlinear PDE,” under Junjie Zhou, “Essays on Microeconomics,” George Schaeffer, “The Hecke Stability Craig Evans. Hung is now a Postdoc at the under Chris Shannon. Junjie is now an Method and Ethereal Forms,” under Akshay University of Chicago. Assistant Professor at Shanghai University.

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION they meet the needs of todays undergrad- also glaring omissions in training: for uate biology students.” example many students were proceeding A NEW MATH COURSE In our own university, it was becoming through their biology majors without For First Year Students clear to our colleagues in the biological any training in discrete mathematics, sciences that course offerings in their which has become an essential frame- Planning To Major in the departments needed to be revamped so work for evolution and genetics, and Biological Sciences that students would be learning about without basic knowledge of the statistics the new technologies affecting biology, required for data analysis. Prof. Lior Pachter while being trained in the tools needed I resolved to work with colleagues in In a prescient opinion piece titled “Math- to utilize them for discovery. With a mathematics, statistics and biology to ematics Is Biology’s Next Microscope, vision and determination to institute the rethink appropriate math training for Only Better; Biology Is Mathematics’ needed changes, our Dean Mark Richards our biology students and the result, Next Physics, Only Better” (PLoS Biology and former Dean of Biological Sciences thanks to the collective wisdom of many 2004), mathematical biologist Joel Mark Schlissel convened a meeting in colleagues, the support of our Dean and Cohen argued that mathematics must be the summer of 2008 with the chairs of Vice Provost Cathy ­Koshland, help from the foundation for tackling fundamental the mathematics and statistics depart- the Physical Sciences Oncology Center questions in biology, and that converse- ments, as well as interested parties in our and the hard work of graduate students ly biology questions can inspire new biology departments, to discuss specific who helped to develop material, is a new mathematics. Part of the basis for these recommendations for the increased use year-long course, called Math 10 (Meth- claims was the observation that biology of mathematics, probability and statis- ods of Mathematics: Calculus, Statistics, was becoming more “quantitative” than tics in biology courses. One outcome and Combinatorics). Unlike attempts at it had been in the past. He highlighted of the meeting was an agreement that other universities to introduce “Calculus large data collection efforts, enabled by a prerequisite to increasing the mathe- for Biology” courses, our curriculum goes cheap DNA sequencing and the adap- matical content of biology courses was beyond adding examples from biology to tation of semiconductor technology to an understanding of the current math- existing coursework. Instead, Math 10 fo- biology that were transforming molec- ematical training of our biology majors. cuses on important ideas from the math- ular biology by probing cells at unprec- With the help of several colleagues and ematical sciences that are now relevant edented detail, and were necessitating staff members (special thanks to Barbara for biology and medicine, thus empower- the need for simplifying and predictive Peavy and Jennifer Sixt Pinney), I began ing our students and preparing them for mathematical models. Around the to collect data to address this question, more math in their biology courses, and same time, a National Research Council and discovered a complex tangle of math also more math and statistics courses in committee on Undergraduate Biology Ed- requirements by different majors. Sur- their future. ucation to Prepare Research Scientists for prisingly, despite our offering Math 16 st I taught a pilot version of the course last the 21 Century published a book with (math for the social and biological scienc- its findings in 2003 with the primary rec- year and this year a larger cohort is being es), many biology students were taking taught by Bernd Sturmfels and Craig ommendation that “Given the profound Math 1 (for the physical sciences) while changes in the nature of biology and how Evans in preparation for a full launch. I some majors were requiring very little am pleased to announce that initially the biological research is performed and com- math altogether, allowing their students municated, each institution of higher Molecular and Cell Biology and Integra- to pass through the math requirement tive Biology departments will require the education should reexamine its current with high school coursework. There were courses and teaching approaches to see if continued on page 9

MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY 7 Math Circle Winners of Contest 8 and BMC Staff, MSRI, May 8 2012. Front row: Charlotte Peale (2nd THE BERKELEY MATH CIRCLE prize, Beginners, 7th grade), Robert rd th Where Youngsters Fall in Love with Math Washbourne (3 prize, Beginners, 5 grade), Arav Karighattam (1st prize, Prof. Zvezdelina Stankova, BMC Director Beginners, 3rd grade), Laura Pierson (1st prize, Advanced, 6th grade). The Berkeley Math Circle (BMC) is a BMC-Begin- Back row: Zvezdelina Stankova familiar sight on Tuesday evenings in ners circle two (BMC Director), Evan Chen the Math Department: the Department years ago. The (Contest Coordinator, 10th grade), has generously hosted and been actively Circle helped Brian Burns (2nd prize, Advanced, involved in the organization of the BMC her identify 10th grade), Daniel Blank (3rd prize, th ever since its inception in 1998. and develop Advanced, 8 grade). Over the last 14 years, the circle has her talent, exposed her to topics and Elwyn Berlekamp, Eugene Mukhin, Grigor grown from 50 mostly high school stu- ideas that she had never known existed, Sargsyan, Helmer Aslaksen, Igor Ganichev, Ilya and nurtured her love for mathematics. Zakharevich, Ioana Dumitriu, Ivan Matic, James dents, learning in a single room, to 250 Propp, John Schulman, Keith Conrad, Kiran students in all grades 1-12, split into 7 Laura’ s is not the only exceptional story Kedlaya, Lilit Martirosyan, Maksim Maydanskiy, groups at 5 levels, ranging from BMC-Ele- at BMC. All circlers are exceptional in Michael Pejic, Miklos Racz, Mira Bernstein, Ngoc mentary I (for 1st-2nd graders) to BMC-Ad- their own way – whether by their math- Tran, Olga Holtz, Paul Zeitz, Quan Lam, Robert vanced (for 9th–12th graders). However, ematical aptitude, or by the interest Bryant, Robin Hartshorne, Serge Lang, Valentin students can elect to move up to a higher they have taken in math so early in life, Tonita, Vera Serganova, Yael Degany, and Zack level than that suggested for their age or or by their determination to travel from Judson. grade, depending on previous experience as far away as San Jose or Sacramento to In addition to our returning veteran with math circles and/or contests, math- the Circle every Tuesday evening. These instructors, in the upcoming 2012-2013 ematical maturity, knowledge, and skills. young students have thereby put their year we are welcoming several new UC This year a dozen BMC-Elementary/Be- passion for mathematics (at least once Berkeley and MSRI instructors to the ginner students switched to the BMC-In- a week) above the abundance of other Circle: Alex Zorn, Alexander Shapiro, and termediate and even BMC-Advanced after-school activities available to them. Richard Borcherds (UC Berkeley); Anna levels: we welcome such shifts, as long as The biggest strength of BMC resides in Felikson, Claudio Procesi, Frank Sottile, they are initiated by the students who its instructors. We are extremely proud of Gregg Musiker, Kaisa Taipale, and Karin must feel comfortable, yet challenged the diversity of our instructors: they have Baur (MSRI). enough at the new level. a variety of professional backgrounds Two important social highlights are the Laura Pierson, a 6th grade math circler, and experiences, ranging from current New Year and End-of-the-Year parties, should have been by age in BMC-Begin- math circlers to school teachers and hosted by MSRI for the past several years. ners; yet by talent, skills, and motivation professionals from outside-of-academia Besides a joint session for the BMC-Up- she is one of the leading BMC-Advanced fields, and about 30% of them are women. per groups (5th-12th grades) in the Simons students. Last March, Laura was awarded Of course, the majority are mathematics Auditorium, these feature food brought the grand prize at the Bay Area Mathe- professors, while graduate students from by the BMC parents and an awards matical Olympiad (up to grade 8) with a a number of math and science disciplines continued on page 9 perfect score, and having left the com- comprise more than a quar- petition at half-time! She qualified for ter of the instructor pool. the USA Junior Math Olympiad (up to Needless to say, UC Berkeley grade 10), which she also won on her first faculty, students, and alum- participation. Laura was the first ever th6 ni tremendously contribute grade participant at MOSP, the summer to the success of the circle training of the US team for the Interna- every year. The complete list tional Math Olympiads. Continuing to is too long to print here, but make history, she qualified (again as the includes such distinguished youngest student ever) on the US team names as: for China’ s Girls’ Math Olympiad, where Aaron Kleinman, Alexander she received a silver medal in August Givental, Alexandre Chorin, 2012. Undoubtedly, a new (female!) Andrew Dudzik, Austin Shapiro, math star is rising, as was apparent Bernd Sturmfels, Bernt Wahl, The elementary school students (1st-4th grades) at MSRI, with their from the moment she stepped into the , Claudiu Raicu, regular session leaders Laura Givental, Elena Blanter, Ilya Zakharev- Dan-Andrei Geba, Elena Fuchs, ich, Vera Serganova, and Sergei Ovchinnikov.

