Prioritizing equity and justice in climate action 30 June 2021 — 11:00AM TO 12:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 10 June 2021 Online

London Climate Action Week event: Why understanding equity and justice is essential to the ability to meaningfully inform climate politics.

Citizen-led climate activism is demonstrating the need to think about climate change ‘not just as a problem for science to solve’ but also as a problem of equity, human rights and justice.

The disproportionate impacts of climate change on the poor and the marginalized across the world means that understanding equity and justice is essential for the ability to meaningfully inform climate politics.

Excluding these issues risks ignoring, or intentionally omitting, the consequences of policies, tools and frameworks on those who are most likely to face the severe costs of any climate action or inaction.

In a pivotal year for climate decision-making, this event explores the necessity of equity and justice in climate action and how the world can move the political conversation to one that is more inclusive.

The speakers explore how communities themselves articulate the justice dimensions of climate change and how fairness can create a greener future for current and future generations.

This event is being hosted as a part of Strengthening Climate Diplomacy, a series of events from Chatham House during London Climate Action Week 2021.

Cities as climate leaders: Progress and ambition 1 December 2021 — 12:00PM TO 1:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 16 November 2021 Online

This panel discusses the progress cities have already made, whether progress at COP26 was enough, and what more needs to be done to scale action and ambition internationally.

Cities are critical to tackling the pressing environmental challenges of our time. While they now account for an estimated 75 per cent of global CO2 emissions, cities also offer a unique opportunity for devolved leadership on climate action. At the recent COP26, some significant progress was made in elevating cities’ position on climate action with a flurry of announcements and commitments.

For example, more than 1,000 cities are now committed to the Cities Race to Zero and C40’s Clean Construction Declaration saw multiple cities committing to at least halving emissions from initial construction of buildings by 2030. A raft of financing commitments were also made to improve urban resilience in the face of climate change.

This builds on existing momentum before COP26. Over 50 world cities are now on track to meet Paris Agreement and the Marrakech Partnership is further enabling collaboration between governments and cities within the UNFCCC processes.

Therefore, how we design, build, govern and use our urban places will be a key factor for decarbonization and climate change adaptation.

On the back of COP26, this panel brings together leaders from across urban development sectors to discuss the progress cities have already made, whether progress at COP26 was enough, and what more needs to be done to scale action and ambition internationally. 

An Attack on the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Principle in Hong Kong Expert comment sysadmin 11 January 2016

The disappearance of publisher Lee Bo may mark the beginning of the end of Beijing’s commitment to uphold the framework that provides the territory with a high degree of autonomy.

The disappearance of a publisher in Hong Kong, Lee Bo, who owns a well-known bookshop that sells books critical of Chinese leaders, is a landmark event and potentially a historical turning point for Hong Kong. It is not clear if this happened at the behest of the senior Chinese leadership. But if those responsible for the disappearing of Lee are not punished, it will be clear that their acts are condoned by the authorities.

This is deeply worrying as it gravely undermines the ‘one country, two systems’ framework, which provides Hong Kong with high degree of autonomy from Beijing. Under the Sino-British Agreement of 1984 and Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which govern relations between Hong Kong and China, the rights of Hong Kong citizens are meant to be protected within the territory. Mainland Chinese authorities do not have the legal power to arrest or detain an individual in, or remove anyone from, Hong Kong.

The Chinese know the limit of their legal authority in Hong Kong. Hence, Lee was quietly disappeared, rather than openly arrested. But that it happened at all may mark the beginning of the end of Beijing’s commitment to uphold the ‘one country, two systems’ framework – a relationship that requires Beijing to tolerate, if not respect, the judicial integrity and the way of life in Hong Kong.

Do we know for sure that Lee was ‘disappeared’ by China’s security apparatus? Before he disappeared, Lee said in an interview that he knew he had been watched and that his emails were accessed by Chinese agents, and that he would not travel to the mainland as a result. And we know that Lee’s travel documents are all in his home; yet he is now supposedly in China ‘assisting the authorities in an investigation’ into something unspecified. This explanation comes from a fax sent to Lee’s wife, probably intended by the Chinese authorities to put an end to speculation. But why would Chinese authorities work with Lee, a British citizen who carries no travel documents and would thus have broken the law by entering China? The circumstantial evidence is strong enough to show that whether he was taken by Chinese officers or someone else, his removal from Hong Kong to China must have received official endorsement.

