Colleagues, collaborators, students and friends gathered at a four-day conference to honor Nochetto and his remarkable achievements in numerical analysis and scientific computing.

— 

On May 16, 2023, the University of Maryland’s Department of Mathematics, Institute for Physical Science and Technology (IPST) and Brin Mathematics Research Center kicked off a four-day conference commemorating Mathematics Professor Ricardo H. Nochetto’s 70th birthday and his outstanding achievements in computational mathematics.

Held in Kirwan Hall, the celebratory conference hosted world-class mathematicians who were all impacted by Nochetto’s work. Speakers shared their perspectives on the many branches of mathematics Nochetto helped to advance, particularly highlighting his work in solving partial differential equations (PDEs), which can be used to develop algorithms, as well as analyses and computer simulations used in weather prediction modeling and the manufacturing of novel materials.   

The event also offered a unique opportunity for Nochetto’s current students and postdocs to meet alums he advised and his closest collaborators—a reflection of Nochetto’s continuing scope of influence over his field.  

From Argentina to Maryland

Nochetto’s professional journey as a mathematician started in Argentina, where he received master’s degrees in mathematics in 1976 and electrical engineering in 1979 from the University of Rosario. After completing his Ph.D. in mathematics at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral and University of Buenos Aires in 1983, Nochetto moved to Pavia, Italy, to begin his postdoctoral studies. There, Nochetto says, he enjoyed years of intellectual growth and friendship, starting years-long collaborations with a number of Italian mathematicians, many of whom came across the ocean to be part of his milestone conference at UMD.

“I met Ricardo for the first time almost 40 years ago while he had a scholarship position at the University of Pavia,” recalled Lucia Gastaldi, a professor of mathematics at the University of Brescia in Italy. “It was very inspiring for me to work with him as a collaborator because his approaches to tackling a mathematical problem helped me shape some of my own, but we have also remained good friends over the years. I’m very glad we were able to honor his achievements in person this year.”

In 1986, after his three-year stint in Italy, Nochetto spent a year working in numerical analysis at the University of Minnesota's Institute for Mathematics and its Applications. Nochetto joined the UMD faculty in 1987. Since then, he has continued to influence students and peers alike with his mentorship and collaborative efforts; during his career, he authored or co-authored 160 research journal articles and successfully advised 18 graduate students and 22 postdocs who have gone on to make their own marks on the mathematics world. 

In addition to his work in College Park, Nochetto has been active on the international stage, giving plenary talks at prestigious events such as the International Congress of Mathematicians and the International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics. In 2011, Nochetto was named a Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Fellow for his contributions to the study of free boundary problems and phase transitions. The following year, he was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. 

Nonlinear PDEs and free boundary problems are ubiquitous in modern science and engineering. Fundamental research in these areas has led to Fields Medals, one of the highest honors a mathematician can receive. Nochetto's work has been pivotal to important developments in the approximation of such problems.

‘Math research is a team sport…pass the ball’

Thanks to his extensive network of frequent collaborators and colleagues, Nochetto’s graduate students and postdocs have always been able to connect with top-tier mathematicians and access both guidance and resources essential to their research.

One of Nochetto’s former students, Omar Lakkis (Ph.D. ’02, applied mathematics & statistics, and scientific computation), who is now a reader in mathematics at the University of Sussex in England, credits Nochetto as a major contributor to his love for abstract math and his current research trajectory.

“He described to me that modern math research is a team sport, like football. What could be reached by lone players is harder to achieve because different skills are required to finally make a goal,” Lakkis said. “Ricardo’s motto is to ‘pass the ball,’ implying that when you’re stuck on a hard math problem, you should share it with someone else. His teaching goes beyond the lecture hall.”

Many others who worked with Nochetto echoed Lakkis’ sentiment.

“It’s hard to express how Ricardo impacted and continues to impact my career,” said Abner Salgado, a former postdoc of Nochetto’s who is now a professor of mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “It was under Ricardo’s mentorship that I started working on nonlocal problems, singular diffusion problems, fully nonlinear equations and many other topics that to this day shape my research profile.”

