New Faces in the Department of Mathematics
October 14, 2024
You may have noticed some new faces around the Mathematics Department! This fall semester the Department welcomed 21 new research and instructional faculty members.
The incoming research faculty represent emerging strengths in a broad set of strategic areas, including algebraic number theory, algebraic geometry, cryptography, mathematical physics, and data analytics & high performance computing. Additionally, the instructional faculty offers extensive experience and expertise that will greatly benefit our students and the community.
As Department Chair, Sarah Reznikoff emphasized, "We had a stellar hiring season last year and welcome excellent new faculty members and students to the department this fall. Our new colleagues bring exciting ideas and energy to all our departmental activities. I look forward to our work together this year."
Learn more about our new faculty members' backgrounds and interests in the brief profiles of each below.
Assistant Professor Sarah Arpin joins the Department of Mathematics from the Universiteit Leiden and Quantum Software Consortium in the Netherlands where she was a Postdoctoral Researcher.
I chose to come to Virginia Tech because of the wonderful people in the mathematics department. The department keeps research at high priority and everyone is very supportive of each other.
Assistant Professor Giuseppe Cotardo joined the department in 2022 as a Postdoctoral Associate. We are excited to welcome him this fall as a tenure track faculty member!
Dr. Cotardo's research interest is in algebraic coding theory, with a particular focus on algebra, geometry, combinatorics, and their applications to the invariant theory of rank-metric codes. He is also actively working on network communication and quantum error correction.
The Department of Mathematics at Virginia Tech fosters a friendly research community that encourages interdisciplinary collaborations. It hosts the Applied Algebra Group, a leading group in coding theory in the U.S. Additionally, the university offers numerous resources and connections beyond academia, making it an ideal environment for advancing my research.
Profile picture of Assistant Professor Andreas Deuchert
Assistant Professor Andreas Deuchert was an independent research fellow and lecturer at the Institute of Mathematics of the University of Zurich prior to joining the VT Department of Mathematics.
Assistant Professor Andreas Deuchert's main research interests are mathematical quantum mechanics and quantum statistical mechanics. Dr. Deuchert develops analytic, functional analytic, and probabilistic methods with a focus on variational techniques to study mathematical problems originating from solid-state physics.
Assistant Professor Daniel Douglas most recently worked in Anna Wienhard's research group at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig, Germany.
Dr. Douglas works in the mathematical field of quantum topology. He is particularly interested in interactions with low dimensional geometry and topology, representation theory, combinatorics, and mathematical physics.
Assistant Professor Leo Herr was most recently at Leiden University where he was a Postdoctoral Associate.
Dr. Herr's research focus is algebraic geometry. He studies varieties using extra combinatorial data called logarithmic structures which enrich and compactify ordinary varieties as a middleman between schemes and tropical geometry. Log structures help to count curves, study intersections, and construct cohomology theories and invariants that behave well for singular varieties and normal crossings pairs.
Virginia Tech has a strong and friendly research community where I feel at home. They might have more quantum K theory here than anywhere else in the world, and interdisciplinary collaborations with the string theory/physics group here have uncovered striking new applications of quantum K theory in physics. I like the mixture of a top-tier research institution with an outdoorsy small town.
Prior to joining Virginia Tech as an Assistant Professor of Data and High Performance Computational Mathematics Dr. Mirjeta Pasha was a National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Fellow (currently affiliate position) at Tufts University.
Assistant Professor Mirjeta Pasha's research interests include high dimensional (tensor) data analysis, regularization for inverse problems, uncertainty quantification, and high-performance computing. She develops computationally efficient methods and algorithms to solve large-scale problems that arise from an extensive list of applications in data science, medicine, and engineering.
I am thrilled at the opportunity of joining the Math Department at Virginia Tech and CMDA, one of the leading programs in the country that prepare experts with heavy computational and data science skills. The chance to contribute to such a diverse and exceptional community of scholars and educators is excellent. In addition, the beautiful campus, amazing community feel, and resources make VT a great place to both work and study!
Postdoctoral Associate Samantha Brooker is a recent graduate of Arizona State University.
Dr. Brooker's research is in C*-algebras constructed from combinatorial data, such as directed graphs and their generalizations. She is interested in using operator algebras to study symbolic dynamical systems, and quantum notions of distance.
I will be working with Dr. Sarah Reznikoff, who was influential on my decision to study operator algebras as early as when I was an undergrad, and who has been a mentor to me throughout grad school.
Postdoctoral Associate Keoni Castellano comes to Virginia Tech as a recent graduate of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Castellano joined the Hokie Nation through the Future Faculty Diversity Program, which aligns with the land-grant mission, fostering inclusive excellence and preparing the next generation of diverse scholars.
