Dr. Gregory Berkolaiko, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Texas A&M University, has earned selection as a 2024-25 fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry.
Each year, leading scientists and scholars from various fields worldwide are invited to IAS to interact with the institute’s permanent faculty, who are preeminent experts in their fields, and explore, share and discover while collaborating on cutting-edge research. Among the institute’s present and past faculty and members are 35 Nobel laureates, 44 of the 62 Fields medalists and 23 of the 26 Abel Prize laureates along with many Pulitzer Prize recipients, Wolf Prize winners and MacArthur and Guggenheim fellows.
Berkolaiko will spend September 2024 through July 2025 as an IAS Scholar in the School of Mathematics studying spectral theory — a powerful tool in predicting the behavior of physical systems and solving inverse problems — and mathematical physics.
This invitation is a clear indication of Gregory's emerging role as a world leader in the areas of spectral theory and mathematical physics. It's a well-deserved honor, and I'm very much looking forward to learning about the outstanding work that will surely result from his visit.
Spectral theory applies to a number of situations, including classical and quantum mechanics, chemical reactions, biological processes and fluid dynamics. Berkolaiko is interested in its theoretical relevance to graphs and manifolds, which he will be researching along with the morphology of Laplace eigenfunctions and geometry of spectra of operator families.
“This invitation is a clear indication of Gregory's emerging role as a world leader in the areas of spectral theory and mathematical physics,” said Dr. Peter Howard, professor and head of Texas A&M Mathematics. “It's a well-deserved honor, and I'm very much looking forward to learning about the outstanding work that will surely result from his visit.”
Berkolaiko earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Bristol in 2001 and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science (2000-01) and a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Strathclyde (2002-04) before joining the Texas A&M Mathematics faculty in 2004. His research, which centers on partial differential equations and spectral and combinatorial problems in mathematical physics, has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation since 2006. To date, he has authored more than 70 articles in peer-reviewed journals and scholarly publications as well as the 2013 book, Introduction to Quantum Graphs, along with fellow Texas A&M mathematician Dr. Peter Kuchment. In addition, Berkolaiko has organized numerous related national and international conferences and workshops. He is equally skilled at presenting for general audiences, including the hundreds who attend the annual Texas A&M Mathematics and Statistics Fair, most recently in 2024.
Since its establishment in 1930, IAS has served as one of the leading independent centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry dedicated to advancing the frontiers of knowledge across the sciences and humanities. From founding IAS Faculty Albert Einstein, Erwin Panofsky and John von Neumann, to influential figures Emmy Noether, George Kennan and J. Robert Oppenheimer, to the foremost thinkers of the present, IAS is dedicated to enabling independent inquiry and fundamental discovery.
Learn more about Berkolaiko’s teaching, research and service or the Institute for Advanced Study.