Salgado also nostalgically recalled spending Fridays with Nochetto sharing prosciutto and gorgonzola pizza at the Three Brothers Italian Restaurant on Kenilworth Avenue, a local haunt for Nochetto’s research group. 

Figuring out complex mathematical concepts over delicious food and coffee with Nochetto was a shared memory for many of his students and colleagues—one highlighted by the lighthearted ribbing and bantering peppered between math presentations at the conference. Nochetto’s current graduate student Lucas Bouck and Lakkis both referenced Nochetto’s penchant for “religiously brewing coffee” in an Italian ‘moka’ percolator while discussing difficult questions or theories. 

Even Ronald DeVore, a frequent collaborator and Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Texas A&M University known for his work in wavelet theory and compressive sensing, admitted that some of his first few in-person meetings with Nochetto also started as conversations over coffee. 

“Ricardo’s involved in a field called adaptive finite elements, which is a way to solve PDEs on a computer. He was one of the first to promote these adaptive finite elements methods, and it’s really proven the test of time,” DeVore said. “I became interested in his work because it was related to what I was working on. With my experiences collaborating with him, I can say that I respect not only the quality of his math but also the quality of his thinking and communication. That is not a pairing that every mathematician possesses.”

DeVore added: “Interestingly, Ricardo was also a postdoc advisor for Andrea Bonito, who is now my colleague at Texas A&M—that really cemented our relationship over the years.”

Building a legacy

As Nochetto reflects on his decades-long career, he believes that the people he met and mentored will become the foundation of his legacy in the mathematics world. Seeing them become independent and masters of their destinies is among his proudest accomplishments. 

“I would like to continue my collaborations with colleagues around the world, to travel and meet new people to learn new ideas,” he said. “There are also a few books and several pending projects with former students and postdocs that I’d like to finish.”

In addition to his academic achievements, Nochetto also shared some personal successes at this major milestone of his life; he’s a proud grandfather to three and looks forward to spending more time with them in the years ahead.

“I have a lot of plans for my math projects, but I really want to devote time to my dear family, which has been a pillar throughout my life,” Nochetto added. “Math and family—thankfully, they both keep me active and alert.” 

Written by Georgia Jiang

UMD mathematicians teach math classes inside a Washington, D.C. correctional facility.

University of Maryland Mathematics Professor Sandra Cerrai has always loved teaching, but the new math class she led this spring has been especially inspiring.

“I have rarely seen such participation, such a commitment, such engagement in a classroom,” Cerrai said. “It’s unbelievable.”

The students in this class aren’t from the university, they’re inmates at the Washington, D.C. Jail. Since March 2023, Cerrai and others from the UMD Department of Mathematics have been going to the jail (also known as the D.C. Central Detention Facility) every week to teach pre-college math to men incarcerated there. For Cerrai, it’s a unique and special educational opportunity—and not just for her incarcerated students. 

“This is not only a service we are doing for the prisoners, this is also a service that they are doing for us,” Cerrai explained. “I think as educators it’s extremely important to engage in these types of initiatives because we can learn so much and become better teachers, and I think we have the possibility to make a significant difference.”

Building on an idea

The idea to start the D.C. Jail math program came from Dan Cristofaro-Gardiner, an associate professor who joined UMD’s Department of Mathematics in 2020. Inspired by a prison education program he was involved with during his postdoc in New Jersey, Cristofaro-Gardiner wanted to create a similar experience for his faculty colleagues and students at Maryland. 

“Teaching in prison really feels a lot different than teaching in a classroom in a very special way,” he said. “I really wanted there to be a space in our department for our undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty to be able to get together and have easy access to these opportunities and partner with each other. From the beginning, the department was very supportive.”

But starting a UMD math program inside the D.C. Jail was no small task. It took weeks of research, emails and phone calls before Cristofaro-Gardiner finally connected with the Petey Greene Program, which operates volunteer education programs inside the nation’s correctional facilities. Petey Greene agreed to partner with the UMD math initiative as part of their College Bridge Program for Incarcerated Learners, a program that helps incarcerated men and women acquire pre-college level academic skills. 

