Illinois Tech Professor Chun Liu Honored as 2024 Fellow by American Mathematical Society

CHICAGO—January 25, 2024—Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) Professor Chun Liu has been elected a 2024 fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS)—one of just 40 mathematical scientists to be honored this year for his contribution to mathematics.

“It’s nice to be recognized by my colleagues, but this also gives visibility for the whole department and Illinois Tech,” says Liu, chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics. “It’s great recognition for the mathematics research that’s going on here at Illinois Tech.”

Liu’s research includes partial differential equations and calculus of variations, and their applications in complex fluids. Liu has published over 180 publications. His research projects have been continuously supported by the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Energy, and various federal and international research foundations.

Liu says faculty researchers in the Department of Applied Mathematics not only delve into heavy mathematics theory, but also in how to apply that theory into a variety of fields, which makes the research that they conduct important and unusual. Mathematics researchers at Illinois Tech have made great contributions to fields such as data science, finance, engineering, biology, and materials science through collaborative research.

“The Department of Applied Mathematics at Illinois Tech is very strong in research with collaborators, both in and out of Illinois Tech, in many different areas,” Liu says. “For instance, more than 70 percent of the faculty in the department are doing research related to data sciences and machine learning.”

Liu has been the recipient of several awards, including Householder Lecturer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2019. He has also long served as editor for the SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis Communications in Mathematical Sciences Interfaces and Free Boundaries Kinetic and Related Models Analysis and Application Journal of Mathematical Study; and Computational and Mathematical Biophysics (CMB).

AMS has been honoring fellows for the past 12 years in order create an enlarged class of mathematicians recognized by their peers; lift the morale of the profession; make mathematicians more competitive for awards, promotions, and honors; and support the advancement of more mathematicians in leadership positions in their own institutions and in broader society.

“It is my pleasure to congratulate and welcome the new class of AMS fellows, honored for their outstanding contributions to the mathematical sciences and to our profession,” says Bryna Kra, AMS president. “This year’s class was selected from a large and excellent pool of candidates, highlighting the many ways in which our profession is advanced, and I look forward to working with them in service to our community.”

The fellowship was formally bestowed at the Joint Mathematics Meeting in San Francisco earlier this month.

Photo: Professor Chun Liu

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