Should the rest of the world be concerned about this? Hong Kong is a major financial center that services the world economy, and it can do so largely because it enjoys judicial independence and the high degree of autonomy under the ‘one country, two systems’ framework. It is also a shining example of how the rights and scope of development for individuals can be respected in a Chinese community. Should the ‘one country, two systems’ framework be undermined, Hong Kong as we know it will be no more.

Beijing’s quick response in requiring Lee to fax his family may come across as ham-fisted and callous, but it also demonstrates that it had not expected the strong backlash to Lee’s disappearance. A strong and well-articulated international response that brings the matter to Xi’s attention may persuade him that it is in China’s best interest to put a stop to this process of undermining the ‘one country, two systems’ framework. Given Hong Kong’s importance to the global economy, this should be a priority for the international community.

This article was originally published in the Diplomat.

To comment on this article, please contact Chatham House Feedback

Bangladesh: The Trade-Off Between Economic Prosperity and Human Rights 11 March 2020 — 1:00PM TO 2:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 28 February 2020 Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE

Bangladesh’s recent gains in economic and social indices, set against its record of corruption and poor civil rights, has at times been termed the ‘Bangladesh Paradox’. Yet this label is overly simplistic; the current situation proves that these trends can coexist.

The Awami League government, in power since 2009, has increased political stability, delivered unprecedented economic and social advances, and adopted a counter-terrorism strategy to stamp out extremist groups. At the same time, it is criticized for curbing civil rights and failing to hold credible elections. However, as the two previous regimes have demonstrated, the rights situation is unlikely to improve even if the Awami League were replaced.

How did worsening rights become a feature of the state irrespective of its political dispensation? An unresolved contest between political and non-political state actors may hold the key to that puzzle. The perils of the current dispensation have recently manifested in weakening economic indicators, which jeopardize the very stability and social progress for which the country has garnered much praise.

The 2020 Inner Mongolia Language Protests: Wider Meanings for China and the Region 24 November 2020 — 3:00PM TO 4:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 12 November 2020 Online

Speakers discuss the historical roots of the language issue, as well as the wider significance of the protests in China.

Please note this is an online event. Please register on Zoom using the link below to secure your registration.

In September thousands of people protested in Inner Mongolia in opposition to a government move to replace Mongolian language with Standard Mandarin in three school subjects – history, politics and Chinese language.

Announced less than a week before the start of the new school year, the policy also requires schools to use new national textbooks in Chinese, instead of regional textbooks. The mass protests and classroom walk-outs reflect ethnic Mongolian’s anxiety that their native language may be eliminated. What has the government’s response to the protests been?

Rethinking European and Afghan policy approaches to migration 9 February 2021 — 12:30PM TO 1:30PM Anonymous (not verified) 19 January 2021 Online

Speakers argue for a more multidimensional approach to migration, and for a nuanced reassessment of policy.

Please note this is an online event. Please register using the link below to finalize your registration.

Afghanistan is a key country of origin for asylum seekers in Europe, and the prime global recipient of EU development assistance. It was one of the first nations to conclude a migration partnership agreement with the EU, in 2016.

Implementation has been thwarted, however, by war and violence, limited state capacity, entrenched economic deprivation, internal displacement and the unfolding impact of COVID-19.

The speakers argue for a more multidimensional approach to migration, and for a nuanced reassessment of policy. They underscore the strength of Afghanistan’s responses to migration, returns, reintegration, security and peace, and point to the need for synchronizing the EU’s policy approaches.

They argue that effective policy must consider the historical significance of mobility for Afghanistan and the need for coherent regional responses to migration.

This event launches the publication The EU and the Politics of Migration Management in Afghanistan.

