New Brin Endowed Professors Uri Bader and Ron Peled bring a wealth of experience and research to the department.

New Brin Endowed Professors Uri Bader and Ron Peled bring a wealth of experience and research to the UMD Department of Mathematics.

Two internationally recognized mathematicians joined the University of Maryland in fall 2024. Uri Bader and Ron Peled—who hold Brin Endowed Professorships in Mathematics—bring significant research experience to the department, according to  Mathematics Chair Doron Levy.

“Ron Peled is an international leader in the fields of probability, mathematical physics and statistics mechanics. Hiring Professor Peled brought to the department one of the best probabilists in the world,” Levy noted. “Uri Bader is an extraordinary mathematician who works in an area of mathematics related to geometry, number theory, group theory, dynamical systems and functional analysis. This is a remarkably broad area of expertise for a mathematician. Professors Peled and Bader will both provide exceptional research opportunities to our students.”

The new Brin Endowed Professorships in Mathematics were established with a generous gift from UMD Mathematics Professor Emeritus Michael Brin and his wife Eugenia for $2 million, which was fully matched by the Maryland Department of Commerce. The match was made through the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative (MEI), a state program created to spur basic and applied research in scientific and technical fields at colleges and universities. 

With these new endowed professorships, UMD’s Department of Mathematics gained a significant edge in attracting top mathematicians to its next-level mathematics programs.

“Hiring Uri Bader and Ron Peled required Maryland to compete with many top math departments,” Levy said. “The newly established Brin Professorships were instrumental in our ability to attract both of them to Maryland.”

Uri Bader: Finding new territories in mathematics

Bader’s mathematical research is all about exploring connections.

“I like seeing the connections between mathematical objects. Sometimes people describe mathematics as different lands—there is algebra, there is geometry, there is number theory, but I see it as one continent, with no clear borders in between,” Bader explained. “I’m hoping to be an explorer—I’m looking to find new territories in mathematics to explore and this is what keeps me going.”

Known as one of the deepest and most active experts in the area of mathematics that comes from the Furstenberg/Margulis school of ergodic theory and discrete subgroups of Lie groups, Bader studies geometric group theory, dynamical systems, operator algebras, complex geometry and more.

“I’m working at the crossroads of geometry, algebra and number theory and I’m studying group theory, which is the study of symmetry,” Bader said. “Group theory by itself is an interplay of two theories—geometry and algebra. Geometry because you have these geometric objects that you study symmetries of and algebra because you describe symmetries by algebraic means. In my research, I apply these tools to describe number theory.”

Bader grew up in Israel, earning his undergraduate degree and Ph.D. in mathematics from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and later becoming an L.E. Dickson Instructor at the University of Chicago and a lecturer and professor of mathematics at the Technion before joining the Weizmann Institute in 2015 as a professor of mathematics.  

For Bader, his position at UMD opens up a host of new opportunities.

“I have some fantastic colleagues here at UMD and I’m looking forward to collaborations with them, students and visitors,” Bader said. “The wonderful Brin Mathematics Research Center brings many top-notch researchers to UMD and offers an opportunity to invite other scholars to study mathematics together. I can benefit, and I think I can bring a lot, including a new point of view.”

As he advances his research at UMD, Bader hopes his broad experience in mathematics can continue to make an impact—and a difference.

“Every time I’m studying a new mathematical theory, I have this feeling that things are falling into the right place. It’s fantastic and I get excited all over again. I get a kick out of being able to describe mathematical theory so others can get excited about it too,” Bader explained. “What makes me most proud is the people around me and what they do and their success. My mission is not just to be a researcher, but also to be part of the success of my students.” 

Ron Peled: ‘Fired up’ by mathematics

Peled has been inspired by the challenges of math for as long as he can remember.

“I have always been excited about mathematics,” Peled explained. “What fires me up is curiosity. I’m always curious that a simple question is out there, we don’t know the answer and it seems like it’s something I can think about. And if I think hard enough, I can make progress and perhaps I can solve it. Just that fact has always fascinated me.”

With a strong foundation in statistical physics and probability theory, Peled has also made significant contributions in related areas including combinatorics, discrete mathematics and analysis.

