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number near a boundary. We are currently writing a book Nguyen Awarded 2018–2019 on the subject. I also disseminate new research on my blog: Centennial Fellowship ‘Snapshots in !’ I believe that persistence is the key to success.” The AMS has awarded its Centen- The Centennial Fellowship carries a stipend of nial Fellowship for 2018–2019 to US$93,000, a travel expense allowance of US$9,300, and Toan T. Nguyen of Pennsylvania a complimentary Society membership for one year. The State University. Nguyen’s research award was made at the recommendation of the Centen- interests are analysis of partial dif- nial Fellows Selection Committee. The primary selection ferential equations, fluid dynamics, criterion is the excellence of the candidate’s research. kinetic theory of gases, nonlinear Please note: Information about the competition for the waves, boundary layers, and weak 2019–2020 AMS Centennial Fellowships will be published turbulence. He will use the Fellow- in the “Mathematics Opportunities” section of an upcom- ship for full support for the aca- ing issue of the Notices. Toan T. Nguyen demic year 2018–2019. Nguyen received his PhD in math- —Elaine Kehoe ematics from Indiana University in 2009 under the direc- tion of Kevin Zumbrun. He was a research postdoctoral fellow at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie VI from 2009 to 2010 and Prager Assistant Professor at Brown Beck Awarded University from 2010 to 2012 before joining the Penn State faculty in 2013. Birman Fellowship Nguyen provided the following information to the Margaret Beck of Boston Univer- Notices: “I grew up as a coffee farmer in a small village sity has been awarded the AMS Joan back in Vietnam, but it was quite natural for me to study and Joseph Birman Fellowship for mathematics. Indeed, mathematics is my given name at Women Scholars for the academic birth (Toán in Vietnamese). My parents believed math year 2018–2019 in recognition of her and science are the future. In fact, I also have a physics “exceptional research on stability sister (Ly´) and a chemistry brother (Hoá). While most of problems in partial differential equa- the kids in my village ended up dropping out of school tions (PDEs) and spatially extended due to poverty at the time, we all went on to Vietnam Na- dynamical systems.” Her primary tional University in Saigon for an undergraduate degree. research interest is determining the I then got a well-paid and trending job at a technology Margaret Beck nonlinear stability and large-time company, which I actually quit after a few months, when they ordered me to stop bringing math books to work. behavior of solutions to dissipative “I went back to the university to work as a teaching partial differential equations, such as reaction-diffusion assistant, and met D. Le (UTSA), who gave me a paper to equations and viscous conservation laws. This includes read. After I extended the work in his paper, he asked me studying nonlinear waves such as traveling waves and to come to America and work with him. Two years later, spatially and/or temporally periodic patterns. She typi- I went to Indiana University for my PhD.… I ended up cally views these PDEs as infinite-dimensional dynamical graduating in my third year in the program, with several systems and analyzes them using a variety of mathemati- postdoctoral offers from Chicago, Michigan, Brown, and cal techniques, for example, invariant manifolds, similarity the like. variables, geometric singular perturbation theory, expo- “My recent work with E. Grenier (ENS Lyon) proves that, nential dichotomies, and pointwise estimates. She will use for a certain class of initial data, the classical boundary the Fellowship for a full-year sabbatical and to partially layer theory proposed by L. Prandtl in 1904 is false in fund travel to Sydney, Australia, where she will visit the describing the behavior of fluids at a very high Reynolds University of Sydney during 2019.