Holding in-person classes for incarcerated students was not a new idea at the jail. Inmates were already being taught subjects like English and reading. But Cristofaro-Gardiner was excited to learn that the UMD program would likely be the first to bring in mathematics.

“The idea is to give incarcerated students access to mathematics education that can bridge gaps between where they are currently with their math and where they need to be,” he explained. “Ideally, when they’re released from prison, they can have positive educational experiences at the college level as well as a good understanding of the mathematical concepts that are helpful in their day-to-day life.”

Recruiting volunteers and building a program

During the planning phase for the program, representatives from Petey Greene took charge of administrative challenges like determining which inmates would be selected to participate, while Cristofaro-Gardiner focused on planning and recruiting a team of mathematics department volunteers.

“Something I want to emphasize is that the time commitment for volunteers in a program like this is substantial,” he noted. “It’s important that they come regularly to build relationships with the students in the program and help them learn.”

Cerrai, who has previous experience working with prison education programs, stepped up to help Cristofaro-Gardiner lead the new math initiative. She and Alice Oveson, a Ph.D. student in Applied Mathematics & Statistics, and Scientific Computation were the program’s first teachers. Senior mathematics major Joanna Hung and mathematics Ph.D. student Connor Martinez Lockhart agreed to help with tutoring, and Mathematics Assistant Professor Boyu Zhang provided curricular support. 

By the beginning of March, the first UMD math class at the D.C. Jail had begun.

“There are generally 15 to 20 students, we have a small classroom in the jail with a blackboard and we teach the class in person like a regular class,” Cerrai said. “Alice and I go there on Fridays and we stay there for an hour and a half to teach, and then on Mondays the students go there and they do tutoring.”

“We tutor in one-and-a-half hour blocks and the time flies by every time,” Martinez Lockhart explained. “I have always enjoyed teaching, especially in mathematics, and working with incarcerated students has been a wonderful opportunity for me to teach in new ways to new types of students.”

From the beginning, participants in this jail math program have been involved, enthusiastic and eager to learn.

“For these students in the jail, this is really something important. This program is really moving something inside of them,” Cerrai observed. “You can’t imagine the level of commitment and participation that you find in that tiny classroom, it’s incredible.”

“For sure this is something they want to do, these are students who are highly motivated to do this,” Cristofaro-Gardiner added. “In my experience with incarcerated students, the potential is really striking when you teach them. It’s extremely easy to imagine if circumstances were somewhat different that they would just be students in your classroom.”

For Oveson, teaching at the jail has been enlightening and inspiring.

“It has been a transformative experience working with students who are so committed to their education,” Oveson reflected. “It has made me realize how much I take my educational opportunities for granted.

Because inmates at the D.C. Jail generally serve short sentences or get transferred to another facility, learning time is limited. Lesson plans for the math classes aim to give students the most meaningful educational experience possible, based on their knowledge of math and the time they have to participate.

“Students get a certificate for completing the program, but I would say the main thing we want to give them is knowledge,” Cristofaro-Gardiner noted. “Since it’s part of the College Bridge Program, we’re teaching them pre-college material, things like exponents, whole numbers and fractions. We want them to have this knowledge so they can thrive in college classes and use these skills to improve their lives.”

Cristofaro-Gardiner believes that in addition to the benefits for incarcerated students and the volunteers who work with them, the new math initiative can contribute to an even bigger mission.

“I think this program is a really good thing from the point of equity and fairness,” he said. “The number of people behind bars in this country is huge, and if we’re not reaching them, it’s a really big missed opportunity.”

A successful start

Thanks to the success of the first inmate math class, plans are underway to teach another class at the D.C. Jail in the fall. The hope is that with enough interest and volunteer help from math department students, faculty and staff members, the program will continue and even expand in the years ahead. 

“This is something that is so rewarding for us,” Cerrai said. “I think it’s something everyone should do.”

