Department of Mathematics
The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize, the Gauss Prize, and the Chern Medal are awarded during the congress's opening ceremony. Each congress is memorialized by a printed set of Proceedings recording academic papers based on invited talks… read more about Duke Math professors to speak at ICM »
Scholars, practitioners and advocates will examine the legal and political landscape of redistricting, preview the ongoing process in North Carolina and around the country, and discuss reforms during a conference Sept. 28-29 at Duke. “Redistricting and American Democracy” will also give Duke students and the general public an opportunity to learn how redistricting will impact them -- and what they can do about it. Attendance at in-person events is limited to individuals with a Duke ID plus invited guests. All… read more about The Past, Present and Future of Redistricting in North Carolina and Beyond »
In March of 2020, thousands of Duke staff and faculty began working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A pre-pandemic calendar still hangs in the office of Alumni Engagement & Development. Photo courtesy Mark Wienants. In the roughly 18 months since, many members of the Duke workforce have gradually returned to work on-site, cleaning off desks filled with old calendars and notes, and catching up with colleagues they may not have seen in more than a year. We asked… read more about Reflections on Returning to Work on Campus »
Duke Math's Ingrid Daubechies is lauded in the NY Times article, "The Godmother of the Digital Image." Check out this article that chronicles Ingrid's work and life - it begins with: In the summer of 2010, while preparing for a long research trip to Madagascar, the mathematician Ingrid Daubechies bought a 50-inch flat-screen TV for her husband, so he could invite friends over to watch Premier League soccer games. After setting it up, the couple turned on a match, and while Daubechies’ husband, the mathematician and… read more about The Godmother of the Digital Image »
Duke Math graduate student Stephen McKean was awarded a Bass Instructional Fellowship this year, for which he designed the course "The Art of Proof." The Bass Instructional Fellowship provides funded, semester-long teaching opportunities for PhD students. Applicants design a prospective course, and Bass Instructional Fellowships are awarded competitively based on the pedagogical preparation of the applicant, as well as the likelihood of strong undergraduate interest in the proposed course. The Art of Proof is a… read more about Stephen McKean teaches "The Art of Proof" - Bass Instructional Fellowship »
Graduate student Jack McErlean has been accepted into the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The program is the country’s oldest fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM fields. The GRFP provides three years of support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant research achievements in STEM or STEM education. Jack is an incoming graduate student, and is broadly… read more about Jack McErlean awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship »
When he was an undergraduate political science student, Kerry Haynie was never taught about the 1921 Tulsa massacre. Nor was there much discussion about the role of race in the founding political documents of this country or much examination of how race influenced public services such as sewer lines and zoning. In one sense, a lot has changed. In 2021, Duke’s faculty includes a strong lineup of leading scholars who examine how race is embedded in issues that cross all the schools of the university. This fall, many of… read more about University Course Raises Race as a Central Element of Undergraduate Education »
Hilbert’s 12th problem asked for novel analogues of the roots of unity, the building blocks for certain number systems. Samit Dasgupta of Duke University and Mahesh Kakde of the Indian Institute of Science have finally found some of the numerical building blocks David Hilbert asked about more than 100 years ago. Last year they had a breakthrough. They were able to prove that the precise building blocks associated to totally real fields exist. In other words, they knew that the desired objects were… read more about Mathematicians find long-sought building blocks for special polynomials »
The National Science Foundation presents the Alan Waterman Award, the government’s highest honor for an early career scientist or engineer, to only two researchers every year. This year, both winners are part of the Duke community. The award will be shared by Nicholas Carnes, the Creed C. Black Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science in the Sanford School of Public Policy, and Duke alumna Melanie Wood, a mathematician at Harvard University. Both will receive a five-year $1 million research grant. Duke… read more about Duke Faculty Member, Alumna Win Nation's Highest Honor for Early-Career Scientists and Engineers »
From SIAM News: Jonathan Christopher Mattingly of Duke University has been selected to deliver the 2021 I.E. Block Community Lecture, one of the highest honors of SIAM in recognition of deep and varied contributions to the computational science and applied mathematics community. He will be presenting the lecture at the SIAM Annual Meeting (AN21) which will be taking place virtually July 19 -23, 2021. The I.E. Block Community Lecture is open to the public and will be livestreamed on… read more about 2021 SIAM (AN21) - I. E. Block Community lecture given by Jonathan Mattingly »
In a challenging year for collaboration, three members of the Class of 2022 are being honored for using the moment to ask big research questions and produce scholarship that shows originality and creative thinking. Katherine Gan, Logan Glasstetter and Xinyu (Norah) Tan are the recipients of this year’s Faculty Scholars Awards, the highest bestowed by Duke faculty on undergraduates with a record of independent research and scholarship. Working across three different disciplines, the students have already produced… read more about The 2021 Faculty Scholars: Three Undergraduates Showing an Exceptional Research Record »
Six members of the Class of 2022 have been named to the inaugural class of Nakayama Scholars. Juniors Sydney Albert, Carlee Goldberg, Erica Langan, Yi Xian “Lyndon” Lee, Ahn-Huy Nguyen, and Micalyn Struble were chosen for their stellar academics, leadership and demonstrated commitment to a career in public service. The Nakayama Public Service Scholarship is part of the university’s efforts to encourage students to use their Duke experience to engage with the large challenges facing communities around the world. The… read more about Six Students Named Inaugural Nakayama Public Service Scholars »
Duke Math's Norah Tan has been designated a Faculty Scholar for the Class of 2022. This is the highest honor that the faculty of Duke University awards its undergraduates, and is only awarded to three to five students each year. The members of the committee look at overall grad point average, evidence of independent work, the potential for innovative scholarship, and the intention to pursue a scholarly career. Norah's intellectual engagement and remarkable scholarly accomplishments earned her… read more about Math major Norah Tan named Faculty Scholar »
Robert Calderbank, Professor of Mathematics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics, is being recognized for his deep contributions to information theory by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics as a 2021 SIAM Fellow. These distinguished members are nominated for their exemplary research as well as outstanding service to the community. Through their contributions, SIAM Fellows help advance the fields of applied mathematics and computational science. You can read more about SIAM here. read more about Robert Calderbank nominated as SIAM Fellow »
Nathaniel “Nat” B. White Jr., one of the first five Black undergraduate students at Duke, died March 19 in Atlanta. He was 75. White matriculated at Duke in 1963 along with Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, Gene Kendall, Mary Mitchell Harris and Cassandra Smith Rush. With White’s death, Kendall is the last surviving member of the original five. Born and raised in Durham, White attended Hillside High School. In a PBS-NC interview in 2013, White explained that he had intended to go to Hampton Institute, his father’… read more about Nathaniel White Jr., One of First Black Undergraduates at Duke, Dies at Age 75 »
In honor of Women’s History Month, SIAM is spotlighting female mathematicians throughout March. Dr. Talitha Washington is the inaugural Director of the Atlanta University Center Data Science Initiative, a Professor of Mathematics at Clark Atlanta University, and an affiliate faculty at Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College. Dr. Washington was a VIGRE Research Associate in the Department of Mathematics at Duke University. Dr. Washington’s research interests include the… read more about SIAM honors Professor Talitha Washington »
Social justice refers to fair relations between individuals and society, including issues such as equity, diversity, and inclusion. While the study of social justice historically has been rooted in the social sciences and humanities, mathematics and computation provide complementary and powerful approaches. Tools from dynamical systems, network science, applied topology, stochastic processes, data mining, and more have been applied to issues ranging from voting to hate speech. ICERM, the Institute for Computational and… read more about Mathematical and Computational Approaches to Social Justice »