Congratulations to Dr. Oliver Pechenik, assistant professor of combinatorics & optimization and pure mathematics, on winning a 2026 Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Award ($2500).
The award, which recognizes outstanding research contributions within the Faculty of Mathematics, is presented annually to one or two early or mid-career faculty members.
“I am very honoured to be selected for this award,” Pechenik says.
Pechenik’s research focuses on “turning difficult problems in algebra and geometry into the study of concrete ‘combinatorial’ objects, such as planar networks or arrays of numbers.” Recently, he has focused on combinatorial representation theory: the study of how mathematical objects can exhibit symmetry, which is understood using the tools of discrete mathematics. In an ongoing series of papers, Pechenik and his co-researchers encode these algebraic calculations diagrammatically in a theory of “rotation-invariant webs,” revealing connections to other areas of mathematics and physics.
“I’d like to thank all my wonderful coauthors,” Pechenik says, “and especially those involved in this webs program: Chris Fraser (Phaidra), Christian Gaetz (Berkeley), Becky Patrias (St. Thomas), Stephan Pfannerer (my postdoc at Waterloo), Jessica Striker (North Dakota State), and Josh Swanson (Center for Communications Research).”
To learn more about the Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Award, and see a list of past winners, visit the Math Faculty Awards & Opportunities website.