8 MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY The Berkeley Math Circle DEPARTMENT NEWS continued from page 8 ceremony for the best Monthly Contest ALSO IN THE NEWS papers. New Department Website What kind of problems do students The department’s website underwent tackle at the Circle and in the monthly a much needed redesign last fall. The contests? Here are two sample contest new site went live last November. problems (by Evan O’Dorney) for your Please visit us online at enjoyment: http://math.berkeley.edu Monthly Contest 1 (2012), Problem 7. Let >1 be an integer. Three complex n Distinguished Lectures The new department website. numbers have the property that their sum is 0 and the sum of their nth pow- Like every year, the department welcomed several distinguished speakers ­Villani of Université Lyon 1 and ers is also 0. Prove that two of the three Institut Henri Poincaré on February numbers have the same absolute value. for its named lecture series: 27th, 28th and 29th, 2012, about “Many Monthly Contest 8 (2012), Problem 7. • The 2011 Serge Lang Undergraduate Particle Systems and Plasma Physics.” In the triangle ABC, the angle at A Lecture was given on December 1st, is 60°. Let E and F be points on the 2011 by Jordan Ellenberg of the • The 2012 Chern Lectures were extensions of AB and AC such that University of Wisconsin, on “Set – A given by Shiing-Shen Chern Visiting BE = CF = BC. The circumcircle of the Laboratory in Combinatorics, Geometry, Professor and Fields Medalist Jean triangle ACE intersects EF in K (dif- ­Bourgain, of the Institute for Ad- ferent from E). Prove that K lies on the and Harmonic Analysis Pretending to be a th th th Card Game.” vanced Studies, on April 10 , 12 , 17 bisector of the angle BAC. and 19th, on the • The 2012 DiPerna Lecture was given If you are interested in reading more topic of “Group by Emmanuel Candes of Stanford about the Circle, finding solutions expansion, University on January 26th, 2012. to the above problems, or browsing spectral gaps and The title of his talk was “Exact Phase through 14 years of Circle materials, applications.” please visit the Berkeley Math Circle Retrieval via Convex Programming.” Chern Visiting Professor website at • The 2012 Lectures were Jean Bourgain http://mathcircle.berkeley.edu given by Per Martin-Löf, Emeritus Professor of Logic at Stockholm ______st nd University, on February 21 , 22 , and • The 2012-2013 Bowen Lectures were Zvezdelina Stankova is a Professor at Mills th College, a Visiting Professor of Mathematics at 24 . His three lectures were entitled given by of Harvard UC Berkeley, and the Director of the Berkeley “Assertion and Inference,” “Propositions, University on October 9th, 10th and 11th, Math Circle. Truth and Consequence,” and “Tarski’s 2012; his lectures were entitled “On the Metamathematical Reconstruction of the arithmetic of hyperelliptic curves.” Notions of Truth and Logical Consequence.” A NEW MATH COURSE • The 2011-2012 Bowen Lectures were Simons Institute continued from page 7 given by Fields Medalist Cédric We were thrilled to learn on May 1st that course, and it is under consideration by Berkeley won the competition to host many other biology majors (and even the new Simons Institute for the Theory psychology). UC Berkeley has always of Computing, funded by a $60 million been a leader in “quantitative biology,” award from the Simons Foundation. The but we are now also providing the nec- new institute, to be housed on campus essary training for the next generation in Calvin Hall and directed by University of biologists who will be using “mathe- Professor Richard Karp, will explore the matical microscopes.” mathematical foundations of ­computer ______science and extend them to tackle chal- Lior Pachter is a Professor of Molecular and lenges in a variety of fields. The institute Cell Biology, Mathematics, and Computer will host its first scientific programs in Science. Professor Pachter holds the Raymond 2013, and several of our faculty members and Beverly Sackler Chair in Computational are already slated to participate actively. Biology. He is also the director of the Center for Prof. Jordan Ellenberg delivers the 2011 Serge Lang Computational Biology at UC Berkeley. Undergraduate Lecture. continued on page 10

MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY 9 ALSO IN THE NEWS ALUMNI NEWS ics. Cortez called on four colleagues, continued from page 9 including two UC Berkeley alumni, to Shanghai Rankings ALUMNI BROADEN establish the first research program for undergraduates affiliated with a pres- According to the 2012 Academic Ranking PARTICIPATION IN tigious national mathematics research of World Universities in Mathematics MATHEMATICS institute: ­Herbert Medina (Berkeley recently published by Shanghai Jiao PhD, 1992); Duane Cooper (Berkeley Dr. Colette Patt Tong University, the UC Berkeley math PhD, 1993); Ivelisse Rubio; and ­Suzanne department occupies the third place Ricardo Cortez, UC Berkeley PhD (1995) Weeks. MSRI-UP’s structure and focus worldwide, just behind Princeton and and Pendergraft William Larkin Duren evolved from two similar programs Harvard. Cambridge and Stanford round Professor of Mathematics at Tulane designed to increase URM participation out the top five. University, is the 2012 winner of the in mathematics, both co-founded by Blackwell-Tapia prize. According to Medina: one at Cornell (with Carlos 2012 Commencement the organizers, the prize recognizes a Castillo-Chavez), and one at University The Department of Mathematics’ 2012 mathematical scientist who has con- of Puerto Rico, Humacao (with Ivelisse Commencement Ceremony took place tributed significantly to research in his Rubio). th or her field of expertise and who has on May 14 in Zellerbach Auditorium. The idea for these programs, in turn, served as a role model for mathematical This year’s commencement speaker was can be credited to the Berkeley Summer scientists and students from underrep- Emeritus Professor Freeman Dyson of Mathematics Institute (BSMI), started resented minority (URM) groups or has the Institute for Advanced Studies. The by Leon Henkin and Uri Treisman. BSMI contributed in other significant ways to ceremony saw over 200 mathematics was one of the first programs in the addressing the problem of the underrep- and applied mathematics majors receive country, if not the first, established spe- resentation of minorities in mathemat- undergraduate degrees, while nearly 40 cifically to inspire URM students to go ics. Cortez is internationally regarded as graduate students received Masters and into advanced careers in mathematics by a leading researcher in fluid dynamics PhDs; a number of departmental prizes engaging undergraduates in a summer and mathematical modeling. He has also (both graduate and undergraduate) were of rigorous research in the context of a been a leader in undergraduate mento- also awarded during the ceremony. welcoming community of like-minded ring and the development of training mathematicians. MSRI-UP co-directors opportunities for underrepresented Prof. Freeman Medina and Cooper were among those minority students in the mathematical Dyson delivers the in the first small cohort of graduate 2012 Mathematics sciences. Cortez will be the guest of students to teach in the BSMI. Cortez Commencement honor at the Seventh Blackwell-Tapia joined them as a graduate student in- Address. Conference on November 9-10, 2012. structor in a later cohort. Cortez shines in a constellation of These programs are important to in- Berkeley alumni who are dedicated not creasing diversity in the mathematics only to advancing ideas in mathemat- community. In MSRI-UP Cortez and his ics, but also to broadening access to co-directors look for untapped math- mathematics for minorities and women. ematical talent within the U.S. Black, Graduate student engagement in social Latino and Native American communi- issues is intrinsic to UC Berkeley’s ties. From 2007 to 2011, 81 undergradu- history and often is a valued aspect of ates have participated in the MSRI-UP the student experience at Cal. It also program, organized into teams. Each can help shape professional values and team has presented its research at the networks— as it did in Cortez’s history annual meeting of the Society for the of working to diversify the scientific Advancement of Chicanos and Native community. Americans in Science, and at least 25 Cortez became a founding director, at students have presented their work at MSRI Director David Eisenbud’s request, the Joint Mathematics Meetings. of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Undergraduate Program ______­(MSRI-UP) after he spoke at MSRI in Dr. Colette Patt received her PhD in Social and Cultural Studies in Education at UC Berkeley in 2006 about the impact of summer 1995. She is the Director of the Science Diversity From left to right: Ricardo Cortez, Ivelisse Rubio, research experiences on increasing the Office in the College of Letters & Sciences and of Herbert Medina, Duane Cooper, and Suzanne Weeks. participation of URMs in mathemat- Photo credit: Duane Cooper the Berkeley Edge Program.

