Department of Mathematics
On the morning I visited Rann Bar-On’s Math 106 class, the first thing that struck me was the layout of the room. The desks were arranged in squares, with two to five students clustered around each. The students faced inwards, an arrangement that encouraged them to engage with each other, rather than watch their professor. Bar-On wouldn’t have it any other way. A senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematics specialized in early undergraduate math education, Bar-On has been teaching Duke’s introductory first year… read more about Calculus Classes Dismantle Barriers to STEM Success »
Duke Math is excited to announce three new assistant professors and nine assistant research professors starting July 1. Assistant Professors: Alexander Dunlap Stochastic partial differential equations, random geometry, theoretical data science Courant Institute of the Mathematical Sciences Di Fang Theory of quantum computation Simons Quantum Postdoctoral Fellow University of California, Berkeley Fan Wei Combinatorics, graph theory, and applications to theoretical computer science Princeton University… read more about Duke Math Announces New Hires for Upcoming Academic Year »
For Duke math, science and engineering professors, Pi Day presents a special opportunity to talk about their favorite equations and mathematical uses of Pi. Here's three examples from previous years showcasing Duke faculty why this irrational number is essential to making the world around us seem more rational. Jonathan Mattingly and other math professors share what Pi means to them. (2019) Ingrid Daubechies, the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke,… read more about Celebrating Pi Day with Duke Mathematicians »
Susan Athey, T’ 91, has been elected president of the American Economic Association. Athey, a triple Economics/Mathematics/Computer Science alumna and professor of economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business will serve for the 2023 year. The American Economic Association (AEA) is a professional organization of economists that aims to promote excellence in the field of economics. The association has a wide range of initiatives and programs that serve its members and advance the discipline of economics. Athey is… read more about Duke Economics Alumna Elected President of the American Economic Association »
DURHAM, N.C. -- On a chilly Friday afternoon in December, some twenty sixth-graders at Durham’s Central Park School for Children huddled together in groups of four, trying to unsnarl pairs of tangled ropes. While each person kept hold of one end, they ducked under each other’s arms and changed places in various ways in what looked like a square dance. Their task was to disentangle the ropes using only two moves. They could either do something called a twist: One student lifts the rope in her hand while another student… read more about Duke Math Department Helps Durham Kids Learn to Think like Mathematicians »
DURHAM, N.C. — First it was Alpha. Then Delta. Now Omicron and its alphabet soup of subvariants. In the three years since the coronavirus pandemic started, every few months or so a new strain seems to go around, only to be outdone by the next one. If the constant rise and fall of new coronavirus variants has left you feeling dizzy, you’re not alone. But where most people see a pandemic roller coaster, one Duke team sees a mathematical pattern. In a new study, a group of students led by Duke mathematician Rick Durrett … read more about Modeling the COVID 19 Roller Coaster »
One Duke alumna and a Duke senior have been named in the inaugural class of Quad Fellows, a new scholarship that provides funding for graduate research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This scholarship is supported by the governments of the United States, India, Australia, and Japan. Alumna Raahina Malik, and current senior Jenny Huang will be a part of a cohort of 100 masters and doctoral STEM students studying in the United States. The fellowship develops a network of science and technology… read more about Alumna, Senior Selected for New Quad Fellowship in STEM Fields »
With its talks, panels and social activities, the GROW 2022: Graduate Research Opportunities for Women conference encouraged more women (cisgender, transgender or woman-identified) and nonbinary undergraduates to apply to graduate school in mathematics. Following the three-day event, held in late October at Duke University, 89 percent of the undergraduate attendees said they are more likely or very likely to attend math grad school. That’s up from 72 percent before the conference. Now in its eight year, GROW… read more about Duke Hosts Successful GROW Conference »
A research paper resulting from an undergraduate project that looked at mathematical questions arising from the COVID epidemic has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper, “Selective Sweeps in SARS-CoV-2 Variant Competition,” is scheduled for publication later this month. The paper was created as part of DOmath 2022, the annual summer program for collaborative student research in all areas of mathematics. The COVID project team and authors of the research paper was… read more about Paper from Undergrad Research Project Selected for PNAS Publication »
DURHAM, N.C. – Two Duke University seniors were among the recipients selected this weekend for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Qi Xuan Khoo and Shreyas Hallur were chosen from among many applicants from colleges and universities. Hallur received one of the 32 scholarships available to students from the United States, while Khoo won the only scholarship available to Malaysian citizens. The scholarships provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. Recipients are selected… read more about Two Duke Seniors Win Rhodes Scholarships »
Duke Mathematics Professors Kirsten Graham Wickelgren and Jianfeng Lu were named 2023 Fellows of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) for 2023. The honor is presented to those for their outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication, and utilization of mathematics. Wickelgren was cited for her contributions to algebraic topology, algebraic geometry, and number theory. Lu was recognized for his contributions to applied mathematics, electronic structure theory, and high dimensional… read more about Two Math Professors Named Fellows of AMS »
