PRIMES Alum Earns Morgan Prize

PRIMES alumnus Ravi Jagadeesan uses his bagel to explain the concept of a Riemann surface as part of his 2013 PRIMES presentation. Now a PhD at Harvard, he received the 2019 AMS-MAA-SIAM Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student. In his acceptance note, Ravi thanked PRIMES and Pavel Etingof.

Congratulations Ravi!

PRIMES Names Lusztig Mentors

From left, Christian Gaetz, Zhulin Li, Chris Ryba, and Professor George Lusztig, at our Mathematics Department Winter Social.

For the upcoming year, Christian Gaetz, Zhulin Li, and Chris Ryba have been selected as 2019 George Lusztig PRIMES mentors.

Christian has served as a PRIMES, DRP, and UROP+ mentor since 2017. His PRIMES student Ayush Agarwal is a 2018 Regeneron STS scholar.

Zhulin has served as a PRIMES, RSI, and DRP mentor since January 2017.

Chris has served as a PRIMES and UROP+ mentor since 2017. His PRIMES student Mihir Singhal is a 2018 Regeneron STS scholar.

Congratulations to Christian, Zhulin, and Chris, and thank you Professor George Lusztig for making the Lusztig mentorship possible!

Radha Mastandrea and Kyle Swanson Named 2019 Marshall Scholars

Senior Radha Mastandrea and Kyle Swanson ’18 are among five MIT students awarded Marshall Scholarships.

Radha, a physics and mathematics double major, will study theoretical and experimental physics at Cambridge University before returning to the United States to pursue her PhD in high-energy particle physics.

Kyle graduated with a double major in mathematics and computer science, and a minor in music, and will receive his MEng in computer science and engineering this spring. As a Marshall Scholar, Swanson will study mathematics and computer science at Cambridge.

Five Are Named 2019 AMS Fellows

Bonnie Berger, Larry Guth, Elchanan Mossel, Zhiwei Yun, and Wei Zhang were among 65 mathematical scientists selected for the 2019 Class of American Mathematical Society Fellows.

They were recognized for “outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication, and utilization of mathematics,” with the following citations:

• Bonnie Berger for contributions to computational biology, bioinformatics, algorithms, and for mentoring;
• Larry Guth for contributions to harmonic analysis, combinatorics, and geometry, and for exposition of high-level mathematics;
• Elchanan Mossel for contributions to probability, combinatorics, computing, and especially the interface between them;
• Zhiwei Yun for contributions to geometry, number theory, and representation theory, including his construction of motives with exceptional Galois groups;
• Wei Zhang for contributions to number theory, algebraic geometry, and geometric representation theory.

Congratulations Bonnie, Larry, Elchanan, Zhiwei, and Wei!