Dr. Castellano's research involves the mathematical analysis of infectious disease models. The ultimate goal of his research is to find an optimal control strategy for tackling an infectious disease by determining the asymptotic profiles of solutions to this model as the diffusion rates of the populations change.
The main reason why I decided to come to Virginia Tech was that I was impressed by the research being done by the mathematical biology faculty. Specifically, I was excited by the chance to further develop my research program with Dr. Stanca Ciupe and Dr. Omar Saucedo in a supportive environment that is ripe with growth opportunities. Furthermore, when I had the chance to visit Virginia Tech through its Future Faculty Diversity Program, I was in awe of the university’s commitment to diversity, community, and excellence and its commitment to service through the motto of Ut Prosim.
Postdoctoral Associate Jiuhua Hu joins the department following a postdoctoral research position at University of Wisconsin-Madision.
Dr. Hu's primary research focuses on developing and implementing model reduction techniques for solving partial differential equations in heterogeneous media. Currently, she is working on designing fast, high-order numerical methods for quantum computing applications. Additionally, she is exploring the integration of neural networks with traditional numerical methods to enhance both the efficiency and accuracy of differential equation solutions.
I am very excited to work with Professor Daniel Appelö and Professor Yingda Cheng on high dimensional scientific computing.
Prior to joining Virginia Tech as a Senior Research Associate, Shixu Meng was an Associate Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science.
Dr. Meng is broadly interested in applied and computational mathematics, inverse problems, and data science. His long-term research goal is to work as an applied mathematician to address interdisciplinary challenges spanning science, engineering, and technology.
I am excited about working with Professor Yingda Cheng and Professor Daniel Appelö on low rank methods for solving differential equations and inverse problems.
Dr. Priyanka Sinha was most recently a Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech.
Postdoctoral Associate Milo Bechtloff Weising is a recent graduate of UC Davis.
Dr. Bechtloff Weising's research focuses on the interactions between representation theory, geometry, and combinatorics. Specifically, he studies Macdonald polynomials and their relations to the study of Hilbert schemes and associated combinatorics. Central to his work is the utilization of the representation theory of double affine Hecke algebras and other related algebras. He is also interested in the interplay between the theory of symmetric functions and other fields like number theory and analysis.
Instructor Navaneeth Chenicheri Chathoth was most recently at the University of Missouri.
Instructor Kyle Flanagan is a recent graduate from the Department of Mathematics at Virginia Tech.
In addition to teaching undergraduate courses, Dr. Flanagan is interested in research centered around how professional mathematicians (as well as other individuals) understand and operate with highly-abstract mathematical concepts. Currently, this research is focused on how mathematicians engage in pseudo-objectification, which is when an individual is able to utilize and operate on a mathematical concept but is lacking understanding of the underlying processes for that concept.
I chose to continue working at Virginia Tech beyond the doctoral program for various reasons. Primarily, my family and I have strong ties to the broader New River Valley community, which led us to stay rooted here. Nevertheless, Virginia Tech's Mathematics Department provides great opportunities to teach a variety of mathematics courses, as well as pursue meaningful research in mathematics education. Though the mathematics education research group is on the smaller side, each of the members contribute a unique research perspective, providing various opportunities to grow my research program and collaborate with others.
Instructor Prayagdeep Parija comes to Virginia Tech from Hamilton College where he was a Visiting Professor.
Instructor Zitong Pei is a recent graduate of Emory University.
Advanced Instructor Edgar Saenz holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Virginia Tech.
Instructor Richard Shaplin
Instructor Richard Shaplin holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Virginia Tech.
Profile picture of Instructor Timothy Smits
Instructor Timothy Smits joins Virginia Tech from the University of California, Los Angeles.
In addition to teaching undergraduate mathematics courses, Dr. Smits has broad research interests in number theory and arithmetic geometry. He is interested in the arithmetic of modular symbols and Massey products, Iwasawa theory, and arithmetic statistics.
Profile picture of Instructor Chengcheng Yang
Instructor Chengcheng Yang joins Virginia Tech from Rice University.
In addition to teaching undergraduate mathematics courses, Dr. Yang is interested in Geometric Measure Theory.
The city is beautiful and the math department here is excellent!
Profile picture of Instructor Xin Yang
Instructor Xin Yang was an instructor in the VT Department of Mathematics from 2019-2020. We are excited to have him back!
In addition to teaching undergraduate mathematics courses, Dr. Yang is interested in the blow-up and the well-posedness problems for parabolic PDEs, dispersive PDEs, and fluid PDEs.
The development of teaching skills and the well-organized teaching arrangements attract me here as an instructor.
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