Gala Opening Conference

Newman Alumni Center

Speakers

1. Jorgen Andersen is Professor of Mathematics and Director of the Center for Quantum Geometry of Moduli Spaces at Aarhus University in Denmark. He is world expert in topology, geometry and mathematical physics and the editor of the Journal Of Knot Theory and its Ramifications. He is the recipient of a highly prestigious ERC Synergy Grant entitled ReNew Quantum.
2. Denis Auroux is a world renowned expert in symplectic geometry, low dimensional topology and mirror symmetry. He is Professor of Mathematics at Harvard. He was a 2005 Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, an Invited Speaker at the 2010 International Congress of Mathematicians, and a 2014 Simons Fellow.
3. Ingrid Daubechies is the world’s leading expert in the mathematical methods that enhance image compression technology. She is James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics at Duke University and was President of the International Mathematical Union from 2011 to 2014. Between 1992 and 1997 she was a MacArthur Fellow and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. She won the NAS Award in Mathematics in 2000 and Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research from the American Mathematical Society in 2011. She was granted the title of Baroness by King Albert II of Belgium in 2012.
4. Sir Simon Donaldson is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a permanent member of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University and Professor in Pure Mathematics at Imperial College London. He received the Fields Medal in 1986 and the Crafoord Prize in 1994. He was a 2014 recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics for his research on invariants for 4-manifolds and his study of the relation between stability in algebraic geometry and in global differential geometry. He was knighted in 2012 for his services to mathematics.
5. Phillip Griffiths is one of the most influential geometers of the past half century who has had a singular impact on mathematics and science at large through his service in numerous capacities. Among them, he was Provost at Duke from 1983 to 1991, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study from 1991 to 2003, Secretary of the International Mathematical Union from 1999 to 2006, and member of the National Science Board from 1991 to 1996. He was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1979. He is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at IAS and Arts and Sciences Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami.
6. Alan Hastings is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California at Davis. His research interests lie in a range of topics in theoretical ecology and population biology, and more generally in mathematical biology. He is the 2006 recipient of the Robert H. MacArthur Award from the Ecological Society of America. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015.
7. Maxim Kontsevich is a 1998 Fields Medalist, a 2008 Crafoord Prize winner in 2008, and a 2012 recipient of the Fundamental Physics Prize, and an inaugural 2014 recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics. He was elected to the National Academy of Science in 2015 as a Foreign Associate. His work draws from modern theoretical physics to make fundamental and revolutionary advances in mathematics. He is Professor of Mathematics at IHES and Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of Miami.
8. Ernesto Lupercio is internationally known for his contributions to algebraic topology, geometry and mathematical physics. He was awarded the ICTP Ramanujan Prize and the TWAS Rolac Young Scholar Prize in 2009. He is currently Researcher at CINVESTAV in Mexico City.
9. John Morgan is a 2009 inductee into the National Academy of Sciences and a 2012 inaugural Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He is a world expert in geometry and topology and was the first Director of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University. He was awarded a Gauss Lectureship by the German Mathematical Society in 2008.
10. James Simons is world renowned for his contributions to the topology and geometry of manifolds and received the 1976 Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry from the American Mathematical Society. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2014. He is the co-founder of Renaissance Technologies and in 1994 he and his wife Dr. Marilyn Simons co-founded the Simons Foundation, a major supporter of scientific research and projects related to education and research.
11. Richard Stanley is one of the world’s foremost experts in combinatorics and its applications. He was the Norman Levinson Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT and is Arts and Sciences Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995, and received the 2001 Steele Prize for mathematical exposition from the American Mathematical Society in 2001 and Schock Prize from the Swedish Royal Academy in 2003.
12. Mina Teicher is Professor in the Department of Mathematics and the the Gonda Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and the Director of the Emmy Noether Institute for Mathematics. Her research interests range from algebraic geometry to neuro-mathematics. She was the initial recipient of the Emmy Noether Professorship from the University of Gottingen, the chief scientist at Israel's Ministry of Science and Technology from 2005 to 2007, and the Chair of the Board of Governors of the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation from 2012-2013.
13. Yuri Tschinkel is Director of Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the Simons Foundation. He is Professor of Mathematics and formerly Chair of the Department of Mathematics at the Courant Institute at New York University. He research focuses on the interface of algebraic geometry and number theory. He was an invited speaker at the 2006 International Congress of Mathematicians, is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a 2018 inductee into Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences.
14. Marcelo Viana is the Director of IMPA and is a world renowned expert in dynamical systems theory. He received the TWAS prize in 1999 and was the inaugural recipient of the ICTP Ramanujan Prize in 2005. He was the vice-president of the International Mathematical Union from 2011 to 2014 and president of the Brazilian Mathematical Society from 2013 to 2015. He served as chair of the executive committee for the 2018 Rio ICM.
15. Michelle Wachs, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Miami, is a world renowned expert in algebraic combinatorics. In 2005, she became the first Cooper Fellow of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami, the College’s highest award. In 2012 she was one of the inaugural Fellows of the American Mathematical Society and a 2013 Simons Fellow.

Titles and Abstracts

Program Schedule