“Working with this program has taught me so much,” Oveson added. “Getting to work with these students has been an absolute privilege.”

It’s all about making a difference—teaching math and changing lives, one incarcerated student at a time.

“If you can have a real impact in one, three, five people’s lives, just imagine, I mean that’s huge,” Cristofaro-Gardiner explained. “A lot of these students have not had enough positive educational opportunities and if you can give them some sense of the importance and joy of education and help them, it’s a fantastic thing.”

Written by Leslie Miller

As part of his Grand Challenges project, Yanir Rubinstein will transport his sports analytics lab to local schools and show students the relevance of STEM to their everyday lives. 

This summer, University of Maryland Mathematics Professor Yanir Rubinstein has big plans in the classroom and on the basketball court.

Rubinstein’s plans began to take shape in February 2023 when he received an award from UMD’s Grand Challenges Grant Program, an institution-wide initiative that provides funding for researchers to tackle major societal issues.  

Rubinstein will use his award funding to address educational disparities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Rubinstein’s approach is simple and even a little unconventional. He plans to help bridge the educational gap by bringing math directly to students traditionally underrepresented in STEM, particularly minorities and women—not through textbooks or lectures, but in the form of sports analytics and experiential learning. 

According to Rubinstein, the idea sprouted from his own passion for sports as an amateur basketball player and sports writer.

“I’m a teacher, so I’m constantly looking for ways to engage students and retain their interest in math,” Rubinstein explained. “And personally, I’ve always been drawn to sports. I played basketball for years and I continue to write about sports even now. I realized that this could be a good way to have students connect math with something they’re already passionate about. Because of this, pairing math and sports just clicked for me.”

A mobile math lab

Although he is primarily a pure mathematician who focuses on more abstract ideas, Rubinstein knew that his desire to directly address societal needs with his skills meant that he would have to investigate more applied forms of mathematics. To prepare for his Grand Challenges project, Rubinstein talked extensively to people in the sports industry to find out how his research could help address their problems and improve overall athletic performance. He quickly realized that his background in optimization had the potential to be immensely helpful in the world of sports.

“We can optimize the way someone throws a baseball after seeing what happens when they move their shoulder or hand,” Rubinstein said. “We can classify these movements using math models and get some insights into how they can improve their performance. And with data we capture through cameras, we can ask—is there a better way of throwing the baseball? Is there a way to position their shoulder or hand to make that perfect throw?”

For his Grand Challenges project, Rubinstein will begin by creating a mobile version of his existing math sports performance research lab. To do that, he plans to scale down his lab’s resources by assembling smaller sets of motion capture tools such as cameras and laptops to transport to local schools. With this portable adaptation of his lab, students will have the opportunity to interact with state-of-the-art software and equipment developed by Rubinstein while learning about sports performance analytics in a hands-on way. Rubinstein also intends to pair the technological features of his lab with a series of bimonthly experiential learning experiences that will help put context behind the numbers and hone the students’ analysis skills. Students will be able to access both the lab and its equipment, as well as the extracurricular course, after their normal school hours. 

“The math part of this project involves looking at the relationships between geometry, data and human movement,” Rubinstein said. “The outreach component aims to connect those points to things that high school students can find relatable to their everyday lives—in this case, sports and athletics.”

By partnering and collaborating with local schools and teachers, Rubinstein plans to design a curriculum that showcases the potential real-world applications of math in sports while remaining accessible to students who are relatively unfamiliar or uncomfortable with STEM. He believes this type of early exposure and introduction to STEM will make the subjects less intimidating and could change any pre-existing stereotypes students may have had of math or people who pursue math. 

Ultimately, Rubinstein hopes that the mobile math lab and its accompanying course will reach students who are traditionally underrepresented in STEM and inspire them to pursue careers in those fields. 

“Applying math to sports will obviously attract student-athletes who want to eventually reach a professional level when they grow up, but we also want to attract students who may not become athletes yet still want to contribute to something they’re passionate about,” Rubinstein said. “Skills like geometrical reasoning, data analysis and a basic understanding of quantitative concepts will be crucial in many career paths.”

