image: David H. Yang is the winner of the 2017 AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student view more
Credit: Riley Drake
David H. Yang, a senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the recipient of the 2017 AMS-MAA-SIAM Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student. Yang is honored for his outstanding research in algebraic geometry and geometric representation theory.
Although he is still an undergraduate student, Yang is already an author of five research papers, with two more in preparation. Three of his papers have appeared or will appear in the Memoirs of the AMS, Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik, and Research in the Mathematical Sciences. His joint paper with two senior collaborators --- Professor Lawrence Ein of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Professor Robert Lazarsfeld of Stony Brook University --- builds on Yang's earlier single-author work.
The letters supporting Yang's nomination for the Morgan Prize describe his work as truly exceptional. In addition to doing outstanding research, he has excelled in contest math. He was a Putnam Competition Fellow for the last three consecutive years, and he won two gold medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad.
David H. Yang was born in California, where he spent most of his early childhood. He moved to New Hampshire to attend Phillips Exeter Academy, where he was first exposed to algebraic geometry. Starting in his freshman year at MIT, Yang's research was guided by Professors Joe Harris at Harvard and Roman Bezrukavnikov at MIT. It was at MIT that Yang started pursuing research in algebraic geometry. He plans to continue his research after graduating from MIT.
Presented annually, the Morgan Prize recognizes an undergraduate student who has done outstanding research in mathematics; the student must be in a college or university in Canada, Mexico, or the United States or its possessions. It is sponsored by the AMS, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The prize will be awarded Thursday, January 5, 2017, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta.
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Find out more about AMS prizes and awards at http://www.ams.org/profession/prizes-awards/prizes.
Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, today the American Mathematical Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.