Coronavirus models aren’t crystal balls. So what are they good for? Coronavirus models aren’t crystal balls. So what are they good for? Epidemiologists and data scientists have been gathering data, making calculations, and creating mathematical models to answer critical questions about COVID-19, but math cannot account for the unpredictability of human behavior.
Penn’s pioneering mathematicians Penn’s pioneering mathematicians Two of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, Dudley Weldon Woodard and William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor worked on fundamental problems in the field of topology and supported graduate-level math education for minority students.
Three Penn faculty named 2020 Sloan Research Fellows Three Penn faculty named 2020 Sloan Research Fellows Engineer Liang Feng, neuroscientist Erica Korb, and statistician Weijie Su each received the competitive and prestigious award honoring early-career researchers.
Where math meets physics Where math meets physics Collaborations between physicists and mathematicians at Penn showcase the importance of research that crosses the traditional boundaries that separate fields of science.
Diving into code to illuminate the history of computing Stephanie Dick’s work explores the history of science, philosophy, and mathematics. “I think my whole academic career has been triangulating between those three different fields in various ways,” she says. Diving into code to illuminate the history of computing Stephanie Dick delves deep into the practice of computer programming and design to shed light on different communities’ attempts to automate reason, knowledge, and proof.
Where math meets biology Where math meets biology Through his research, Yoichiro Mori, the Calabi-Simons Visiting Professor of Mathematics and Biology, demonstrates how mathematical theories can provide insights into complex, living systems.
Math, stereotypes, and social belonging Math, stereotypes, and social belonging Philip Gressman, professor of mathematics, discusses how stereotype threat can affect student performance in math, and how social belonging can curb it.
Q&A with mathematician Tony Pantev Q&A Q&A with mathematician Tony Pantev Penn Today interviewed the math department’s incoming chair to learn about his longtime passion for geometry and his hopes for the future of contemporary math research.
Mathematicians help train the next generation of positive thinkers Mathematicians help train the next generation of positive thinkers A trio of researchers paves the way for future progress in an up-and-coming field that unites geometry and number theory in powerful new ways.