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Beck received her PhD from in 2006 recipient of a Marie Curie Fellowship, an NSF Mathematical under the direction of Tasso J. Kaper and C. Eugene Wayne. Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, and an NSF She has held postdoctoral positions at the Mathematical CAREER award. She has also been awarded an Alfred P. Sciences Research Institute, the University of Surrey, and Sloan Foundation Fellowship for 2018. . She became assistant professor at Bos- Kristin L. Umland of Illustrative ton University in 2009 and was a lecturer at Heriot-Watt Mathematics (IM) has been chosen to University in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 2011 to 2013. receive the 2018 Louise Hay Award Since 2015 she has been associate professor at Boston for Contributions to Mathematics University. She held an NSF Mathematical Sciences Post- Education. The prize citation reads doctoral Research Fellowship from 2006 to 2009 and was in part: “Umland’s work has exempli- selected a Sloan Research Fellow for 2012 to 2014. fied a passion for engaging learners The fellowship seeks to give exceptionally talented in worthwhile mathematics while women extra research support during their mid-career seeking to enhance and support years. The fellowship was established in 2017 with a gener- their instruction. She has revamped ous gift from Joan and Joseph Birman. The primary selec- Kristin L. Umland mathematics courses for non-math- tion criterion for the Birman Fellowship is the excellence ematics majors and for prospective of the candidate’s research. The award carries a stipend of teachers, led collaborative professional development US$50,000. Joan Birman explains her decision to establish projects for K-12 teachers in New Mexico, and investigated the prize with AMS as follows: “I feel that my choice to the impact of Math Teachers’ Circles. Recently Umland give money to the AMS rather than to some other worthy has been instrumental in the development of Illustrative organization was the right decision. When I proposed the Mathematics, a heavily used, online mathematics resource Satter Prize, Bill Browder (then AMS president) and oth- that advances improvement in mathematics education ers asked me thoughtful questions that led to small but through a rich, coherent collection of over 1,200 vetted important changes in its structure. The proposal for the instructional tasks, as well as assessment items, lesson Fellowship was similar in that excellent questions were plans, and professional development modules.” Umland asked by people I respect and it was shaped with the help received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago of thoughtful colleagues. I know many good organiza- under the direction of Stephen D. Smith. She served on the tions, but no other where I could feel the same trust that faculty of the University of New Mexico until 2016, when my money will be used well for its intended purpose of she became vice president of IM Product Development. helping more women mathematicians to develop their She received the AMS Award for Impact on the Teaching creative voices.” and Learning of Mathematics in 2017. Erica Flapan of Pomona Col- —Elaine Kehoe lege is the recipient of the 2018 M. Gweneth Humphreys Award for Men- torship of Undergraduate Women in 2018 AWM Awards Mathematics. According to the prize citation, “Flapan’s dedication to her The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) pre- students is exceptional, and she has sented several awards at the Joint Mathematics Meetings received awards for teaching and in San Diego, California, in January 2018. advising at her home institution Lillian Pierce of Duke Univer- as well as at the national level. She sity was awarded the 2018 AWM Sa- Erica Flapan has also devoted many of her sum- dosky Research Prize “in recognition mers to teaching in mathematics of her outstanding contributions programs and institutes, most often at the Summer Math to harmonic analysis and analytic Program for Women at Carleton College. She has served as number theory.” According to the a mentor to more than sixty female undergraduates, many prize citation, “Pierce is one of the of whom have gone on to receive their doctorates and most talented, original and vision- have careers in mathematics.” She received her PhD from ary analysts of her generation. Her the University of Wisconsin—Madison in 1983. She was research spans and connects a broad awarded the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award Lillian Pierce spectrum of problems ranging from of the MAA in 2011, and she is a Fellow of the AMS. Her character sums in number theory to areas of research interest are low-dimensional topology singular integral operators in Euclidean spaces. She has and knot theory. Flapan will become editor in chief of the made far-reaching contributions to the study of discrete Notices of the AMS in January 2019. analogs of harmonic-analytic integral operators, taking Melanie Matchett Wood of the University of Wiscon- inspiration in classical Fourier analysis, but drawing also sin—Madison has been awarded the 2018 AWM-Microsoft on methods from analytic number theory such as the circle Research Prize in Algebra and Number Theory “in recogni- method and diophantine approximation.” She received her tion of her exceptional research achievements in number PhD from Princeton University in 2009 and has been the theory and algebraic geometry.” According to the prize