10 MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY Department of Mathematics, Your Gift Is Welcome! University of California at  Enclosed is my gift of $______Berkeley Please make your tax deductible gift for the Department of Mathematics payable to “UC Regents.” MATHEMATICS +  $5000  $1000  $500  $250  $100  Other $ In addition, (company name) ______will match my gift. BERKELEY The company matching gift form  is enclosed  will be mailed  Please direct my gift to the Department of Mathematics Annual Fund, to be The Department of Mathematics used for the Department’s greatest need at the Chair’s discretion. wishes to thank all alumni, parents,  I prefer to designate my gift for undergraduate scholarships. students, faculty, staff and friends who  I prefer to designate my gift for graduate student fellowships. support the Department.  I prefer to designate my gift for (other) ______ Send me information on charitable estate and gift planning or on establishing You may return this form to: an endowment.

Nancy Palmer, Donor Relations Print Name Signature Date University of California Address Department of Mathematics 979 Evans Hall, #3840 E-mail* Berkeley, CA 94720-3840 Please provide your e-mail address so we can send you future issues of this newsletter. You can also donate to the Department of Mathematics online at: http://math.berkeley.edu/about/donate The information you provide will be used for University business and will not be released unless required by law. A portion of all gifts is used to defray the costs of administering the funds. All gifts are tax-deductible, as prescribed by law.

A Note on Strategic Priorities the creation of a graduate student lounge We also take this opportunity to men- in the adjacent space: the campus is pro- tion the 2012-13 New Alumni Challenge. The Department of Mathematics is work- viding funds for the structural repairs Thanks to the generosity of a group of ing hard to maintain its excellence in all but we need to raise the funds for the donors who are funding this challenge, aspects of research and education and to completion of the project (see article on a dollar-for-dollar match is available for bridge the resource gap that separates us page 12). donations made by our newest group from our better-funded private peers. • Research Visitor Funds would make of alumni from the classes of 2008-12 For this we rely crucially on donations and this year’s graduating class of 2013. from alumni and friends of the Depart- it easier to invite high-profile visitors to visit Berkeley to deliver lectures in Even small donations go a long way: for ment. Here are some of the department’s example, a $50 donation becomes a $100 top current strategic priorities: our department or collaborate with our faculty. These intellectual exchanges are gift to the Math department. Don’t miss • Graduate Student Fellowships are vi- of tremendous value to our research and this opportunity to double your gift in tally needed to enable the department to education. support of Math and to join the ranks of make competitive, attractive offers to the those who are helping us maintain our Funding for these departmental priori- very strongest applicants to our graduate excellence and our world-class research ties will enable us to meet the challenges and education programs. program, who are otherwise often lured and respond to the many opportunities by our private peers with offers of higher for Mathematics at UC Berkeley. Know- For further information, please contact Prof. stipends and lower teaching loads. ing how important these priorities are, Ken Ribet, Vice Chair for Development, e-mail: Note: UC Berkeley is currently offering (through we have also committed to the additional [email protected] calendar year 2013) a Graduate Student Support goal of strengthening and expanding our matching program for major gifts made to endow fund development efforts. graduate student support funds. We invite you to join us in keeping UC Newsletter Contributors • Endowed Faculty Chairs are needed Berkeley Mathematics strong through Editor: Denis Auroux; Copy Editor: Ken Ribet in order to improve the department’s your gifts to the department. All dona- Photography: George Bergman, Ken Ribet ability to make competitive offers for the tions, large or small, are greatly valued. Contributors: Denis Auroux, Thomas Brown, recruitment and retention of world-class You may choose whether to direct your Deborah Miller, Arthur Ogus, Martin faculty. gift toward a specific goal of your choice ­Olsson, Lior Pachter, Nancy Palmer, • Capital Improvements such as the or to have your donation used at the Colette Patt, Mary Pepple, Zvezdelina Stankova, Barb Waller renovation of the ninth floor patio and department’s discretion.

MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY 11 University of California, Berkeley Nonprofit Org. Department of Mathematics U.S. Postage 970 Evans Hall #3840 PAID Berkeley, CA 94720-3840 University of California MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY Fall 2012 newsletter

Left: Prof. Ken Ribet, Prof. Arthur Ogus, and Dean Mark Richards in the newly renovated common room; Right: undergraduates studying in 1015 Evans. Department News The $250, 000 renovation project was ever since. completed over this past summer, in no Funds from Campus Capital Projects FACILITIES UPDATE small part thanks to the generosity of our will allow us to demolish the concrete The department has been pursuing a colleague Professor James Sethian. The patio, repair and reseal the faulty roof number of capital improvement projects many improvements to the room include membrane under it, and install a paver to support its core missions in education new flooring, lighting, furniture, A/V system. This costly project will provide and research. A number of our seminar equipment and glass dry-erase boards a sound basis for our efforts to improve rooms have been renovated in the recent in the main interaction space, as well as the patio. past, and we are now turning our atten- technical updates to HVAC, electrical, We envision that a thoughtful redesign of tion to the common spaces that make and plumbing systems. The small north the patio area, accounting for traffic flow, fruitful interactions among the math section of the room, which did not inte- light, noise, and weather mitigation, and community possible. Two projects, one grate well with the rest of the space, has the addition of suitable furniture and recently completed and one planned for been split off and turned into a faculty architectural improvements will turn the near future, are part of our broader lounge area. The main room remains ac- the patio into a welcoming area where goal of rehabilitating the department’s cessible to graduate and undergraduate faculty, students, and staff can socialize most valuable spaces and turning them students as it has been in the past. during lunch breaks, and where students into functional and welcoming interac- The project was overseen by Department can work in small groups. tion areas for the math community at Manager Mary Pepple and Building Coor- large, and for students in particular. dinator Kathy Santos together with L&S Following the renovation of the patio, Facilities Managers Brian Joseph and our next project, pending the availability Common Room Ruben Mejia, with additional input into of department funds and the success We are very pleased to announce the a number of design choices (furniture, of future fundraising efforts, will be to recent completion of a major and long equipment, color scheme, materials, ...) create a graduate student study lounge overdue renovation of the department’s provided by a departmental task force in the space currently occupied by the common room, 1015 Evans. The common led by Professor James Sethian. We thank departmental mail room adjacent to the room serves multiple roles: it is our main them all for their time and efforts. patio. The existing mail slots will be general-purpose interaction space, a moved to the copy room. A study lounge study space for students, a social space Ninth Floor Patio with natural light has been one of our for departmental events, and on occasion The outdoor patio area on the ninth floor graduate students’ top requests. Creat- a meeting space. Its stained carpeting of Evans Hall has fallen into disrepair ing such a space next to a renovated patio and tired furniture were increasingly and is currently not being used to its full will greatly improve student quality of hard to ignore, reducing the value of the potential. The empty fountain, which life and make our graduate program more space and offering a poor image of the was drained in 2005 due to leaks, has attractive to prospective students. department to our visitors. been an eyesore to the math community

12 MATHEMATICS + BERKELEY