Gurmeet K. Bakshi, Jyoti Garg and Gabriela Olteanu
Math. Comp. 93 (), 3027-3058.
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Pierre Lairez, Eric Pichon-Pharabod and Pierre Vanhove
Math. Comp. 93 (), 2985-3025.
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Torin Greenwood, Jonathan Kariv and Noah Williams
Math. Comp. 93 (), 2959-2983.
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Martin Ehler and Karlheinz Gröchenig
Math. Comp. 93 (), 2885-2919.
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Haiyong Wang
Math. Comp. 93 (), 2861-2884.
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Ran Gu and Bing Gao
Math. Comp. 93 (), 2837-2860.
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T. De Ryck and S. Mishra
Math. Comp. 93 (), 2643-2677.
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Buyang Li, Zongze Yang and Zhi Zhou
Math. Comp. 93 (), 2557-2586.
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Soun-Hi Kwon
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 377 (), 6021-6022.
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Kazuhiro Ishige, Paolo Salani and Asuka Takatsu
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 377 (), 5705-5748.
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Víctor González-Aguilera, Alvaro Liendo, Pedro Montero and Roberto Villaflor Loyola
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 377 (), 5483-5511.
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Ning Jiang, Yi-Long Luo and Shaojun Tang
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 377 (), 5323-5359.
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Christian Weiss
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 111 (), 199-209.
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Ta Cong Son, Tran Manh Cuong, Le Quang Dung and Le Van Dung
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 111 (), 153-165.
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Claudio Macci and Barbara Pacchiarotti
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 111 (), 21-43.
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Rodrigo Rey Carvalho and Vinicius de Oliveira Rodrigues
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 152 (), 5429-5443.
Abstract, references and article information

Shengyu Tang
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 152 (), 5381-5394.
Abstract, references and article information

Yongqiang Liu, Laurentiu Maxim and Botong Wang
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 152 (), 5279-5288.
Abstract, references and article information

Friedrich Haslinger
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 152 (), 5219-5227.
Abstract, references and article information

Simão Correia
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 152 (), 5117-5136.
Abstract, references and article information

Donghyeok Lim and Christian Maire
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 152 (), 5013-5024.
Abstract, references and article information

T. A. Suslina
St. Petersburg Math. J. 35 (), 537-570.
Abstract, references and article information

P. Lochak
St. Petersburg Math. J. 35 (), 477-535.
Abstract, references and article information

Yu. L. Ershov
St. Petersburg Math. J. 35 (), 461-465.
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Alin Bostan, Xavier Caruso and Julien Roques
Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 61 (), 609-658.
Abstract, references and article information

Ana Caraiani, Royal Society University Research Fellow and professor of pure mathematics, Imperial College London, has been awarded the 2025 Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). She has been honored for contributions to arithmetic geometry and number theory: in particular, the Langlands program.

From the citation

Ana Caraiani’s work is characterized by a combination of novel ideas and a fearlessness in the face of technical obstacles that would daunt almost any other researcher. This has enabled her to prove several fundamental theorems in the Langlands program.

In the joint paper with Scholze, titled “On the generic part of the cohomology of non-compact unitary Shimura varieties” (Annals of Math., 2024), Caraiani proved very general results about the torsion cohomology classes in non-compact Shimura varieties, strengthening the early results in their 2017 paper in the compact case. The proof is a tour de force, combining perfectoid spaces, a mastery of the trace formula, and a new theory of perverse sheaves in p-adic geometry. These results are of intrinsic interest (for example, they give the first indications of a characteristic p version of Arthur’s conjectures), but they also have many applications throughout the Langlands program. One spectacular application of these results is in her joint paper, “Potential automorphy over CM fields” (with Allen, Calegari, Gee, Helm, Le Hung, Newton, Scholze, Taylor, and Thorne, Annals of Math., 2023), which among other results proves the Ramanujan conjecture for Bianchi modular forms, a problem that had been thought of as being completely out of reach.

