Ashvin Anand Swaminathan
Ashvin Anand Swaminathan, a PhD student at Princeton University, is the recipient of the 2018 AMS-MAA-SIAM Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student for his exceptional research in algebraic geometry, number theory, and combinatorics, which has appeared in numerous well-regarded professional-level journals.
“I am deeply grateful to Mrs. Morgan for her vision and generosity and to the AMS, MAA, and SIAM for helping to support undergraduate research in mathematics,” said Swaminathan.
Swaminathan is a passionate and focused researcher with deep technical knowledge that allows him to produce original and remarkable work and make breakthroughs of substantial interest to experts in long-established areas of mathematics. He has authored 10 papers, six of which have been published and one accepted to be published.
Swaminathan has been awarded Princeton’s Centennial Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, and the David B. Mumford Prize (for most-promising mathematics concentrator at Harvard). He did research in the University of Minnesota Duluth Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program and the Emory University REU program.
Swaminathan attended Harvard University, where he earned an AB in mathematics and an AM in physics, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He is now pursuing a PhD in mathematics at Princeton University, where he is supported by three fellowships. Motivated by his undergraduate studies at Harvard and his work at the NSF Duluth and Emory REUs, Ashvin plans to pursue research in number theory and arithmetic geometry.
The Morgan Prize is awarded for outstanding research in mathematics. It is made jointly by the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The prize was established in 1995 and is entirely endowed by a gift from Mrs. Frank (Brennie) Morgan.
Vi Hart and Matt Parker
Vi Hart and Matt Parker received the 2018 Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) Communication Award in January at the 2018 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego, California.
Vi Hart received the award for entertaining, thought-provoking mathematics and music videos on YouTube that explain mathematical concepts through doodles. She is well known among the younger generation for videos, which include the series “Doodling in Math Class” and has an audience of millions. In addition, she has authored publications in computational geometry, mathematics and music, mathematical art, and mathematics education.
“I am honored to join the distinguished company of recipients of this award, which has been around just about as long as I have,” Hart said when hearing about the honor. “The list of previous recipients is halfway to being a bibliography of my own influences in mathematics.”
Matt Parker is being recognized for communicating the excitement of mathematics to a worldwide audience through YouTube videos, TV and radio appearances, book and newspaper writings, and stand-up comedy. In 2008, he started MathsJams as an informal gathering of people who enjoy talking about mathematics in the pub. It has gone on to become a global phenomenon with its own annual conference.
“I am extremely humbled to be selected for this prize,” said Parker. “With so much amazing mathematics communication going on around the world, it is an honor to be selected by the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics. My career would not be possible without the community of mathematics enthusiasts around me.”
Nancy Potok
Nancy Potok, chief statistician of the United States and head of the Statistical and Science Policy Office in the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was recently honored with the 2017 Presidential Meritorious Rank Award for “sustained accomplishment.”
Formerly deputy director and chief operating officer of the US Census Bureau, Potok joined OMB in January of 2017. Before that, she served as the bureau’s associate director for demographic programs and the principal associate director and chief financial officer in charge of field operations, information technology, and administration during the 2000 Census.
Potok has also held appointments in the US Department of Transportation, the Administrative Office of the US Courts, and the US Department of Commerce as deputy undersecretary for economic affairs. She was senior vice president at NORC at the University of Chicago and chief operating officer at McManis & Monsalve Associates. She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a recipient of numerous awards, including The George Washington University Trachtenberg School Distinguished Alumni Award, the Secretary of Commerce’s Silver Medal, and the Arthur S. Flemming Award.
Potok earned her BA from Sonoma State University, an MAS from the University of Alabama, and a PhD from The George Washington University.
Judea Pearl
Judea Pearl was recently honored with the 2018 Ulf Grenander Prize in Stochastic Theory and Modeling for the invention of a model-based approach to probabilistic and causal reasoning, the discovery of innovative tools for inferring these models from observations, and the development of novel computational methods for the practical applications of these models.
The 2018 prize was awarded in January during the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego.
Pearl has had a sweeping impact on the theory and practice of statistics and machine learning, and his ideas continue to engage mathematicians, statisticians, and many other scientists with challenging analytic and algorithmic problems at the heart of modern artificial intelligence (AI).
Pearl is professor of computer science and statistics at UCLA, where he directs the Cognitive Systems Laboratory and conducts research in AI, human cognition, and philosophy of science.
He has authored numerous scientific papers and three books: Heuristics (1983), Probabilistic Reasoning (1988), and Causality (2000, 2009)—which won of the London School of Economics Lakatos Award in 2002. A recent book, Causal Inference in Statistics (2016, with M. Glymour and N. Jewell) introduces modern causal analysis to undergraduate statistics education. His forthcoming The Book of Why (2018, with Dana Mackenzie) explains for a general audience how the concept of cause and effect, the grand taboo in science, can be placed on a firm mathematical foundation.
Pearl is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the Cognitive Science Society, and a founding fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He is a recipient of the Technion’s Harvey Prize (2011) and the ACM A.M. Turing Award (2012) for the development of calculus for probabilistic and causal reasoning.
Visit the American Mathematical Association to read more about Pearl and the Ulf Grenander Prize.
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