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 based… 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… 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… 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 Doctor of… 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 »
Three Duke University undergraduates nominated for the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship have won the federally endowed award that encourages students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.Ella Gunady, Aditya Paul and Tanner Zachem are among 417 students awarded Goldwater Scholarships on Friday for the 2021-2022 academic year. The Goldwater Scholars were chosen on the basis of academic merit from a pool of 1,242 natural science, engineering, and mathematics students… read more about Three Undergraduate Scientists and Engineers Named 2022 Goldwater Scholars »
On a Saturday last September, Adam Levine was antsy to get his hands on that day’s copy of The New York Times because of the crossword puzzle. He didn’t have home delivery, and when he ventured out to buy a paper, the newspaper was sold out. A lifelong fan of crosswords, he had no intention of doing the puzzle. He knew all of the answers. After all, he wrote the thing. When he’s not researching or teaching topology – the study of shapes of spaces – Levine enjoys the challenge of stitching together complicated knots of… read more about A Big Crossword Puzzle Stage »
Filling out March Madness brackets is a national pastime -- and almost impossible to perfect. “The odds of picking the perfect 63-game bracket completely randomly is 1 in about 10 quintillion, or about 1 in 10 billion billion,” said Ezra Miller, a professor of mathematics and statistical science. “But using only superficial data about how the tournament has gone in the past, an informed fan can pick a bracket that has roughly 1 chance in 2 billion of being perfect.” An estimated 40 million people fill out… read more about Mathematics Professor Breaks Down the Statistics Behind Bracketology »
Ingrid Daubechies celebrates Pi day not by baking pie, but baking cookies cut out using a Pi symbol cookie cutter she designed herself and had specially 3D printed. Daubechies, the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the first woman to recieve the National Academy of Sciences Award in Mathematics. She played a critical role in the math behind JPEG 2000 image compression. Much of her love of math was inspired by… read more about Professor of Mathematics Ingrid Daubechies Bakes Cookies for Pi Day »
“These are from Alina, they're really quite funny,” said Bruce Donald, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics, while scrolling through TikTok on his iPad. Donald explained that while he may have quite a few citations under his belt, there’s something his students have that he doesn’t: twenty thousand views on TikTok. He makes use of the social media app’s precise algorithm to show videos made by other students in his section of CS230: Discrete Mathematics for Computer… read more about Math TikTok Don’t Stop »
Assistant Research Professors Anna Nelson and Maggie Regan were one of thirteen projects to receive a Faculty Advancement Seed Grant. The grants provide financial foundation for faculty-led novel development initiatives within academic units that aim to foster a sense of community and a welcoming and respectful climate for all members. Anna and Maggie's project aims to do just that. Building on a student-led math social club that encourages discussion among interested members of the Duke community, the Faculty-… read more about Profs Nelson and Regan awarded Seed Grant to build Duke Math community »
The Computing Research Association (CRA) recognizes undergraduate students in North American colleges and universities who show outstanding potential in an area of computing research. Recipients of the Outstanding Undergraduate Award show excellence in research, have excellent academic records and will have engaged in some form of service. In this competition, there were four awardees, four runner-ups, 20 finalists, and Honorable Mentions. Xinyu (Norah) Tan who recently graduated from Duke, majoring… read more about Math majors receive recognition from the CRA »