Amy Goldberg’s passion for human evolution probably started with the genetic anthropology books her father poured over during his Ph.D. studies. “I remember very clearly sitting and looking at one of his big textbooks and sounding out the word au-stra-lo-pith-e-cus when I was maybe nine or 10 years old,” she recalled. Goldberg is an assistant professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, Mathematics and Biology, which indicates how interdisciplinary her background is. While shared appointments between Biology and Evolutionary… read more about With Amy Goldberg, Mathematics Meets Genetics to Decode Our Evolutionary Past »
An interdisciplinary team of Duke researchers – Assistant Professors of the Practice Shira Viel (Mathematics), Maria Tackett (Statistical Science) and Tori Akin (Mathematics) – have joined a seven-institution research collaboration investigating how mathematics departments engage with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As part of ACT UP Math (Achieving Critical Transformation in Undergraduate Programs in Mathematics) project – a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (… read more about Team Awarded NSF Grant to Research DEI in Introductory Math »
The Office for Research & Innovation has awarded funding to eight, interdisciplinary projects as part of the inaugural Duke Science and Technology (DST) Launch Seed Grant Program. This year’s winners include faculty from multiple disciplines across campus and the School of Medicine who were selected out of 61 proposal finalists for initiating high-impact projects that could lead to additional external funding. “The quality of innovative ideas our faculty have for advancing collaborative research projects continues to… read more about Meet the Winners of the 2022 DST Launch Seed Grants »
The 2022 International Congress of Mathematicians – a virtual event this year – featured presentations from two Duke Mathematics professors. The event was held July 6-14. Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Professor Lillian B. Pierce presented "The Hedgehog and the Fox," discussing an array of recent theorems, questions, and phenomena that can be profitably considered from viewpoints originating in the borderland between number theory and analysis. Professor of Mathematics Samit Dasgupta… read more about Duke Mathematicians Present at 2022 International Congress of Mathematicians »
Professor of mathematics Jessica Fintzen has won a prize for her groundbreaking work in the so-called Langlands program, which connects two areas of mathematics: number theory (the study of integers and prime numbers) and representation theory, which involves studying complex objects by representing them with simpler objects like matrices. She focused on p-adic groups, which are matrices associated with a prime number. According to the prize citation, “The novel geometric techniques she introduced open up entirely new… read more about Duke Professor Wins Prize for Building Mathematical Bridges »
Mathematics Professor Hongkai Zhao was among 24 Duke faculty members awarded distinguished professorships for faculty excellence. Zhao's professorship - the Ruth F. DeVarney Professor - is effective July 1, 2022. Appointment to a distinguished professorship is the highest honor the university can bestow upon a member of the faculty, recognizing faculty who are well-established members of the Duke academic community and who have also achieved distinction as creative scholars in their field or in their ability to transcend… read more about Hongkai Zhao Awarded Distinguished Professorship »
Duke University has awarded distinguished professorships to 24 faculty members representing five Duke colleges and schools. The 2022 honorees, as well as those distinguished professors named in 2021 and 2020, were recognized by President Vincent Price and Provost Sally Kornbluth during a reception at the Karsh Alumni and Visitors Center Wednesday evening. Appointment to a distinguished professorship is the highest honor the university can bestow upon a member of the faculty, recognizing faculty who are well-established… read more about Economist, Mathematician Awarded Distinguished Professorships »
One important academic lesson of the pandemic was that despite COVID restrictions, many Duke undergraduate students continued to conduct valuable research in collaboration with faculty members. This week, that research was showcased when three juniors were named Faculty Scholars, the university’s highest honor for students presented by faculty. The awards went to Patrick Duan, for research studying historical dynamics of racial and ethnic minorities; Jenny (Yijian) Huang, for developing new statistical methodology for… read more about Three Juniors Selected as Faculty Scholars for Excellence in Research »
Graduate and professional programs across the university scored highly in U.S. News and World Report’s list of “2023 Best Graduate Schools.” The Duke University School of Nursing ranked second overall in the country. In addition, several MSN Nurse Practitioner specialty programs were highly ranked: Family (first) Adult-Gerontology Primary Care (first) Nursing Administration (first) Psychiatric/Mental Health Across the Life Span (first) Adult-Gerontology Acute Care (second) Duke was ranked second among… read more about Duke Graduate Programs Get High Marks in 2022 US News Rankings »
When not advancing number theory through her own research, Duke math professor Lillian Pierce has spent much of her academic career making other mathematicians' work more accessible. "It was a really important experience for me to spend time deeply learning someone else’s work, even though I wasn’t trying to use it at that moment for my own research," she tells Quanta magazine. "It was a kind of community service." read more about In Music and Math, Lillian Pierce Builds Mental Landscapes »