Planning for the future

The Grand Challenges funding for Rubinstein’s mobile math sports lab project is expected to continue for the next three years. During that time, he hopes to gradually expand his lab to more schools in the D.C. metro area. This summer, he will begin by assembling the equipment and determining the necessary logistics. 

Rubinstein also looks forward to building a team of researchers who share his love for sports and his dedication to addressing the educational disparities in STEM. As part of his recruitment efforts, Rubinstein piloted a new course—called “Experiential Learning: Mathematics of Sports Performance Analytics”—which emphasizes the connections between mathematics, data and sports. The course has so far drawn an eclectic and very motivated audience of students in Spring 2023 and will return in Spring 2024. 

“This is an ambitious project and an amazing opportunity to give back to the communities around us, so I welcome any UMD students, faculty and staff who share my passions for sports and inclusivity in STEM to join me,” Rubinstein said. “I also can’t wait to see how the mobile sports lab will grow, thanks to all the students who will have a hand in creating something for their own futures.”

Written by Georgia Jiang

Read more about the members of our community who have been honored recently for their outstanding contributions to the university and the field of mathematics.

Faculty

AAAS Fellow:

Abba Gumel

Bourbaki Seminar:

Dan Cristofaro-Gardiner

CMNS Outstanding Lecturer Award:

Jonathan Fernandes

Champion of Women Award: 

Rodrigo Trevińo

Graduate Students

Ivo and Renata Babuska Endowed Student Award for Graduate Research in Mathematics:

Christopher Dock

James C. Alexander Prize for Graduate Research in Mathematics:

Jin-Peng Liu

Monroe Martin Spotlight Award:

Max Auer, Ethan Dudley

Seymour Goldberg Spotlight Award:

Michael Rozowski, Connor Lockhart

Mark E. Lachtman Award:

Jianlong Liu, Sanghoon Na, Vlasios Mastrantonis, Xiaoyu Zhou

Patrick & Marguerite Sung Fellowship in Mathematics:

Keith Mills, Xuze Zhang

Ralph P. Pass Award:

Foivos Chnaras, Qihang Li

Aziz/Osborn Gold Medal in Teaching Excellence:

Nathan Janus, Pablo Cedillos, Amandeep Chanda, Chang Chen, Foivos Chnaras, Tyler Clark, Samuel DiPasqua, Brandon Kolstoe

Hauptman Summer Research Award: 

Josue Avila Artavia, Mengzi Xie, Nathan Janus

Hauptman Summer Fellowship: 

Morgan Bryant, Qi'an Chen, Foivos Chnaras, Noah Chrein, Yong Cui, Samuel DiPasqua, Jacob Erickson, Jordan Hirsh, Canran Ji, Maia Karpovich, Dohoon Kim, Eric Kubischta, Haoran Li, Ishfaaq Mohammed Imtiyas, Turner Pepper, Mirna Pinsky, Geoffrey Sangston, Shashank Sule, Ran Tao, Efstratios Tsoukanis, Neng Wang, Melanka Wedige, Victoria Whitley

Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship:

Chenzi Jin, Shuo Yan

Summer Research Fellowship (Grad School):

AlFahad AlQadhi, Mengting Chao, Qihang Li, Vlasios Mastrantonis, Sanghoon Na, Michael Rozowski

Undergraduate Students

Outstanding Senior Award:

Leopold Bertholet                                                                                 

Higginbotham Award:

John Brownfield                                                                                

Aziz Mathematics Scholarhip:

Latka Karthik Sellakumarin                                                                                                                  

Strauss Scholarship:

Adam Melrod                                                                               

Abramowitz Award:

Ezra Aylaian, Emerson Hemley, Isaiah Hilsenrath, Saul Hilsenrath, Hugh Turner McLaurin, Matthew Simmons, Geroge Li, Sriya Potlury              

Daniel Sweet Undergraduate Research Fellowship:

David Koralov, Daniel Levy, Matthew Schneider                                 

Dan Shanks Award:           

