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LSU Shirley Blue Barton Professor of Mathematics Dr. Pramod Achar recently published a book titled Perverse Sheaves and Applications to Representation Theory, which aims to guide new researchers in the field of representation theory and its links to topology/geometry.

The 2021 LSU Math Ph.D. graduates accepted the following postdoctoral positions:

The paper Reflection Positivity on Spheres by Gestur Olafsson and Karl-Hermann Neeb (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg) won the 2020 Alexander Vasiliev Award of the journal Analysis and Mathematical Physics, published by Birkhäuser Verlag.

LSU Department of Mathematics Assistant Professor Li Chen was recently awarded a Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant for Mathematicians for her research into topics on functional inequalities for Markov semigroups. The award serves to provide funding for travel expenses over 5 years to facilitate research collaboration between accomplished mathematicians in the United States. Dr. Chen joined the LSU Department of Mathematics in August 2020, after having been an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Connecticut.

The science of controlling the shapes of things and directing self-organization is the basis of a new project at Louisiana State University that has received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). LSU Mathematics Professor Dr. Shawn Walker has received an award from the NSF for “Controlling Geometry: Applications in Physics, Biology, and Manifold Learning,” in the amount of $330k over three years. 

LSU Department of Mathematics Professor Hongchao Zhang was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his research into optimization methods for nonconvex structured optimization. Dr. Zhang’s research interests involve nonlinear optimization theory, algorithms and their applications, sparse matrix computing, graph partitioning, stochastic optimization algorithms and applications, and numerical linear algebra.

LSU Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr. Andrei Tarfulea recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to investigate diffusive regularization in kinetic and fluid equations. Tarfulea explains that the research involved is “part of the broader mathematical program of understanding turbulence. If turbulence, or the general chaotic motion of many particles, can be made more predictable, it can also be made more controllable”.

In summer 2021, a Virtual ALEKS Helpline will assist students with working through the Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) Placement, Preparation, and Learning (PPL) program. The Helpline is a partnership of the LSU Department of Mathematics with the LSU Gordon A. Cain Center for STEM Literacy (Cain  Center) and the Center for Academic Success (CAS) and received Student Tech Fee support. 

A review by Boris Rubin was included in a collection of 25 featured reviews selected by MathSciNet to celebrate its launch 25 years ago.

LSU Math Major Rohin Gilman has been selected as a 2021 Barry Goldwater Scholar. The scholarship is the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship given in the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. This year it was awarded to 410 college students from across the United States, including 51 mathematics and computer science majors. At LSU, Rohin Gilman is mentored by Frank Neubrander.