Mathematics People

which is currently one of the most important conjectures in theoretical computer science. Investigators Christopher Umans of the California Institute of Technology works on complexity theory, in particular The Simons Foundation has named eighteen mathemati- algorithms and randomness in computations. He has cians, theoretical physicists, and theoretical computer established new upper bounds for the complexity of ma- scientists as Simons Investigators for 2015. The Simons trix multiplication and developed a novel algorithm for Investigators program provides a stable base of support polynomial factorization. for outstanding scientists, enabling them to undertake The work of Alexei Kitaev of the California Institute long-term study of fundamental questions. The names of Technology on topologically protected states of matter and institutions of the awardees whose work involves the helped found the field of topological ; mathematical sciences and brief excerpts from the prize his prediction that topological superconductors may sus- citations follow. tain Majorana fermions has initiated major experimental of the University of California Berkeley has activity. His ongoing work concerns the mathematical made major contributions to three-dimensional classification of the possible quantum phases of matter. and hyperbolic , completing some of Thurston’s The work of Anastasia Volovich of Brown Univer- problems elucidating the structure of 3-manifolds. He sity on gauge and gravity theories has introduced a new proved several deep and long-standing conjectures, in- perspective on Feynman diagram calculations, along with cluding the Virtual Haken conjecture, the Marden Tame- powerful and extremely efficient methods for their evalu- ness conjecture and the Simon conjecture. ation. Her ongoing work is uncovering deep mathematical Ben Green of the University of Oxford is an expert structures within the gauge theories of particle . in analytic . Among his achievements is The work of Michael Weinstein of Columbia Uni- the Green-Tao theorem, establishing that primes contain arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions. versity bridges the areas of fundamental and applied Raphaël Rouquier of the University of California Los mathematics, physics, and engineering. He is known for Angeles has initiated a new field in mathematics, “higher his elegant and influential of wave representation theory”. He constructed novel categories phenomena in diverse and important physical problems. of geometric and representation-theoretic interest and His and his colleagues’ work on singularity formation, applied these to problems in the theory of finite groups, stability, and nonlinear scattering has been central to the Lie theory, , and . understanding of the dynamics of coherent structures of Christopher Skinner of Princeton University works in nonlinear dispersive wave equations arising in nonlinear number theory and arithmetic geometry. One of his strik- optics, macroscopic quantum systems, and fluid dynam- ing recent results is a proof, in joint work with collabora- ics. This led to work on resonances and radiation in Ham- tors, that a positive proportion of elliptic curves defined iltonian partial differential equations, with applications to over the rational numbers satisfies the Birch–Swinnerton- energy flow in photonic and quantum systems. Recently, Dyer conjecture. he has explored wave phenomena in novel structures such Subhash Khot of New York University initiated a new as topological insulators and metamaterials. direction in computational complexity theory and approxi- mation algorithms based on his Unique Games conjecture, —From a Simons Foundation announcement

1080 Notices of the AMS Volume 62, Number 9 Mathematics People

between prime numbers; Christoph Ortner of the Uni- Green Awarded Sylvester versity of Warwick for contributions to the mathematical Medal foundations, development, and implementation of the quasicontinuum method; Mason Porter of the University Ben Green of the University of Oxford has been awarded of Oxford in recognition of his outstanding interdisciplin- the 2014 Sylvester Medal of the Royal Society of London “for his famous result on primes in arithmetic progression, ary contributions and in particular to the emerging field and his subsequent proofs of a number of spectacular of network science; Dominic Vella of the University of theorems over the last five to ten years.” The Sylvester Oxford for his spectacular contributions to the modeling Medal is awarded in even-numbered years “for the encour- of instability and interfacial phenomena in fluids and sol- agement of mathematical research.” The award carries a ids; and David Loeffler of the University of Warwick and cash prize of 1,000 pounds (approximately US$1,500). Sarah Zerbes of University College London for their joint work in number theory, in particular for their discovery of —From a Royal Society announcement a new Euler system, and for their applications of this to generalizations of the Birch–Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture. The Hirst Prize and Lectureship was awarded to John Prizes of the London O’Connor and Edmund Robertson of the University of Mathematical Society St. Andrews for their creation, development, and mainte- nance of the MacTutor History of Mathematics website. The London Mathematical Society (LMS) has awarded a The Communication Prize was awarded to Christopher number of prizes for 2015. The Pólya Prize was awarded to Boris Zilber of the University of Oxford for his vision- Budd of the University of Bath in recognition of his sus- ary contributions to model theory and its applications. tained excellence and innovation in the communication The Shephard Prize was awarded to Keith Ball of the of mathematics. University of Warwick for his many beautiful results in geometry (particularly the geometry of convex shapes), —From an LMS announcement number theory, and probability theory. The Naylor Prize and Lectureship in was awarded to Stephen J. Chapman of the University of Oxford for his outstanding contributions to modeling and methods International Mathematical development in applied mathematics. The Anne Bennett Olympiad Prize was awarded to Apala Majumdar of the University of Bath in recognition of her outstanding contributions A team from the won first place at the fifty- to the mathematics of liquid crystals and to the liquid sixth International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held in crystal community. Chiang Mai, Thailand, July 4–13, 2015, finishing with 185 The has been awarded to Pierre-Em- points. manuel Caprace of Université Catholique de Louvain and Nicolas Monod of École Polytechnique Federale de The members of the US team were Ryan Alweiss Lausanne in recognition of their papers “Isometry groups (Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, New Jersey), of nonpositively curved spaces: Structure theory” and Allen Liu (Penfield Senior High School, Penfield, New “Isometry groups of nonpositively curved spaces: Discrete York), Yang Liu (Ladue Horton Watkins High School, subgroups,” Journal of Topology 2 (2009), no. 4, 661–700; St. Louis, Missouri), Shyam Narayanan (Blue Valley West 701–746. High School, Overland Park, Kansas), and David Stoner The LMS also awarded a number of Whitehead Prizes. (South Aiken High School, Aiken, South Carolina), all of The Senior was awarded to Robert whom were awarded gold medals, and Michael Kural MacKay of the University of Warwick for his outstanding (Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Connecticut), who contributions to research in dynamical systems and its applications. A remarkably creative and prolific mathema- earned a silver medal. Allen Liu and Yang Liu were also tician, in addition to the broad impact of his research, he gold medal winners in the 2014 competition. has made an outstanding contribution to the mathematical The team from China finished second with 181 points, community generally. and the team from South Korea was third with 161 points. The Whitehead Prizes are given to with The IMO is the preeminent mathematical competition less than fifteen years’ experience at the postdoctoral level for high-school-age students from around the world. The (allowing for career breaks). This year’s Whitehead Prizes IMO consists of solving six extremely challenging mathe- were awarded to the following individuals: Peter Keevash matical problems in a nine-hour competition administered of the University of Oxford for his work in combinator- ics, in particular his stunning proof of the existence of over two days. The 2016 IMO will be held in Hong Kong, combinatorial designs for all parameters satisfying the July 6–16, 2016. obvious necessary conditions; James Maynard of the University of Oxford for his spectacular results on gaps —From an IMO announcement

