News

In a recent article entitled "Equations in the Sand," Greg Watry explains the work of Anne Schilling for UC Davis' Letters and Science Magazine. Inspired by equations her father wrote in the sand on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean while vacationing from his job at Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), Schilling embarked on a lifelong pursuit of mathematical understanding that has led her into an exploration of stationary distributions, Markov Chains, and Open Access programming.

GGAM graduate student Josh Petrack has won a Best Student/Postdoc Poster Award at the 31st International Conference on DNA, Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA31). The poster explained joint work with David Doty (from the Computer Science Department) that has been posted on the arXiv under the title "Exactly simulating stochastic chemical reaction networks in sub-constant time per reaction" (PDF).

Lauren Mossman, graduate student with the Graduate Group of Applied Mathematics, has been named among the first class of Simons Dissertation Fellows in Mathematics. The award was inaugurated last year to commemorate James Simons and supports graduate students during their final years of study. Mossman's award recognizes and supports her work on ecosystem dynamics and species interactions where her innovative modeling techniques offer insight into habitat change and resilience. The award provides $30,000 in support to the student over two years along with a small amount for the university. Congratulations Lauren!

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Art Krener has been selected as the 2026 winner of the Quazza Medal, which is awarded every three years by the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). It is one of the most prestigious awards in control theory, and awarded for lifetime contributions. Krener was recognized "for fundamental contributions to the analysis, estimation, control, and optimization of nonlinear systems." The medal will be officially presented at the 23rd IFAC World Congress in Busan, Korea, August 2026.

Sameer Iyer received an NSF CAREER grant (8/1/2025-7/31/2030). The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program provides the National Science Foundation's most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

At the Mathematical Congress of the Americas in Miami (MCA2025) in July, Roger Casals was awarded one of the MCA Prizes. Every four years, the MCA prizes are awarded to only 5 mathematicians, who are no more than 12 years post Ph.D., who are either working or completed their graduate studies at an institution within the Americas.

Mathematics is all around us. In a recent article for UC Davis' Letters and Science Magazine, Greg Watry features the work of Roger Casals, illustrating observations on "The Mathematics of Daily Life." Inspired by a caustic created by light falling through a window, Casals contemplated singularities and the mathematical tools to describe and understand them. In Casals words, “Everything seems very smooth, but at some point, a transition happens ... The theory of singularities helps us understand these transitions.”

Winners of the 2025 College of Letters and Science Teaching Award have just been announced and Rohit Thomas is among them! The award recognizes outstanding teaching, both inside and outside the classroom. Rohit is one of the drivers behind our weekly pedagogy hangouts, which have been a treasure trove of insight about teaching for many of us. Thank you for teaching us how to teach, as well as teaching your students how to do mathematics. Keep up the good work!

In an effort to encourage professional development for our faculty, the Dean's Office has created the Dean’s Faculty Fellows Program. The program honors outstanding achievements in early career faculty from across the college. The award was launched in 2020 and comes with a stipend to support research activities. One of this year's awardee's is our own Laura Starkston! Dean's Faculty Fellows give a public lecture during the second year of their fellowship, and this will surely an event worth attending. Congratulations Laura!

On April 9, at 6pm, UC Davis will host a play on the life of Emmy Noether at our Wyatt Theater. The play, entitled "Diving into Math with Emmy Noether," is a joint production by portraittheater, Vienna and Freie Universität Berlin. The performance is part of portraittheater's USA Tour 2025, so don't miss this opportunity to see a play about a famous mathematician. Go as a group, a ring, or a noetherian ring!

• Letters and Science Magazine has written a short background featured on their website.
• An interview and background information on the artists and play can be found by Dr. Andy, on his Poetry and Technology Hour.