Mark Kisin joins Harvard as professor of mathematics

Mark Kisin, one of the world’s most promising young number theorists, has been named professor of mathematics in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), effective July 1.

Kisin, 37, is currently professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 2003.

“Professor Kisin’s work is influential and wide-ranging,” says Jeremy Bloxham, dean of science in FAS. “He is an excellent expositor of mathematics and an energetic and talented teacher, highly committed to both undergraduate and graduate education. All our mathematics students will benefit from his instruction and guidance.”

Kisin has worked in several areas of algebraic number theory and arithmetic algebraic geometry. His most celebrated contributions have come in p-adic representations of p-adic Galois groups and p-adic cohomology. One of the leading researchers in this field, he has introduced to p-adic representations new and powerful ideas from algebraic geometry.

Kisin has also led in developing the technical machinery underlying many recent advances in modularity, a field of study central to many areas of mathematics over the past 40 years. His appointment enhances Harvard’s leadership in number theory, a discipline encompassing a broad swath of modern mathematics.

Born in Lithuania and raised in Australia, Kisin received his B.Sc. from Monash University in Australia in 1991 and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1995 and 1998, respectively. Supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Australian Research Council from 1998 to 2001, he conducted research at Westfälischen Wilhelms Universität in Germany from 1998 to 2003.

Kisin joined the University of Chicago as an assistant professor in 2003 and was promoted to professor in 2005. He was supported by a Sloan Foundation research fellowship from 2004 to 2007.