News
Department of Mathematics Mourns the Passing of Stevenson Chair and Distinguished Professor Vaughan Jones
September 8, 2020 – Our dear colleague and friend Vaughan Jones died unexpectedly on September 6. All of us in the department are immensely saddened by this tragic loss. Professor Jones was a prominent and accomplished colleague, extraordinary friend, mentor, and teacher, and we will miss him deeply. When Professor Jones joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University in 2011,...
Department Welcomes Seven New Faculty Members
September 1, 2020 – The Department of Mathematics welcomes seven new colleagues this fall. The new group includes one senior lecturer, one lecturer, and five postdoctoral fellows. Senior Lecturer Blane Hollingsworth, received his Ph.D. in 2008 from Auburn University. His areas of interest are stochastic differential equations, probability/measure theory, dynamical systems, and recreational mathematics (game theory, logic). Five new...
New Book on Discrete Energy Optimizes Hardin-Saff Collaboration
January 17, 2020 – Professors Doug Hardin and Ed Saff have published a book that draws on their many years of collaboration in the area of discrete energy and optimal point configurations. Entitled Discrete Energy on Rectifiable Sets, this 670 page opus was co-authored with their former Vanderbilt student Sergiy Borodachov, now a professor at Towson University.
Blake Dunshee Receives Outstanding Teacher Award
December 26, 2019 – Blake Dunshee has been awarded the 2019 Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Award by Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science. The annual award recognizes exceptionally effective teaching by a graduate student with full responsibility for the courses they have taught. Dunshee has been the instructor of record for both Single-Variable Calculus I and Accelerated Single-Variable Calculus...
Ralph McKenzie Awarded Honorary Doctorate
December 10, 2019 – Distinguished Professor Ralph McKenzie was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Szeged in Hungary in recognition of the influence his mathematical work has had at the university. The Doctor Honoris Causa was conferred at a Ceremonial Senate Session marking the university’s annual Day of the University celebration on November 9, 2019. McKenzie...
13 Undergraduates Inducted Into Pi Mu Epsilon Society
December 3, 2019 – Thirteen undergraduate students were inducted into the Vanderbilt University Chapter of the Pi Mu Epsilon Society in November 2019. The new members are: Dylan Folsom, Lucy Gallop, Kevin Gomez, Jackson P. Knox, Connor Lehmacher, Jason Mitrovich, Janet Stefanov, Heng Sun, Yuxi Wen , Michael Wu, Meng Yuan, Timothy Zaklama, and Chenyu Zhang. Officers were also...
Department Welcomes 11 New Faculty Members
October 10, 2019 – The Department of Mathematics welcomes 11 new faculty members this fall. The new group includes three senior lecturers and eight postdoctoral fellows. The three senior lecturers are Henry Chan, José Gil-Férez, and Alice Mark. Henry Chan received his Ph.D. in 2017 from the University of Chicago. His research interests are in algebraic K-theory, topological Hochschild...
Marcelo Disconzi is Co-PI on a $1.2 Million NSF Grant
September 12, 2019 – Assistant Professor Marcello Disconzi is a co-principal investigator on a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to prepare STEM teachers for high-need school districts. The project, entitled “Recruitment and Preparation of Next Generation STEM Teachers,” will be led by Vanderbilt’s Peabody College in partnership with Fisk University.
Larry Rolen Publishes a Paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
June 27, 2019 – Assistant Professor Larry Rolen is co-author of a new paper considered to be a major contribution in the field of number theory and in the study of the famous Riemann Hypothesis. The paper was recently published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences along with a commentary by Fields Medalist Enrico Bombieri. For more details and links to the paper itself and Bombieri’s commentary, see the following recent article that appeared on the Emory University website.
Vaughan Jones Wins International Cooperation Award
June 27, 2019 – Stevenson Distinguished Professor Vaughan Jones has received the International Cooperation Award of the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM). The award was given to Jones for his work mentoring a number of outstanding Chinese mathematicians and for his support of the Chinese mathematical community.