The Ramanujan conjecture is of analytic nature, asserting a bound on the eigenvalue of a certain differential operator, but the only way in which cases of it have been proved is via algebraic geometry. In particular, the original Ramanujan conjecture for modular forms was proved by Deligne in the 1970s, as a consequence of his proof of the Weil conjectures. However, in the case of Bianchi modular forms there is no direct relationship with algebraic geometry, and it seems to be impossible to make any direct deductions from the Weil conjectures. Langlands (also in the 1970s) suggested a strategy for proving the Ramanujan conjecture as a consequence of his functoriality conjecture. Caraiani and her coauthors’ proof of the Ramanujan conjecture for Bianchi modular forms proceeds via a variant of Langlands’ strategy, and in particular does not use the Weil conjectures.

Most recently with James Newton, in the paper “On the modularity of elliptic curves over imaginary quadratic fields” (arXiv: 2301.10509), Caraiani has improved upon these results and applied them to the modularity of elliptic curves over imaginary quadratic fields. They come close to completely solving it, with only a small number of exceptions (which constitute 0% of cases).

Response of Ana Caraiani

First, I would like to thank Joan Birman and the AMS for establishing an award that recognizes research contributions by women mathematicians. This is particularly meaningful to me because I looked to many of the previous recipients of the Satter Prize for inspiration at challenging moments in my career. It is a great honour to be selected as a recipient!

I am indebted to my many collaborators, mentors and colleagues who have generously shared their mathematical ideas with me over the years and supported me in different but crucial ways. Special thanks go to Peter Scholze for the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with him on understanding a part of the geometry and cohomology of Shimura varieties, to Richard Taylor for initiating the "ten author" collaboration, which was much more successful than we had originally expected, and to James Newton for our joyful exploration of elliptic curves over imaginary quadratic fields. I also particularly want to acknowledge Jessica Fintzen and Toby Gee for their longstanding friendship and moral support.

Finally, I want to thank my family, especially my husband, Steven, my mother, Zoe, and my daughter, Nadia.

Biographical sketch of Ana Caraiani

Ana Caraiani was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1984. She received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Princeton University in 2007 and completed her PhD at Harvard University in 2012. After temporary positions at the University of Chicago, Princeton and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), and the University of Bonn, she moved to Imperial College London in 2017, where she is currently a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Professor of Pure Mathematics. She is a Fellow of the AMS, a recipient of an EMS Prize and a New Horizons Prize in Mathematics and was an invited speaker at the 2022 ICM. 

About the prize

Awarded every two years, the Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics recognizes an outstanding contribution to mathematics research by a woman in the previous six years. The prize was established by Joan Birman in honor of her sister, Ruth. The 2025 prize will be recognized during the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in January in Seattle.

Read more and see the list of past recipients.

Contact: AMS Communications

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The American Mathematical Society is dedicated to advancing research and connecting the diverse global mathematical community through our publications, meetings and conferences, MathSciNet, professional services, advocacy, and awareness programs.

Kenta Suzuki of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is awarded the 2025 American Mathematical Society (AMS)-Mathematical Association of America (MAA)-Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for his extraordinary research in the representation theory of $p$-adic groups. His papers, including two solo works, represent significant progress in different areas of the field.

From the citation

Suzuki worked on deep problems in representation theory, and he has authored and coauthored six research papers. In particular, he has made important contributions to the representation theory of $p$-adic groups. His results include asymptotics for the dimension of spaces fixed by a congruence subgroup in an admissible representation of $GL(n).$ His joint works include working out the local Langlands correspondence for several rank two $p$-adic groups, and the determination of canonical bases in the subregular quotient of the affine Hecke algebra and its antispherical module, along with their “coherent” categorifications.

Response of Kenta Suzuki

It is an honor for me to receive the Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize. I thank the Morgan family and the AMS, MAA, and SIAM for their generosity. I thank my mentors throughout the years, Toshihiko Nakazawa, Li Li, Michael Zieve, and Colin Hinde, for kindling my interest in mathematics. Toshihiko Nakazawa patiently explored mathematics with me from a young age and continues to inspire me with his insights. I thank Roman Bezrukavnikov, Wei Zhang, Zhiwei Yun, Ivan Losev, Vasily Krylov, and Calder Morton-Ferguson for further stimulating my interest in mathematics at MIT and introducing me to the many wonders of representation theory. Wei Zhang’s unwavering support has motivated me to explore many areas of mathematics. I leave every conversation with Roman Bezrukavnikov with new ideas, and he has helped me grow as a researcher by encouraging me to pursue even my most ambitious ideas. The mathematical community at MIT and Harvard have been supportive and taught me so much, both mathematical and nonmathematical. Finally, I thank my parents, particularly my mother, for supporting me throughout my journey in every possible way. She has been my role model and is one of the most intelligent and charismatic people I know.