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citation, “Wood has made deep and Approach,” The Mathematical Intel- influential contributions to number ligencer 37 (2015), no. 4, in which he theory and algebraic geometry. She applies “a colorful method for visu- excels at drawing connections be- alizing a complicated assertion: that tween different areas of mathemat- every nonconstant polynomial with ics. Her work is a truly remarkable complex coefficients has at least synthesis of number theory, alge- one root in the complex numbers.” braic geometry, topology, and prob- Velleman received his PhD from the ability.” Wood received her PhD from University of Wisconsin—Madison Princeton University in 2009 under in 1980. He is the author of How to Melanie Matchett the direction of Manjul Bhargava and Daniel J. Velleman Prove It, Which Way Did the Bicycle Wood has held appointments at the Ameri- Go? (with Joe Konhauser and Stan can Institute of Mathematics, Stan- Wagon), Philosophies of Mathematics (with Alexander ford University, and the Mathematical Sciences Research George), and Calculus: A Rigorous First Course. He was Institute. She won the AMS Morgan Prize in 2004 and an the editor of the American Mathematical Monthly from NSF CAREER Award in 2017. She is a Fellow of the AMS. 2007 through 2011 and is currently associate editor of the Notices. In his spare time, he enjoys singing and play- —From AWM announcements ing volleyball. Matt Parker has been awarded the Euler Book Prize for Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimen- 2018 MAA Awards sion (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) awarded 2014). The prize citation reads in several prizes at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San part: “Parker’s book takes readers on Diego, California, in January 2018. a fascinating mathematical journey Roland van der Veen of Leiden that includes puzzles, paradoxes, University and Jan van de Craats and even 4D space monsters. … of the University of Amsterdam Although the unifying theme in the book is geometry, it also incorpo- have been awarded the 2018 Beck- Matt Parker enbach Book Prize for their book rates ideas from a variety of other The Riemann Hypothesis: A Million fields, including number theory, graph theory, and knot Dollar Problem (MAA Press, 2015). theory. … With the use of witty humor and quirky hand- According to the prize citation, the drawn illustrations, Parker achieves the astounding goal authors “take us on a remarkably of bringing everyday relevance to high-level mathematical compact and efficient journey from concepts in a fun and interactive way. Most importantly, primes and their distribution to the book presents the beauty and fun of mathematics in Roland a way that attracts even the most math phobic of read- van der Veen the Riemann hypothesis. Along the way we are introduced to infinite ers.” Parker is a stand-up comedian and mathematics series, infinite products and com- communicator who appears regularly on TV and online; plex variables and functions.” Van his YouTube videos have been viewed over fifty million de Craats received his PhD from times. Originally trained as a high school teacher, he now Leiden University and is now pro- visits schools around the world to talk to students about fessor emeritus at the University of mathematics as part of the Think Maths organization he Amsterdam. For many years he was founded. Parker is also a recipient of the 2018 Joint Policy trainer and leader of the Dutch In- Board for Mathematics Communications Award. ternational Mathematical Olympiad of Macales- team and is “much appreciated for ter College is the recipient of the 2018 Gung and Hu Award for Dis- his skills in explaining mathematics tinguished Service to Mathematics Jan van de Craats to a general public.” Van der Veen “for his prolific service to many received his PhD from the University professional mathematical societies, of Amsterdam in 2010. His research focuses on the inter- including the Mathematical Associa- play of low-dimensional topology, representation theory, tion of America, for his influential and mathematical physics. He enjoys exploring new ways leadership in exploring the role of of popularizing mathematics. He also enjoys ballroom calculus in our schools and our dancing; in fact, van der Veen gave a dance presentation nation, and for a laudable career during his PhD defense. David Bressoud that has been rich in mathematical Daniel J. Velleman of Amherst College and the Univer- research, mathematics education, sity of Vermont has been awarded the Chauvenet Prize for and mathematical exposition.” He is currently the director his article “The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra: A Visual

