News & Announcements

UC Berkeley welcomes rising stars in math and physics...and a trio of Stellar Mathematicians

UC Berkeley is welcoming a powerhouse lineup of trailblazing scientists to advance its research enterprise.

The Division of Mathematical & Physical Sciences has completed six searches for new faculty members. All six will join UC Berkeley as assistant professors: Aaron Calderon, Srivatsav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli, and Kevin Yang in the Department of Mathematics and Ethan Lake, Carolina Figueiredo, and Patrick Ledwith in the Department of Physics.

New Horizons in Mathematics Prize

The Department of Mathematics congratulates Associate Professor Yunqing Tang for winning the 2026 New Horizons in Mathematics Prize. Congratulations!

You can read more about it in the Breakthrough Prize Announces 2026 Laureates: https://breakthroughprize.org/News/98.

To read more about Professor Alexander Paulin's article, please visit: 

How UC Berkeley is closing the math readiness gap
by Alexander Rony

Today is Big Give, the UC Berkeley community's annual opportunity to give back to the departments and programs closest to their hearts.

We hope you participate in Big Give by supporting the Math Department. This year, we are raising funds for two important areas.

The Friends of Mathematics Fund will enhance all facets of the department's activities, from enabling undergraduates to organize student groups to innovating the facilities where we investigate a multitude of mathematical problems.

Announcement of Winners of the 86th Putnam Competition

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition is the preeminent mathematics competition for undergraduate college students in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The competition consists of two 3-hour sessions, during each session, participants work individually on 6 challenging mathematical problems.

Team Honorable Mention

Theodore Danial, Benedikt Vilji Magnússon, Zening Xuan

Individual Honorable Mention

Theodore Danial, Zening Xuan

Fall 2025 NewsLetter

Another exciting year is coming to a close, and with that, we're happy to share our newsletter with our community, alumni and friends.

2026 Clay Research Fellows

The Department of Mathematics is pleased to share the announcement of the 2026 Clay Research Fellows Oliver Edtmair and Qiuyu Ren. Edtmair received his PhD from Berkeley in 2024 supervised by Professor Michael Hutchings and is now at ETH Zurich, and Ren is receiving his PhD this Spring 2026 under the supervision of Professor Ian Agol.

Congratulations to both of them!

You can read more here: https://www.claymath.org/news/2026-clay-research-fellows/.

The 2025 Recipient of the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award

The Department of Mathematics congratulates its distinguished alumnus, Dr. San Ling, recipient of the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award!

Professor Wencai Liu Awarded 2026-2027 AMS Centennial Research Fellowship

Please join the Department of Mathematics in congratulating Professor Wencai Liu, who is a visiting Miller professor this year, was awarded the AMS Centennial Research Fellowship.

You can read more about it here: https://www.ams.org/news?news_id=7585.

Professor Vadim Gorin to Receive 2026 AMS-EMS Mikhail Gordin Prize

Please join the Departmentr of Mathematics in congratulating Professor Vadim Gorin on being awarded the 2026 AMS-EMS Mikhail Gordin Prize.

You can read more about that here: https://www.ams.org/news?news_id=7558.

Dyatlov and Zworski to Receive 2026 Joseph L. Doob Prize

The Department of Mathematics congratulates Professor Maciej Zworski on being awarded the 2026 Joseph L. Doob Prize, along with Semyon Dyatlov. Read more about it here: News from the AMS.

2026 AMS Frank Nelson Cole Prize for Number Theory

The Department of Mathematics congratulates Professor Yunqing Tang on being awarded the 2026 AMS Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Number Theory, along with Frank Calegari (who got his PhD from our department) and Vesselin Dimitrov. You can read more about it: AMS Newsroom.

2026 Class of Fellows of the AMS

The Department of Mathematics congratulates Profeessor Sug Woo Shin on being elected a 2026 Fellow of the AMS.

You can read more about it: https://www.ams.org/cgi-bin/fellows/fellows_by_year.cgi

Welcome to the Berkeley Mathematics Directed Reading Program (DRP)!

Applications for the Fall 2025 Mathematics Directed Reading Program are now open! We are looking for enthusiastic undergraduate mentees who would like to do an independent reading project in mathematics, and graduate student mentors to supervise projects.

The application deadline is Tuesday, September 9.

For more information, or to apply, please visit the DRP website.

The 2025 American Academy’s Members

The Department of Mathematics Congratulates Professor Ian Agol on his election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. You can read more here: New Academy Members elected in 2025.