Biographical sketch of Kenta Suzuki

Kenta Suzuki is a fourth-year undergraduate at MIT from Tokyo, Japan, and Plymouth, Michigan. Suzuki’s work focuses on the representation theory of $p$-adic groups and geometric representation theory. Suzuki is particularly interested in applying geometric methods to solve problems of representation theory. In his free time, he runs, reads, and is (slowly) learning how to cook.

About the prize

The AMS-MAA-SIAM Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student is awarded annually to an undergraduate (or students for joint work) for outstanding research in mathematics. The prize recipient's research can include more than one paper, however, the paper or papers to be considered for the prize must be completed while the student is an undergraduate. Publication of research is not required.

Established in 1995, the prize is entirely endowed by a gift from Mrs. Frank (Brennie) Morgan. The current prize amount is $1,200.

The prize will be presented at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle.

Learn more about the prize and previous recipients.

Contact: AMS Communications

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The American Mathematical Society is dedicated to advancing research and connecting the diverse global mathematical community through our publications, meetings and conferences, MathSciNet, professional services, advocacy, and awareness programs.

Matthew Kennedy, University of Waterloo, has been awarded the 2025 Ciprian Foias Prize in Operator Theory by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Kennedy has been honored for his wide-ranging and innovative work on group C*-algebras, according to the citation.

From the citation

The 2025 Ciprian Foias Prize in Operator Theory is awarded to Matthew Kennedy for his wide-ranging and innovative work on group C*-algebras, which combines ideas from operator theory, topological dynamics and group theory, and has led to the solution of several open problems, in particular to characterizations of C*-simple groups and groups with the unique trace property. His paper “An intrinsic characterization of C*-simplicity,” on which the award is based, is the culmination of earlier work in collaboration with Kalantar, Breuillard, and Ozawa. The methods introduced in this work, namely an operator-algebraic theory of boundaries, have subsequently found applications in the study of more general classes of C*-algebras and to dynamical systems.

Response of Matthew Kennedy

I am deeply honored to receive the 2025 Ciprian Foias Prize in Operator Theory. I am thankful to all of my collaborators, and especially to my good friend Mehrdad Kalantar. The genesis of the theory of operator-algebraic boundaries is in my first paper with Mehrdad and, despite our excitement at the time, neither of us had any idea how far these ideas would take us. I am also thankful to my colleagues for their continuous encouragement, and in particular to Narutaka Ozawa for his insight and generosity. My work rests on the foundations built by many other mathematicians, and I want to acknowledge the visionary work of Furstenberg and Hamana, which has been so important to my career. Finally, I am grateful to my advisor, Ken Davidson, for his guidance over the years, and to my family and friends for their love and support. 

Biographical sketch of Matthew Kennedy

Matthew Kennedy studied at the University of Waterloo, where he obtained his PhD in 2011 under Ken Davidson. His thesis on free semigroup algebras earned the 2012 Doctoral Prize from the Canadian Mathematical Society. In 2011, he joined Carleton University as an assistant professor, and in 2015, he returned to the University of Waterloo, where he is now a full professor and university research chair. In 2020, he received the Israel Halperin Prize for outstanding work in operator algebras.

About the prize

The Ciprian Foias Prize in Operator Theory is awarded for notable work in operator theory published in a recognized, peer-reviewed venue during the preceding six years. The prize, awarded every three years, was established in 2020 in memory of Ciprian Foias (1933-2020) by colleagues and friends. He was an influential scholar in operator theory and fluid mechanics, a generous mentor, and an enthusiastic advocate of the mathematical community.

The 2025 prize will be presented at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle.

Learn more about the prize.

