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THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Department of Mathematics News
JUNE 2025
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Message from the Chair
The spring semester has been exceptionally busy, marked by the hiring of new faculty and postdoctoral researchers and the admission of new graduate and undergraduate students. We were privileged to host numerous speakers for our distinguished lectures, including Andrew Stewart from Caltech for the Aziz Lecture and Arthur Benjamin from Harvey Mudd for the Kirwan Undergraduate Lecture. The Brin Mathematics Research Center has further solidified its position as a central hub for the department's research activities.
In today’s era of artificial intelligence and machine learning, mathematics is experiencing a surge in popularity. The number of undergraduate mathematics majors reached an all-time high, with over 850 students enrolled. Our courses are brimming with eager learners, and we are thrilled to witness this trend!
We also graduated over 35 Ph.D. students this spring—the most ever! Congratulations to all of our graduates! We wish you the very best as you embark on the next steps in your professional careers and personal lives.
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Joe Auslander, just months shy of his 95th birthday. He passed away shortly after working on a math problem, merely a day after attending our Spring Dynamics Conference. Joe was a cherished member of our department, and his absence is profoundly felt.
Congratulations to our colleagues Dan Cristofaro-Gardiner, Yu Gu and Vince Lyzinski, who have been promoted to professor. We also extend our heartfelt wishes to Michael Jakobson, who is retiring after an impressive 37 years with our department. We wish Michael a wonderful and relaxing retirement.
We are excited to welcome several new faculty members to the department: Associate Professor Or Hershkovitts, specializing in geometric analysis and joining us from Hebrew University; Associate Professor Chris Henderson, an expert in partial differential equations coming from Arizona State University; Assistant Professor Sri Kunnawalkam Elayavalli, who focuses on operator algebras and joins us from UC San Diego; Assistant Professor Andy Senger, specializing in homotopy theory and joining us from Harvard; and Assistant Professor Bogdan Zavyalov, working in number theory and coming from Princeton.
Wishing you a great summer break, ~Doron |
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FACULTY & STAFF NEWS |
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Keeping an ‘Open Mind’ in Math
As director of UMD’s applied mathematics & statistics, and scientific computation graduate program, Professor Radu Balan oversees many branches of math—and much more. READ MORE » |
From Math Olympiad to Diplomacy
Maryland Global sits down with Visiting Professor Qëndrim Gashi for a Q&A session. READ MORE » |
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Visiting Professor Pays Homage to WWII’s Unsung Mathematicians
For more than two decades, Zbigniew Błocki has been sharing the story of the Polish codebreakers who helped crack Nazi Germany’s Enigma machine—with math. READ MORE » |
Professor Abba Gumel Answers Questions About the Math Behind Infectious Disease
The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences hosted a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything spotlighting epidemic modeling research. READ MORE » |
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Meet Brin Mathematics Research Center Coordinator Natalie Kinnear
She grew up in a Terp family and found her way from Los Angeles to College Park in 2018. READ MORE » |
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DEPARTMENT NEWS |
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Brin Mathematics Research Center Hosted Seven Workshops and Three Distinguished Lectures This Spring
Three workshops, a summer school and a high school camp are planned for this summer. READ MORE » |
Solving the Race in Backgammon
Arthur Benjamin from Harvey Mudd College presents the Kirwan Undergraduate Lecture. READ MORE » |
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Department Hosts College’s Pi Day Celebration in Kirwan Hall
Professor Emeritus Denny Gulick recited 100 digits of pi and faculty, staff and students enjoyed dessert pies. READ MORE » |
Faculty Members, Alumni and Students Receive Awards
Read more about the members of our community who have been honored recently for their outstanding contributions to the university and the field of mathematics. READ MORE » |
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STUDENT NEWS |
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High School Students Leap Ahead with UMD Math Credit Program
Recent high school graduates can bypass sophomore math requirements by taking exams to earn college math credits at UMD. READ MORE » |
Three Mathematics Majors Awarded 2025 Goldwater Scholarships