October 2015 Notices of the AMS 1081 Mathematics People/Inside the AMS

1993 under the direction of Melvin Hochster. Immediately Karen E. Smith named 2016 after receiving her doctorate Smith spent a year at Purdue Noether Lecturer University as an NSF postdoc working with Craig Huneke, followed by a position as a Moore Instructor at MIT. In The Association for Women in 1997, even though she was promoted to assistant profes- Mathematics (AWM) and the sor at MIT, she chose to move back to the University of American Mathematical Society Michigan, where she continues to teach and do research. (AMS) are pleased to announce Smith’s research in commutative was recog- that Karen E. Smith will deliver nized in 2001 when she received the Ruth Lyttle Satter the Noether Lecture at the 2016 Prize. Given every two years, this prize recognizes an Joint Mathematics Meetings. Dr. Smith is the Keeler Professor outstanding contribution to mathematics research by a of Mathematics at the Univer- woman in the previous six years. The citation states: “The sity of Michigan. She has been Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics is awarded to selected as the 2016 Noether Karen E. Smith of the University of Michigan for her out- Lecturer for her outstanding standing work in commutative algebra, which has estab- work in commutative algebra lished her as a world leader in the study of tight closure, and its interface with algebraic an important tool in the subject introduced by Hochster Photo courtesy of Karen E. Smith. geometry. and Huneke. It is also awarded for her more recent work Karen E. Smith Smith received a bachelor’s which builds new bridges between commutative algebra degree in mathematics in 1987 from Princeton University. and algebraic geometry via the concept of tight closure.” After a year of teaching high school, she went to the Uni- versity of Michigan and received a PhD in mathematics in —From an AWM Announcement

Inside the AMS

AMS for Students. High school and undergraduate From the AMS Public students and mentors in mathematical sciences can fol- Awareness Office low news and find information on special math programs, graduate schools, competitions, and awards, as well as Art of Problem Solving sponsors Who Wants to Be a where to publish and present research, how math is ap- . The AMS is pleased to welcome AoPS as a plied, where to find internships, get free math help, and sponsor of the game. AoPS is the online community spon- enjoy math outside the classroom. See www.ams.org/ sor of Who Wants to Be a Mathematician and is providing students. gift certificates to all participating schools in 2015–2016. Awards, Fellowships & Opportunities. Visitors to the Since 2003, AoPS has developed a wide range of educa- Awards, Fellowships & Opportunities page can browse, search, and post calls for fellowship and grant applica- tional materials for outstanding K–12 math students. Its tions, prize and award nominations, and meeting and online community at aops.com has over 180,000 members workshop proposals. The page, updated on an ongoing and hundreds of thousands of visitors each month. See basis, serves mathematics faculty/scientists, institu- more at www.ams.org/wwtbam. tions, programs, postdocs/early-career mathematicians, Joint AMS-EMS-SPM Meeting. See highlights of the Joint graduate students, undergraduate students, and high International Meeting of the AMS, European Mathematical school students and teachers. Institutions and organiza- Society (EMS), and Portuguese Mathematical Society/Socie- tions are invited to submit calls for their opportunities at dad Portuguesa de Matemática (SPM). The meeting, held www.ams.org/opportunities. at the University of Porto in the UNESCO world heritage city of Porto, Portugal, June 10–13, drew 1,103 partici- —Annette Emerson and Mike Breen pants from fifty-nine countries. See www.ams.org/ams- AMS Public Awareness Officers portugal-mtg15. [email protected]

1082 Notices of the AMS Volume 62, Number 9