Contact: AMS Communications

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The American Mathematical Society is dedicated to advancing research and connecting the diverse global mathematical community through our publications, meetings and conferences, MathSciNet, professional services, advocacy, and awareness programs.

Robert McCann, University of Toronto, will receive the 2025 American Mathematical Society (AMS) - Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics “in recognition of his groundbreaking contributions to optimal transport theory, and for pioneering deep applications to economics and physics,” according to the citation. McCann holds a Canada Research Chair in Mathematics, Economics, and Physics.

From the citation

Robert McCann has made fundamental contributions to optimal transport theory, reflecting remarkable technical abilities and amazing conceptual creativity. His discovery of displacement convexity and his solution to Monge’s (1746-1818) problem for different transportation costs were early, foundational advances that preceded by nearly 30 years the current enormous attention bestowed on optimal transport theory and its applications. Beyond these, McCann produced many important, unexpected results, linking optimal transport to new areas of application within and outside mathematics: different notions of curvature, new and hidden convexities in the economics of information, and a non-smooth theory of gravity based on the interaction of entropy with the Einstein field equation.

Response of Robert McCann

I am honored and humbled to have my work on optimal transportation and its applications to economics and physics recognized by the AMS-SIAM 2025 Norbert Wiener Prize (endowed by MIT). I think the whole optimal transport community can join me in taking pride in this acknowledgement of the impact and success of our efforts and can view this award as an incentive to further achievements. After singling out my PhD advisor, Elliott Lieb, who first taught me about the mines and the factories, I'd like to thank the many other mentors, collaborators, colleagues, and students – too numerous to name – who shared in my mathematical, physical, and economic adventures (and those who wrote letters to document!). Our interactions inspire and sustain me on my scientific journey; I could not have achieved these results without you, and my life is enriched by your presence. I try to pass it forward by giving as good as I got, and I encourage you to do the same. I also thank my family for their love and support, and their willingness to share me by putting up with my long hours of distraction and frequent travels. I hope this recognition helps to reassure them that their sacrifices are not for nought.

Biographical sketch of Robert McCann

Robert McCann studied engineering and physics before graduating with a degree in mathematics from Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, and a doctorate from Princeton University. Following a Tamarkin appointment at Brown University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES), he became a professor of mathematics at the University of Toronto, where he now holds a Canada Research Chair in Mathematics, Economics, and Physics. He is an authority on optimal transportation and has played a pioneering role in its rapid development since the 1990s. In particular, the notion of displacement convexity introduced in his 1994 PhD thesis lies behind many of the area's myriad applications. He serves on the editorial board of various journals, and as editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Mathematics since 2007 (with a hiatus from 2017-21). His research has been recognized by awards such as an invitation to lecture at the 2014 International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul; election to the Royal Society of Canada in 2014; the 2017 Jeffery-Williams Prize of the Canadian Mathematical Society; and the 2023 W.T. and Idalia Reid Prize of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).

About the prize

The AMS-SIAM Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics is awarded every three years for an outstanding contribution to applied mathematics in the highest and broadest sense.The American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) award the prize jointly. Recipients must be a member of one of these societies. 

This prize was established in 1967 in honor of Professor Norbert Wiener and was endowed by a fund from the Department of Mathematics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The endowment was supplemented further by a generous donor. The current award is $5,000.

The 2025 prize will be presented at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle.

Learn more about the prize and previous recipients.

Contact: AMS Communications

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The American Mathematical Society is dedicated to advancing research and connecting the diverse global mathematical community through our publications, meetings and conferences, MathSciNet, professional services, advocacy, and awareness programs.

Sophie Morier-Genoud of the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne and Valentin Ovsienko of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Reims, are awarded the 2025 AMS David P. Robbins Prize for their paper “$q$-deformed rationals and $q$-continued fractions,” published in Forum of Mathematics, Sigma.

“In this groundbreaking work .. it is shown that the new concept has striking connections and applications to a wide range of mathematical areas,” according to the prize citation. “The paper has subsequently inspired a profusion of significant further research developments.”

