Department News (2005)
Robert P. Langlands has been named the winner of the
Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize
in Mathematics for 2006 by Northwestern University.
Robert Langlands is best known for the fundamental research
program which bears his name. This program postulates a deep relationship
between two different areas of mathematics, number theory and automorphic
forms via a study of their symmetries. Since its initiation about 40 years
ago the Langlands program has served as a unifying principle in mathematics
and has guided research in number theory, automorphic forms, and
representation theory. Recently, it has also entered mathematical physics.
It remains a research program for the future in all these areas.
List and information about previous winners of
Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics
NUMS, the NU Undergraduate Math Society, hosted a traveling math competition in early November 2006 with 26 participants from Northwestern, Wisconsin, UIUC, UIC, and Loyola. There was a welcoming talk on Friday evening, followed by a pizza dinner and game night. The Saturday competition consisted of six 30 minute rounds with 2-3 challenging questions in each round. Student feedback was very enthusiastic. Prizes were awarded for first place (Ben Holzer of Wisconsin) and second place (a tie between Yiwei She and Alex Jeffers of Northwestern).
The Math Department has received a grant from the Edith Krieger-Wolff Endowment to increase the visibility of women at Northwestern University. The money will support student outreach and women speakers in departmental seminars and colloquia.
Bryna Kra is one of the two recipients of the prestigious American Mathematics Society Centennial Fellowship for the 2006-07 academic year. In announcement of the award, her work on problems at the intersection of ergodic theory, additive combinatorics, and number theory were noted.
Martina Bode, Mona Mocanasu, and Mike Stein have all been selected for the Associated Student Government Faculty Honor Roll for the academic year 2005-06.
Bryna Kra was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians held during August 2006 in Madrid Spain. Her talk was entitled "From combinatorics to ergodic theory and back again".
Marco Aldi, one of our graduate students, has been awarded a Weinberg Dissertation Research Fellowship for the year 2006-07.
