News and events at Department of Mathematics
Applied Mathematics Colloquium, March 12: Jose Perea (Northeastern University)
Event date: 2026/03/12
“Topological Methods for the Analysis of Data”
On Thursday, March 12, 2026, the Applied Mathematics Colloquium presents Professor Jose Perea from the Department of Mathematics and Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. The talk is at 3:45 PM in Ridley Hall, Room G008, with a pre-talk coffee break from 3:00 to 3:30 PM in Kerchof Hall 314.
Rich Schwartz - Virginia Mathematics Lectures - March 23-25, 2026
Event start date: 2026/03/23
Rich Schwartz (Brown University)
- Lecture 1 - The Optimal Paper Moebius Band: Monday, March 23, 2026 | 5-6pm | Wilson 402
- Lecture 2 - The Most Efficient Origami Tori: Tuesday, March 24, 2026 | 5-6pm | Wilson 402
- Lecture 3 - Universality and Collapsibility in Vertex-Minimal Origami Tori: Wednesday, March 25, 2026 | 5-6pm | Nau 101
2026 Mathematics Diploma Ceremony
Event date: 2026/05/16
May 2026 Mathematics Diploma Ceremony
Saturday | May 16th | 2:30 – 4:00 P.M.
The Rotunda | 1826 University Avenue | Charlottesville, VA 22904
In the case of inclement or severe weather, the ceremony will be held at Warner Hall at the same time. Check the Weather Plans site for updates.
- Fair-Weather Location: The Rotunda
- Inclement-Weather Location: Warner Hall
- Department Contact: Malvika Rajagopal: math-help@virginia.edu
Please visit the Office of Major Events for the complete schedule of events for finals weekend, including the Lawn Ceremony.
2026 Blue Ridge Probability Day
Event date: 2026/03/13
The second Blue Ridge Probability Day will occur on Friday, March 13, 2026 in Kerchof 111. The speakers are
- Yu Gu (University of Maryland)
- Eva Loeser (UNC Chapel Hill)
- Mark Meckes (Case Western Reserve University)
- David P. Herzog (Iowa State University)
UVA Math at the JMM Graduate School Fair
Event date: 2026/01/06
The JMM 2026 Graduate School Fair on January 6, 2026 in Washington, D.C. was a great success! We talked to at least a hundred students, spreading the word about the PhD program in Mathematics at the University of Virginia.
Huanchen Bao Receives Multiple ICCM Awards
2026/01/06
UVA Mathematics PhD alumnus Huanchen Bao has received three prestigious awards at the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM 2025), held in Shanghai, including the ICCM Best Paper Silver Award for the paper “Canonical bases arising from quantum symmetric pairs of Kac-Moody type” (Compos. Math. 157, 2021), joint with Weiqiang Wang .
Bao also received the ICCM Silver Medal of Mathematics and the ICCM Best Paper Gold Award (joint with Xuhua He).
Huanchen Bao is currently an Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore.
UVA Math Tournament (UVAMT) 2026
Event date: 2026/03/14
The University of Virginia Math Competition for high schoolers will be held on March 14, 2026 at the University of Virginia. Problems are written by UVA top Putnam scorers, and events include an individual & team round, optimization round, and game round.
Details and registration can be found at the UVAMT website.
Juraj Földes to Help Lead National Predictive Science Center
2025/11/18
Associate Professor Juraj Földes will help provide the mathematical foundation for UVA’s new SAGEST Predictive Simulation Center, part of a $16 million U.S. Department of Energy initiative to advance high-performance simulation science. The multi-university center will focus on making computer models of complex physical systems more accurate and dependable.
Professor Földes will assist in the verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification core of the center, providing mathematical analysis to support predictability.
Virginia Topology Conference 2025
Event start date: 2025/12/10
The Virginia Topology Conference 2025: New Developments in 4-Manifold Topology will be held on December 10-11, 2025, at the University of Virginia, Department of Mathematics, Charlottesville, VA.
See the departmental page and the conference website for more information.
Mary Ann Pitts Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished Professorship
2025/09/16
The Department of Mathematics at the University of Virginia invites applications for the inaugural Mary Ann Pitts Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished Professorship in Mathematics, beginning August 10, 2026.
We seek exceptional candidates with a distinguished research profile in any area aligned with the department’s strengths. Ideal candidates will also demonstrate excellence in teaching, mentoring, and engagement with the department and university community.
Jennifer Morse Invited to Speak at ICM 2026
2025/09/08
Mathematics professor Jennifer Morse will be an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia in July 2026. Held every four years, the ICM is the premier mathematics conference in the world and is the setting for the awarding of the Gauss Prize, the Chern Medal, the IMU Abacus Medal, and the Fields Medal.
A new UVA Arts & Sciences article highlights how Professor Morse is being recognized for her groundbreaking work in algebraic combinatorics, including solving a problem she first encountered over 20 years ago as a graduate student.
Department Tea Time Resumes
2025/08/27
The Mathematics Department will hold a special welcome reception this Thursday, August 29, at 3:15 PM in Kerchof 314 (Math Lounge), and resume regular tea time on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:15 PM in the Math Lounge.
This Thursday, we will
- Welcome all faculty, staff, and students back for the new academic year
- Introduce new department members
- Honor departing staff members Katie Coleman and Gina DiGuilio
All members of the department community are warmly invited to attend this Thursday, and each Tuesday and Thursday at 3:15 PM in the Math Lounge. We look forward to seeing everyone.