“I study phase transition, which is a branch at the interface of probability theory, a mathematical subject that I specialize in, and statistical physics—and this now has some tradition in mathematics,” Peled said. “From a physical perspective, this discipline is about how the properties of materials emerge from the interactions of the microscopic particles that make up these materials. For instance, you boil water and at 100 degrees Celsius it becomes gas. But what happens to it on the microscopic level? This is an example of a phase transition.”

Born and raised in Israel, Peled earned his undergraduate degree from the Open University of Israel, going on to receive his master’s in mathematics from Tel Aviv University and his Ph.D. in statistics from UC Berkeley, where his dissertation received the Herbert Alexander Prize and Citation in Probability. After a Clay Liftoff Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin and a two-year fellowship at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, Peled returned to Tel Aviv University in 2010 to become a professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences. The author of dozens of scientific papers, Peled spent the last two years at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study.

“I’m very excited about the opportunities that the University of Maryland is giving me and I’m very grateful to the Brin family for providing the support for this position. It will certainly allow me to focus more on my research and provide the best conditions for it,” Peled noted. “I’m looking forward to getting to know the other professors, students, and postdocs here and developing a group studying statistical physics and probability theory.”

Peled also sees an exciting future for the Brin Mathematics Research Center at UMD, which was launched to expand the university’s mathematics and statistics research and education programs and support visiting scholars, workshops and symposia, and summer programs.

“They opened the Brin Center here and there are workshops and summer schools all year round, and we think that this will propel the mathematics department here even further,” Peled said. “If one looks at the rankings, Maryland is in the top 20 now and it looks to be strongly improving toward the top 10.”

Written by Leslie Miller

Statistics graduate program director Lizhen Lin works to understand the math behind artificial intelligence and machine learning while guiding the next generation of data scientists at UMD.

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Deep within Kirwan Hall, Mathematics Professor Lizhen Lin is always hunting for patterns—but not the kind found in fabrics or wallpaper. Lin, who began her position as director of UMD’s statistics graduate program in July 2023, is on a quest to understand the hidden mathematical patterns that help artificial intelligence (AI) make sense of the world around us.

“Imagine data existing in a three-dimensional space, much like the world we live in,” Lin explained. “Sometimes, even though the data can appear three-dimensional, it might actually center around something simpler, like a circle, which is one-dimensional. Deep learning methods are particularly good at finding these simpler patterns within a lot of complex data. As a statistician, I want to understand the foundational mechanisms behind how modern AI can process these vast amounts of data so effectively.”

Lin’s research dives deep into AI’s mathematical DNA by studying the fundamental theories that support modern machine learning, combining geometry, statistics and deep learning theory. She specializes in analyzing data with geometric properties and develops sophisticated statistical models such as Bayesian models for analyzing these complex data. These complex models work much like human learning: starting with an initial belief and continuously updating it based on new evidence. Holistically, Lin’s work bridges traditional statistics and mathematics with modern real-world applications. 

As AI and machine learning continue to transform industries ranging from social media platforms to health care, Lin’s research provides crucial insights into how these systems work and how they can be improved through understanding the foundations behind AI and machine learning. 

“Lizhen is a global expert in her field with skills of great interest to those pursuing modern data science,” said Mathematics Chair and Professor Doron Levy. “Her arrival at UMD opens many opportunities for our graduate students, including collaborative research efforts both within our community and beyond.”  

Modernizing statistics at UMD

As Lin looks to the future of statistics and its role in the evolution of AI, she also looks to her past for inspiration on how to better prepare a new generation of statisticians for a rapidly changing world. 

“My love for math was always there, starting from when I was a young girl growing up in China years ago. Numbers always made sense to me,” she said. “No one pushed me to love puzzles and logic, but I would not have been able to get where I am, studying what I study now, without some much-needed support from the people around me throughout my journey.”

For Lin, many of the most pivotal moments in her life and academic career were triggered by encountering the right teacher or mentor at the right time.  

“When I was attending college in China, one of my female professors opened my eyes to the possibility of continuing graduate studies in the United States,” she said. “I would never have imagined such a great opportunity for myself, but her guidance at the time opened these doors I never realized existed.”

That encouragement and guidance set Lin on a path that took her from the University of Arizona for her Ph.D. to Duke University for postdoctoral work and to teaching positions at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Notre Dame before she landed at UMD in 2023. It’s the kind of experience she hopes to share with new generations of statistics students. 