From the citation

The David P. Robbins Prize is awarded to Sophie Morier-Genoud and Valentin Ovsienko for their paper “$q$-deformed rationals and $q$-continued fractions,” published in Forum of Mathematics, Sigma, in 2020.

The authors provide an entirely novel and natural definition of a $q$-analog of the rational numbers. Although a $q$-analog of the integers has been used extensively since the work of Euler, a satisfactory and meaningful $q$-analog of the rationals had remained elusive until this paper. The definition also leads to a natural $q$-analog of the real numbers and has a wide range of fascinating and far-reaching applications.

A $q$-analog of a mathematical concept is a generalization of the concept which depends on a new parameter $q$ in such a way that the original concept is recovered when $q$ is set to 1, and various interesting or useful properties also arise.

Response of Sophie Morier-Genoud

I am thrilled and honored to receive the 2025 David P. Robbins Prize. This is a fantastic recognition and a great encouragement to keep doing what I like to do. I always had a lot of fun doing mathematics and I feel privileged to do it as a profession. 

I am grateful to everyone who helped me in making this path possible. 

I would like to thank all my collaborators and colleagues in the Math Department at the University of Reims and also everywhere in the world who show interest in the math we are doing and contribute to enrich the theory of $q$-numbers.

Response of Valentin Ovsienko

I am deeply moved to receive this prize, named in honor of David P. Robbins, the creator of mathematical concepts that will forever remain among the most beautiful.

My scientific life has been spent trying to connect different topics in algebra, geometry, and mathematical physics. The $q$-numbers, which is a combinatorial notion, are the result of my journey with my younger and much smarter collaborator Sophie Morier-Genoud, following this route. We tried to better understand connections between cluster algebra, Coxeter friezes, Conway’s ideas, the Jones polynomial... We realized that it is impossible to $q$-deform a singular object, but only an infinite sequence of them! In order to $q$-deform rationals, one needs to count them all. We chose the way of counting determined by continued fractions and the action of the modular group.

Working on this subject has been and remains the happiest part of my scientific life. I was captivated by $q$-rationals and I was completely haunted by $q$-irrationals. This happiness, enhanced by interest of other researchers, in itself is reward enough. 

My collaboration with Sophie produced a variety of results, including two energetic children, Lisa and Anatole; the $q$-numbers are also little kids who need to grow up!

Biographical sketch of Sophie Morier-Genoud

Sophie Morier-Genoud is currently full professor at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in France. She completed her PhD at the University of Lyon (2006) under the supervision of Philippe Caldero. She was T.H. Hildebrandt Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan (2006-2008), postdoctoral fellow of the Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris (2008-2009) and associate professor at Sorbonne Université (2009-2021). Her research work is mainly related to algebraic combinatorics and representation theory. She currently serves as an editor for the column “Gems and Curiosities” of the Mathematical Intelligencer.

Biographical sketch of Valentin Ovsienko

Valentin Ovsienko was born in 1964 in the Soviet Union. He received his PhD in 1989 from Moscow State University under the supervision of Alexandre Kirillov. Ovsienko is currently in Reims, Champagne, as a senior researcher at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. He worked in projective differential geometry, infinite-dimensional Lie algebras, integrable systems, octonions, and, more recently, in combinatorics. Together with Sophie Morier-Genoud, he is the editor of the column “Gems and Curiosities” of the Mathematical Intelligencer, and he invites everyone to write beautiful articles for it.

About the prize

The David P. Robbins Prize is awarded every three years for a paper with the following characteristics: It reports on novel research in algebra, combinatorics, or discrete mathematics and has a significant experimental component; and it is on a topic which is broadly accessible and provides a simple statement of the problem and clear exposition of the work. Papers published within the six calendar years preceding the year in which the prize is awarded are eligible for consideration.

The 2025 prize will be presented at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle.

Learn more about the prize and previous recipients.

Contact: AMS Communications.

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The American Mathematical Society is dedicated to advancing research and connecting the diverse global mathematical community through our publications, meetings and conferences, MathSciNet, professional services, advocacy, and awareness programs.

The Math Community Educational Outreach (Math CEO) program at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) will receive the 2025 AMS Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department.

