PROFESSOR TOMMASO DE FERNEX INCOMING DEPARTMENT CHAIR

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

Tommaso de Fernex is stepping into the role of Chair of the Department of Mathematics, College of Science, University of Utah following Professor Davar Khoshnevisan’s notable six-year term.

“It is with great anticipation that I step into the seat of Chairman of the Department of Mathematics,” says de Fernex, “I am honored for this appointment and humbled by the faith the College of Science has in me. Under the strong leadership of Davar Khoshnevisan, the Department has been on a great upward trajectory, reaching new heights with exemplary faculty recruitment and record recognition, grants, and scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students. Davar and I have collaborated for some time about the outlook of the department and I see a bright future. I am fortunate to belong to such a community, with a first-class faculty, fantastic staff, impressive students, and postdoctoral fellows. I am looking forward to serving the Department in the coming years.”

Tommaso de Fernex is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and was an inaugural Simons Fellow in Mathematics in 2012. He served as Associate Department Chair from 2017 to 2019. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and has resulted in nearly 50 publications, with more than 50 invitations to conference talks.

As incoming chair, he will continue his passion for algebraic geometry, working with students, postdocs, and collaborators on problems from birational geometry to arc spaces and singularities of algebraic varieties. In fact, de Fernex is scheduled to speak at the 2023 Fields Medal Symposium to be held October 1620, 2023 in Toronto.