“In mathematics, we often talk about building on foundational work,” Lin said. “It applies to artificial intelligence and its advancement, but it’s also true in mentorship. Every student who succeeds becomes a potential mentor for others, creating a network of support that only grows stronger over time.” 

Looking forward, Lin hopes to continue expanding and evolving the statistics graduate program at UMD. As director, she oversees the recruitment of Ph.D students and curriculum development, and she hopes to increase cross-disciplinary initiatives within the statistics program and the Department of Mathematics. 

She is currently contributing to the development of a new bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence—a field she believes will only grow in importance. Lin’s own journey reflects the expanding appeal of computational fields and their potential to inspire new generations of scientists.

“Over the last few decades, so many students have wanted to get into STEM because of these developments in computer science, data science and AI. This is particularly true for women, a traditionally underrepresented population in the field,” she said. “I want to ensure that statisticians and data scientists here at UMD receive the support they need to push the boundaries of what’s possible in this rapidly changing field.” 

Written by Georgia Jiang

Musa is developing models and data-driven maps that illustrate how factors such as climate change, seasonal variations and human behavior influence Lyme disease spread in Maryland and beyond.

The University of Maryland Department of Mathematics and Institute for Health Computing (UM-IHC) welcomed Salihu Musa as a research scientist in fall 2024.

Musa earned his Ph.D. in mathematical epidemiology at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he explored transmission mechanisms in infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and various vector-borne diseases such as Zika, dengue and Ebola. 

Prior to joining the University of Maryland, he was a bioinformatician at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. There, he applied his expertise in epidemiological modeling to analyze large-scale datasets, advancing our understanding of disease spread, forecasting outbreaks, and examining how human behavior influences transmission patterns. Eager to expand his focus to additional disease areas, he chose to bring his talents to Maryland.

“Epidemiological modeling is essential for understanding and managing diseases,” Musa explained. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, it proved invaluable for predicting spread and guiding public health responses—insights that are just as critical for addressing other diseases.”

At Maryland, Musa is focused on advancing our understanding of Lyme disease transmission dynamics, leveraging his expertise to develop mathematical and statistical tools for robust data analysis. Musa’s approach leverages simulation-based inference for epidemiological dynamics and sophisticated geographic information systems to analyze spatial and temporal patterns of Lyme disease transmission. The visually compelling, data-driven maps he creates also illustrate how factors such as climate change, seasonal variations and human behavior influence Lyme disease spread. 

“Lyme disease is a significant public health challenge across the country,” Musa said. “Maryland ranks among the top 10 most affected states, per CDC data, and within Maryland, Montgomery County bears the highest burden, making this research especially relevant to our local community.”

Musa’s model-driven study generates real-time maps of Lyme disease cases in high-burden areas, which provide local public health agencies with a realistic estimate of disease burden in their jurisdiction, identify potential hot spots and offer insights into the effectiveness of intervention strategies. Citizens living in or visiting high-burden areas in the mid-Atlantic, Northeast and upper Midwest United States will also find the maps helpful because they will know when to minimize their exposure to ticks, according to Musa.

Working alongside Abba Gumel, who holds the Michael and Eugenia Brin Endowed Chair in Mathematics at UMCP, Musa seeks to improve Lyme disease management and control strategies not only within the United States but also on a global scale, providing tools to better mitigate infections and protect public health while considering the changing climate.

“Dr. Musa's work offers a cutting-edge, data-driven solution to one of the most pressing public health challenges of our time—quantifying and mitigating the impact of anthropogenic climate change on the distribution and burden of human diseases, such as Lyme disease,” Gumel said. “Dr. Musa's hybrid mechanistic-statistical model realistically assesses the population-level effectiveness of various control and mitigation measures against the vector and the disease. His research exemplifies the One Health approach, which holistically integrates human, animal and environmental health to address public health challenges.”

In the coming months and years, Musa and Gumel look forward to continued collaborations within the University of Maryland and in the surrounding BioHealth Capital Region.

“I’m incredibly drawn to this area—it’s an ideal environment for research with impressive resources and high-caliber researchers at the IHC,” Musa said. “Beyond that, we’re perfectly situated near other renowned research universities and key government agencies like the NIH and FDA, making it a prime location for collaboration and innovation.”

Written by Sarah Ellinwood