Founded in 2014, UCI’s Math CEO is an after-school math enrichment program aimed at increasing the number of talented students in STEM from diverse backgrounds by fostering mathematical exploration, mentor development, and community engagement.

From the citation

The University of California, Irvine (UCI) Math CEO program is recognized for its exceptional contributions to the mathematics community and society at large. Established in 2014 by professors Alessandra Pantano and Li-Sheng Tseng, Math CEO targets students from Title I middle schools, providing them with a high-quality after-school math enrichment program. This program brings middle-school students to the UCI campus to work in small groups with undergraduate mentors, many of whom are also from historically marginalized groups, to engage in challenging mathematical tasks and encourage exploration. 

From September 2019 to June 2024, Math CEO engaged a total of 1,221 youth, with 48.6% identifying as female. The ethnic background of the participants was predominantly Latinx (93.5%), with smaller representations of Asian, white, and multiethnic students. In the same five-year period, Math CEO engaged 553 undergraduate mentors, 62.2% of whom were female. The mentors’ ethnic backgrounds were diverse, with significant representation of Asian (52%) and Latinx (30%) students. The undergraduate mentors, many of whom pursue careers in education, receive training in culturally responsive teaching practices and equity in education, significantly impacting their professional development. In a post-survey, 52.3% of the undergraduate mentors expressed interest in teaching or working in education and 45.9% were likely to pursue professions working with children or families.

Recognizing the central role of families in supporting Latinx youth, Math CEO involves parents through bilingual workshops that enhance community awareness of college pathways and financial opportunities. 

Math CEO has been the foundation for numerous research projects in mathematics education, supported by NSF grants, leading to publications and program growth. The program’s success is evident in its expansion to high schools and other regions in Southern California, including a new branch at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Math CEO continues to make a substantial impact on underserved youth, demonstrating a model of systemic, reproducible change that can be implemented by others.

Response of Alessandra Pantano, UCI Math CEO

I am deeply honored to receive the AMS Award for an Exemplary Program in a Mathematics Department on behalf of the UCI Math CEO team. This wonderful award recognizes the work of many colleagues, graduate students, and undergraduate students in developing and delivering the UCI Math Community Educational Outreach (Math CEO) program. For over a decade, Math CEO has provided creative and culturally responsive math enrichment opportunities for hundreds of underprivileged middle-school students, many of which have since “graduated” to high school or even college. Leading this exceptional and dedicated team of volunteers has been the highest pride of my professional life. A special thanks to my partners-in-crime, Prof. Li-Sheng Tseng, codirector of Math CEO, and former graduate student Andres Forero Cuervo, academic coordinator for Math CEO: We could have never done this without you. I look forward to pushing this activity forward and continuing to dedicate my energy to help kids in our county find the way to express their potential – in math and in life! A big thanks to the colleagues who nominated us and to the AMS for recognizing our efforts.  

History of the program

The UC Irvine Math Community Educational Outreach (Math CEO) program was founded in 2014 by math faculty Alessandra Pantano and Li-Sheng Tseng in collaboration with Santa Ana Unified math teacher Jasmina Matasovic. The founders shared a belief that low standardized test scores in underserved communities do not reflect students’ interest and potential to succeed in STEM. Math CEO runs free, weekly, after-school math enrichment sessions, welcoming all youth regardless of math achievement. Starting with only 25 students from one middle school, the program has grown and engaged nearly two thousand students in all, from multiple school districts in Southern California.

About the award

The annual AMS Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department was established in 2004 and first given in 2006. This award recognizes a department which has distinguished itself by undertaking an unusual or particularly effective program of value to the mathematics community, internally or in relation to the rest of society. Departments of mathematical sciences in North America that offer at least a bachelor’s degree in mathematical sciences are eligible. The award amount is currently $5,000. The award will be presented at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle.

Learn more about the award and previous recipients.

Contact: AMS Communications.

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The American Mathematical Society is dedicated to advancing research and connecting the diverse global mathematical community through our publications, meetings and conferences, MathSciNet, professional services, advocacy, and awareness programs.
 

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