Three graduating PhD students in the Faculty of Mathematics were awarded the inaugural Mathematics Doctoral Prizes. Hanmeng (Harmony) Zhan from Combinatorics and Optimization placed first, and Boyu Li and Ruizhang Jin from Pure Mathematics won second and third places respectively.
Zhan is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques at the Université de Montréal. Li finished his degree in July 2018 with a very strong thesis in operator algebras and Jin defended successfully in January 2019 with the external examiner describing the work as “beautiful” and “very difficult”.
“We are very excited to give out these awards for the first time to recognize the academic achievements and outstanding research done by some of our graduating doctoral students,” said Christiane Lemieux, Associate Dean, Graduate Studies. “Each of these students came highly recommended by their supervisors and their Associate Chairs, Graduate Studies, along with strong support from the external examiner for their thesis.”
This new prize will be awarded annually to recognize the achievement of graduating doctoral students in the Faculty. Zhan will receive a $1,500 award, Li will receive $1,000, and Jin will receive $500. Zhan will also receive a medal at the June 2019 convocation.