New Math Room Booking System (MRBS) Is Live
2025/08/15
The Department of Mathematics has launched a new Meeting Room Booking System (MRBS) to manage all departmental room reservations. Bookings made through MRBS are official—the department office uses this calendar as the authoritative source for scheduling.
- You should have received a link to create your MRBS username and password.
- Anyone may view the calendar without logging in.
- Logged-in users may create up to five non-recurring bookings.
- To request a recurring booking (e.g., weekly meetings or a course pattern), please contact the Mathematics Department office.
Links
- View the calendar (no login required) at the link on the right of the main page: MRBS Main Calendar
- How to book / FAQs: MRBS Help
Contact
- Department Office: Kerchof Hall, Room 216
- Technical Support: Leo Petrov — petrov@virginia.edu
Please use MRBS for all room requests going forward. This will keep our shared spaces organized and ensure that schedules are accurate and up to date.
Felipe Flores Awarded Inaugural Simons Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
2025/07/31
Congratulations to Felipe Flores Llarena on being awarded an inaugural Simons Foundation Dissertation Fellowship! Felipe is among the first class of recipients of this prestigious new fellowship program.
Thesis defense: Valentina Zapata Castro
Event date: 2025/07/28
Valentina Zapata Castro will defend the Ph.D. thesis on Monday, July 28. The title is
“Segal Theta_2-monoids as monoidal (infty,1)-categories”.
The defense will be held at Kerchof 111 at 11:00 am.
Everyone is invited to attend.
Ravi Vakil - Virginia Mathematics Lectures - September 8-10, 2025
Event start date: 2025/09/08
Ravi Vakil (Stanford University and AMS)
- Lecture 1 - The Mathematics of Doodling: Monday, September 8, 2025 | 5-6pm | Wilson 402
- Lecture 2 - Topology from Algebraic Geometry: Tuesday, September 9, 2025 | 5-6pm | Wilson 402
- Town Hall with the AMS President: Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | 3:30-5pm | Minor 125
Thesis defense: Matthew McCarthy
Event date: 2025/07/12
Matthew McCarthy will defend the Ph.D. thesis on Friday, July 12. The title is
“Connectedness Properties of some Subcomplexes of Twin Buildings and Their Group Theoretic Applications”.
The defense will be held at Kerchof 111 at 3:30 pm.
Everyone is invited to attend.
Thesis defense: Kian Aik Cheong
Event date: 2025/06/30
Kian Aik Cheong will defend the Ph.D. thesis on Monday, June 30. The title is
“Explicit Kummer theory for some 2-dimensional formal group laws”.
The defense will be held at Kerchof 317 at 10:00 am. The defense will be in hybrid format. For those interested, the Zoom link is: https://virginia.zoom.us/my/valiagazzoomspace
Everyone is invited to attend.
Paper recognized as finalist for PNAS Cozzarelli Prize
2025/06/17
Ken Ono’s 2024 paper “Integer partitions detect the primes” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, with former UVA student William Craig and collaborator Jan-Willem van Ittersum, has been recognized as a finalist for the Cozzarelli Prize. The paper was selected as a runner-up in the Physical Sciences and Mathematics category from among 3,200 papers published in PNAS last year. This marks the first time a paper in pure mathematics has been recognized by this prestigious award since 2005.
An article describing this work appeared in Scientific American in June 2025.
2025 Mathematics Final Exercises Ceremony
Event date: 2025/05/17
Final Exercises for the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences will take place on Saturday, May 17, 2025 on the Lawn.
The Mathematics Department Diploma Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2025, in the Pavilion I, Lower Garden from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Riverside Workshop on Geometric Group Theory at UVA
Event date: 2025/05/09
The University of Virginia will host a workshop for early career mathematicians working in geometric group theory on May 9-12, 2025. The workshop will feature three minicourse series by Harrison Bray (George Mason), Didac Martinez-Granado (Luxembourg/NUS), and Jenya Sapir (Binghamton), with introductory talks by Madeline Horton, Meenakshy Jyothis, and Aisha Mechery. The talks are aimed at graduate students and postdocs and will be accompanied by discussion sections. Remote access will be available via Zoom.
The workshop is organized by Matthew Gentry Durham (UCR) and Thomas Koberda (UVA), and is supported by NSF grant DMS-2500706.
DMP thesis defense: Nikolas Dillery
Event date: 2025/05/05
Nikolas Dillery will defend the DMP thesis on Monday, May 5. The title is
“Kazhdan’s Property (T): General Results and SL_n(Z)”.
- Date: Monday, May 5
- Time: 3:00 pm
- Place: Kerchof Hall 317
Everyone is cordially invited to attend.
Master thesis defense: Declan Stacy
Event date: 2025/04/30
Declan Stacy will defend the Master thesis on Wednesday, April 30. The title is
“Stochastic Persistence in Infinite Dimensions”.
- Date: Wednesday, April 30
- Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
- Place: Kerchof Hall 111
Everyone is invited to attend.
DMP thesis defense: Liran Li
Event date: 2025/04/30
Liran Li will defend the Distinguished Major Thesis on Wednesday, April 30 titled
“Automatic groups: a brief introduction”.
- Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
- Time: 11:30 am
- Place: New Cabell 027
Everyone is invited to attend.