Five School of Mathematics faculty named Simons Fellows in Mathematics

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (3/31/2026) – The University of Minnesota School of Mathematics faculty have officially earned 10% of the Simons Fellowships in Mathematics for 2026. Jeff Calder, Tsao-Hsien Chen, Hao Jia, Arnd Scheel, and Craig Westerland are five of 50 mathematicians across North America to receive the award for the upcoming academic year. 

Jeff Calder – Partial Differential Equations and Variational Analysis in Data Science

Calder – who joined the University of Minnesota faculty in 2016 –  is the Al and Dorothy Marden Professor of Mathematics. His research is focused on interactions between partial differential equations (PDEs), numerical analysis, applied probability, and computer science. His interdisciplinary research has been previously featured in Inventing Tomorrow.

Calder’s Simons-sponsored research will focus on applying PDE-based methods to analyze modern data-driven algorithms, with the goal of addressing fundamental gaps in their performance, scalability, and robustness. His work will span several interconnected problems, including the robustness of graph Laplacians, the continuum limit of data visualization methods such as t-SNE, and the capacity of neural networks to approximate viscosity solutions of Hamilton–Jacobi equations.

Tsao-Hsien Chen – Geometric Methods in Representation Theory

Chen, Associate Professor of Mathematics, centers his research around geometric representation theory. In June of this year, he will host a National Science Foundation (NSF) –funded program, the Summer Workshop on Character Sheaves on Loop Groups. This week-long workshop will explore character sheaves on loop groups, their applications, and related future directions.

The main scientific goals of Chen’s upcoming research are to develop geometric methods or framework in representation theory and to use the resulting insights to solve questions in representation theory. He aims to dive deep into this work through projects centered on Langlands duality and generalizations, harmonic analysis on p-adic groups, Hitchin morphisms, and interrelated applications of representation theory, algebraic geometry, and number theory, among others.

Hao Jia – Asymptotic Stability and Regularity for Incompressible Fluid Equations

Associate Professor Jia's research aims to understand regularity, singularity formation, asymptotic stability, and long time behavior of solutions to important partial differential equations, such as the Navier Stokes and Euler equations from the mathematical analysis of fluid dynamics. His research progress has been previously recognized with an NSF CAREER Award and the inaugural School of Mathematics Distinguished Research Award.

Jia’s Simons Fellowship research aims to study the precise long-time behavior of incompressible fluid equations near physically important flow patterns, especially in fast-moving, turbulent conditions. Jia will undertake interdisciplinary research in physics and scientific computing – and engage with collaborators at Princeton University, Fudan University, Peking University and Tufts University through research visits – to strengthen this work.

Arnd Scheel – Phase Transitions in Spatially Extended Systems

Scheel joined the School of Mathematics faculty in 2001. His research program blends dynamical systems, partial differential equations, and applied mathematics. Scheel also serves as the host of an NSF-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) that takes place on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus each summer. This year’s program will mark the eleventh year of the Complex Systems REU.

Through his upcoming fellowship research, Scheel seeks to continue to explore complex systems and phase transitions. He will collaborate with mathematicians in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Spain to investigate interacting particle systems and spiral waves and excitable media.

Craig Westerland – Moments of L-functions via Algebraic Topology

Westerland – a member of the University of Minnesota faculty since 2013 – is an Associate Professor. Through his research, he explores algebraic topology and its connections with geometry, mathematical physics and number theory.

Over the course of Westerland’s Simons-sponsored research, he aims to study and extend a set of influential conjectures about L-functions, important objects in number theory. Much of this work will focus on developing new tools in topology and quantum algebra to perform these homological computations.

About the Simons Fellowship in Mathematics

The competitive Simons Fellows program provides financial support for faculty to take an academic research leave to provide strong intellectual stimulation and lead to increased creativity and productivity in theoretical research. The Simons Foundation is a philanthropic organization dedicated to advancing the frontiers of basic science through grantmaking, in-house research and public engagement. Understanding the transformative power of scientific inquiry, Jim and Marilyn Simons established the foundation in 1994 to propel scientific progress.