Samuel Lidz                                                                                                    

Konter Award:

Maria Nikolaichik, Diana Shin

Strauss Teaching Assistants:

Akash Dutt, Sydney Gravel, Jacob Riddle, Matthew Tremba, Uma Tikekar, Matthew Schneider, Daniel Levy, Karthik Sellakumaran, Samuel Lidz 

Honors/High Honors:

Saul Hilsenrath, Isaiah Hilsenrath, Matthew Simmons, Saahiti Potluri, Danae Rupp

Four professors in the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) were named 2022 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS):

• Abba Gumel
• Mohammad Hajiaghayi
• Wolfgang Losert
• Dana Nau

“I join the CMNS community in congratulating Professors Gumel, Hajiaghayi, Losert and Nau on their well-deserved election as AAAS Fellows,” said CMNS Dean Amitabh Varshney. “This is an affirmation of what we already know—that they are each pushing the boundaries in their respective fields and making a significant impact on the grand challenges our society faces today.”

UMD’s 2022 Fellows, seven in total, join a class of 506 new Fellows who have moved their fields forward, paving the way for scientific advances that benefit society. They bring diverse and novelty thinking, innovative approaches and passion that will help solve the world’s most complex problems, according to AAAS’s announcement.

“AAAS is proud to elevate these standout individuals and recognize the many ways in which they’ve advanced scientific excellence, tackled complex societal challenges and pushed boundaries that will reap benefits for years to come,” Sudip S. Parikh, AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Science family of journals, said in an announcement. 

Abba Gumel joined UMD in fall 2022 as the Michael and Eugenia Brin Endowed Chair in Mathematics. He also holds joint appointments in the Department of Biology and Institute for Physical Science and Technology.  

Gumel’s research primarily involves designing, analyzing and simulating mathematical models to gain insight and understanding of the transmission dynamics and control of emerging, re-emerging and resurging infectious diseases. 

Some of his past research demonstrated the dynamics of dengue disease-carrying mosquitoes, the impact of quarantine on an Ebola outbreak and the ability of face masks to slow the spread of COVID-19. Last year, he was awarded the Bellman Prize at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Mathematical Biology for a paper on the links between malaria transmission and climate. In the coming years, one of Gumel’s top research goals is working toward the global ZERO by 40 initiative, which aims to eradicate malaria by 2040.

Over the course of his career, Gumel has written nearly 170 peer-reviewed research papers and received an array of awards and honors. In 2022, Gumel was named Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics as well as the American Mathematical Society. He is also a Fellow of the African Scientific Institute, Nigerian Academy of Science and African Academy of Sciences. 

Gumel joined UMD following faculty positions at the University of Manitoba in Canada (1999-2014) and Arizona State University (2014-22). He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Brunel University in the United Kingdom in 1994 and his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Bayero University in Nigeria in 1989.

UMD Graduate Di Zou Leads Data-Driven Decision Making as Director of Baseball Systems for Baltimore Orioles

Di Zou (B.S. '09, mathematics) helps the Baltimore Orioles make data-driven decisions as the
team’s director of baseball systems
Written by Emily Nunez  

Like many people born in Baltimore, Di Zou (B.S. ’09, mathematics) spent much of his childhood
at Camden Yards watching the Baltimore Orioles play. He fondly recalls one of his favorite
baseball moments: the second playoff game of the 2014 American League Division Series when
the Orioles defeated the Detroit Tigers.

“That was about as exciting as I’ve seen Camden Yards,” Zou said.

Now, Zou’s workplace overlooks that same stadium, and he’s doing more to help his hometown
team than merely cheering from the crowd. As the Orioles’ director of baseball systems, he
builds software and tools to manage a mound of data—everything from the trajectory of a ball to
the exact position of a pitcher’s wrist. Coaches, scouts and other baseball insiders use this data
to strategize and make informed draft decisions.

“Now that the season has started and there are games every day, I make sure all of the data is
getting imported and processed correctly,” Zou said. “We talk to coaches and scouts, and it’s
really cool to see them use the reports and the data we provide.”