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of the Conference Board of Math- ematical Sciences. He received his Ball Awarded Faisal Prize PhD from in 1977 Sir John M. Ball of the University of under Emil Grosswald. Oxford has been awarded the 2018 The Deborah and Franklin Tepper King Faisal Prize for Science for his Haimo Awards for Distinguished “fundamental and groundbreaking College or University Teaching of contributions to nonlinear partial Mathematics were awarded to the differential equations, the calculus following: Gary Gordon of Lafay- of variations, and dynamical sys- ette College; Hortensia Soto of tems.” His recent work on the Lan- Gary Gordon the University of Northern Colorado; dau–de Gennes theory “has greatly and Ronald Taylor, Jr. of Berry stimulated the worldwide study of College. Gordon was recognized “for Sir John M. Ball the mathematics of liquid crystals.” his record of exemplary mathemat- Ball received his DPhil in mechanical ics teaching,” including leading the engineering from the University of Sussex. He is Sedleian Lafayette REU program and as an Professor of Natural Philosophy at Oxford, director of its advocate of educational equity and Centre for Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations, and inclusion. He received his PhD from Fellow of Queen’s College. Ball received the Theodore von the University of North Carolina in Kármán Prize in 1999 with Stuart S. Antman and the Syl- 1983. He is the faculty mentor for La- vester Medal in 2009. He was elected an inaugural Fellow fayette’s baseball team and teaches a of the AMS and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. first-year seminar on baseball. He has served as president of the London Mathematical Hortensia Soto Society (1996–1998) and the International Mathematical Soto was recognized as an “in- Union (2003–2006). novative and caring teacher and an inspiring mentor.” She was born —From a King Faisal Foundation announcement in a sod home built by her dad in Belen del Refujio, Jalisco, Mexico. They migrated to western Nebraska, where she was raised on a farm and Harutyunyan Awarded learned the meaning of work. She Emil Artin Junior Prize spent her summers working in the fields and thus loved when August Davit Harutyunyan of the Uni- rolled around because it meant it versity of California Santa Barbara Ronald Taylor, Jr. was time to go back to school. She has been awarded the 2018 Emil enjoys practicing yoga, meditating, Artin Junior Prize in Mathematics. cooking for others, hiking in Colorado where she lives, and Harutyunyan was chosen for his walking her dog Coco Butter, but her “most favorite thing” paper “Gaussian Curvature as an is spending time with her son, Miguel, who is a sophomore Identifier of Shell Rigidity,” Archive in college. Soto received her PhD from the University of for Rational Mechanics and Analysis Northern Colorado. 226 (2017). Taylor “brings a unique blend of student-centered Established in 2001, the Emil learning, creativity, and tireless dedication that both Davit Artin Junior Prize in Mathematics inspires and enables” his students to pursue mathemat- Harutyunyan carries a cash award of US$1,000 and ics. He has had a nationwide effect on the teaching of is presented usually every year to a student or former student of an Armenian educational mathematics through his work supporting Inquiry Based institution under the age of thirty-five for outstanding Learning instruction. He has taught at a summer camp for contributions to algebra, geometry, topology, and number middle school girls and a summer math course to minority theory—the fields in which Emil Artin made major contri- students. He also holds summer workshops for in-service butions. The prize committee consisted of A. Basmajian, teachers. He received his PhD from Bowling Green State Y. Movsisyan, and V. Pambuccian. University. He taught martial arts at Berry College and has had roles with Berry’s athletic department and the local —Victor Pambuccian minor league baseball team, “where he has been lucky New College, Arizona State University enough to be paid to sit and watch sports.”

—From MAA announcements

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Photo Credits 2018 Sloan Fellows Photo of Toan T. Nguyen courtesy of Thanh Tran. Photo of Margaret Beck courtesy of Margaret Beck. Announced Photo of Lillian Pierce courtesy of AWM. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has announced the names Photo of Kristin L. Umland courtesy of Kristin L. Umland. of the recipients of the 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships. Photo of Erica Flapan courtesy of Deanna Haunsperger. Each year the foundation awards fellowships in the fields Photo of Melanie Matchett Wood courtesy of AWM. of mathematics, chemistry, computational and evolu- Photo of Roland van der Veen courtesy of Roland van der Veen. tionary molecular biology, computer science, econom- Photo of Jan van de Craats courtesy of Ineke van de Craats- ics, neuroscience, physics, and ocean sciences. Grants Oosterwold. Photo of Daniel Velleman courtesy of Henry Amistadi, Amherst of US$60,000 for a two-year period are administered by College. each Fellow’s institution. Once chosen, Fellows are free to Photo of Matt Parker courtesy of Steve Ullathorne. pursue whatever lines of inquiry most interest them, and Photo of David Bressoud by Jan Bressoud. they are permitted to employ Fellowship funds in a wide Photo of Gary Gordon courtesy of Gary Gordon. variety of ways to further their research aims. Photo of Hortensia Soto courtesy of Photography by Desiree. Following are the names and institutions of the 2018 Photo of Ronald Taylor Jr. courtesy of the AMS, by Kate Awtrey awardees in the mathematical sciences. Atlanta Convention Photography. • Jennifer Balakrishnan, Boston University Photo of Sir John M. Ball courtesy of PRNewsfoto/King Faisal Prize. • Afonso S. Bandeira, New York University Photo of Davit Harutyunyan courtesy of Davit Harutyunyan. • Tamara Broderick, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology • Joan Bruna Estrach, New York University • Yaiza Canzani, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • Melody Chan, Brown University • Tristan Collins, • Marcelo Disconzi, Vanderbilt University • Robert Haslhofer, University of Toronto, Scarbor- ough • Miranda Holmes-Cerfon, New York University • Tye Lidman, North Carolina State University • Joe Neeman, University of Texas, Austin • Andrei Negut˛, Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Lillian Pierce, Duke University • Arul Shankar, University of Toronto • Stefan Steinerberger, Yale University • Giulio Tiozzo, University of Toronto • Thomas Walpuski, Michigan State University • Lutz Warnke, Georgia Institute of Technology • Yihong Wu, Yale University

—From a Sloan Foundation announcement

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