Harikesh Kailad, Luiz Mata Lopez and Benjamin Raufman were among 441 Goldwater Scholars selected from 1,350 nominees nationally. READ MORE » |
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UMD Ranks No. 7 at William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
The team members included Daniel Yuan, Isaac Mammel and Clarence Lam. READ MORE » |
From Functions to Firmware
Senior mathematics and computer science double major Alex Yelovich’s passion for numbers helped him thrive in UMD’s Math and Robotics clubs. READ MORE » |
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Exploring the Mathematics of Uncertainty
Mathematics major Jerome Mathew wants to make a low-profile yet vital profession more accessible to students. READ MORE » |
Casting a Media Spotlight on Math
From promoting Pi Day on live TV to penning articles in Scientific American, Max Springer (Ph.D. ’25, applied mathematics & statistics, and scientific computation) brings math to the masses. READ MORE » |
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When Math and Computation Collide
Applied mathematics & statistics, and scientific computation Ph.D. student Shashank Sule (M.S. ’24, AMSC) helps develop methods that could improve brain disease diagnostics and molecular simulations. READ MORE » |
Jade LeSchack Selected as Student Speaker for College’s Commencement Ceremony
She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in physics. READ MORE » |
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ALUMNI & DONOR NEWS |
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Getting Down to Business with AI
At Google Cloud, Valerie Hyde (M.S. ’05, Ph.D. ’07, applied mathematics, statistics, and scientific computation) taps into cutting-edge technologies to take business enterprises into the future. READ MORE » |
A Path to Math, Mentoring and More
For Ken Weiner (M.A. ’69, Ph.D. ’75, mathematics), a knack for math and a passion for teaching led to a 37-year career as a mathematics professor and a game-changing nonprofit that helps at-risk students succeed. READ MORE » |
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EVENTS |
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Brin Maryland Mathematics Camp
Organizers: Tod Rowland (Maryland), Larry Washington (Maryland)
LEARN MORE » |
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Stochastic PDEs
Organizers: Raluca Balan (University of Ottawa), Mickey Salins (Boston University), Samy Tindel (Purdue University)
LEARN MORE » |
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Random Dynamical Systems, Partial Differential Equations, and Stochastic Analysis
Organizers: Jacob Bedrossian (UCLA), Alex Blumenthal (Georgia Tech), and Sam Punshon-Smith (Tulane)
LEARN MORE » |
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Summer School: Scientific Machine Learning
Organizers: Ke Chen (Delaware), Ling Liang (Maryland), Deep Ray (Maryland) and Haizhao Yang (Maryland)
LEARN MORE » |
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Recent Developments Sparse Equidistribution
Organizers: Adam Kanigowski (Maryland) and Maksym Radziwill (Northwestern)
LEARN MORE » |
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Counting Invariants and Enumerative Geometry
Organizers: Dori Bejleri (Maryland), Amin Gholampour (Maryland), Dhruv Ranganathan (University of Cambridge)
LEARN MORE » |
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North American Descriptive Set Theory Meeting
Organizers: Filippo Calderoni (Rutgers University), Christian Rosendal (Maryland), Jenna Zomback (Maryland)
LEARN MORE » |
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Complex and p-Adic Simpson Correspondence Organizers: Patrick Brosnan (Maryland), Niranjan Ramachandran (Maryland), Bogdan Zavyalov (Maryland)
LEARN MORE » |
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The Interplay Between Distance Geometry, Combinatorics, and Coding Theory Organizers: Alexander Barg (Maryland), Peter Boyvalenkov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Qëndrim Gashi (Maryland)
LEARN MORE » |
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From Dynamics to C*-Algebras and Back Again: Exploring Topological Invariants
Organizers: Scott Schmieding (Penn State University), Rodrigo Trevino (Maryland), Mike Whittaker (University of Glasgow)
LEARN MORE » |
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We'd Love to Hear From You! |
If you recently received an award or landed a new job, please send a brief description to math-news@umd.edu so that we can share the great things you're doing with our community. |
We are grateful to alumni and friends whose generosity supports current and future students. To learn more about how you can make a difference, please visit go.umd.edu/givetomath. |
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Department of Mathematics / College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland
William E. Kirwan Hall / 4176 Campus Drive / College Park, MD 20742
301.405.5047 / math@umd.edu
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