Di Zou posed for a photo at Ed Smith Stadium, the Orioles' spring training stadium,
following an interview with the team's analytics department in March 2017.
He ultimately got the job and started work the following month.

Despite his lifelong love for baseball, Zou never planned to work in professional sports. He
always enjoyed working with numbers, so when he enrolled at the University of Maryland in
2006, he declared a major in mathematics.

It was only after taking a programming math class during his senior year at Maryland that Zou
started considering careers that melded math with computer science. He later learned that his
love of problem-solving could easily be applied to programming.

“I thought, ‘Well, if my favorite math class is actually a programming class, I should do
programming as a job after college,” Zou said. “Programming is sort of like a puzzle. There are
always challenges while writing code, and it’s a lot of fun to overcome these technological
issues and get the computer to do something for you.”

After graduating, Zou landed his first programming job at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in
Aberdeen, Maryland, where he provided cloud-based computing support. In the years that
followed, he went on to several software engineering positions—first in Baltimore and then in
the Greater Boston area—and he picked up a variety of technical skills along the way.
“There’s usually a lot of learning on the job for programming,” Zou explained. “I learned different
programming languages, computer science theory, how to efficiently do certain problems and
tasks, different types of software architectures, and how to handle a lot of data.”

As a fan of both numbers and baseball, Zou started following baseball analytics in college after
reading the book “Moneyball,” which told the true story of how the Oakland Athletics used player
performance data to gain a competitive advantage. Zou has been an avid follower of analytics
sites like Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus ever since, and in 2017, that reading paid off
when he saw a job posting for a developer in the Orioles’ analytics department.

“When I saw that, I thought, ‘Wow, this is right up my alley, and it would be cool to work for the
Orioles,’” Zou said. “I love baseball and I love baseball analytics, so I figured, ‘Why not?’”

Zou ultimately got the job, joining two others on the analytics team. He hit the ground running
and began building software and databases to help the Orioles manage a massive influx of
player performance data. Zou was named the manager of baseball systems in 2019 and
received another promotion to his current position in 2021.

During his six years with the Orioles, Zou has seen the team’s analytics department quadruple
in size. He says the demand for more sophisticated data in professional sports has risen
dramatically since he first delved into baseball analytics in college.

“When I graduated from the University of Maryland, sports analytics weren’t really a thing, and
there were not many sports analytics jobs,” Zou said. “Those jobs really started to take off in the
last six to eight years. It’s getting to the point where you can’t just have one person working on
Excel—you need to write all this dedicated software to handle the volume of data coming to
sports.”

That data continues to grow. Through the use of radar and optical tracking, the MLB collects
data on every single pitch—and that’s just the start.

“At all moments, we know exactly where the ball is in space and time,” Zou said.
“At the major league level, we get measurements 300 times per second, so we know how much the ball
moves and how fast it is spinning.” 

These technologies have become so advanced that the MLB now tracks the quick and subtle
movements made by players’ arms and legs.

“As the pitcher throws the ball, we know how fast his arm is moving, how fast his leg is moving,
where his ankle is, where his wrist is—that’s the type of data we get,” Zou said. “It’s hard to say
what the next big development will be. From a biomechanics standpoint, it would be cool to
know where a player’s fingers are on the ball. We don’t track that yet.”

Zou helps create and manage the systems that store this data, and he works closely with data
scientists who build machine learning and statistical models to make that information relevant to
coaches and scouts. He credits the mathematics program at UMD for giving him analytical skills
that have helped him succeed in this role.

“It helped with a lot of the critical thinking needed for what I’ve been doing,” Zou said. “Also,
since I now work with a lot of data scientists, the math background really helps with
understanding what they do.”

While Zou’s job is full of technical challenges, he relishes the opportunity to put his problem-
solving skills to the test and ultimately help the Orioles win more games. At the end of the day,
as he sits in his office next to Camden Yards, Zou is exactly where he wants to be.
“I like to joke that I get paid to watch baseball all day,” Zou said. “That’s the best part.”

Written by Emily Nunez