Professor receives Simons Fellowship

LAWRENCE – Tyrone Duncan, University of Kansas professor of mathematics and courtesy professor of electrical engineering and computer science, became KU’s first recipient of a 2015 Simons Fellowship in mathematics. The fellowship provides funds for one semester of leave during fall 2015 for his project Studies in Stochastic Control and Related Topics. The Simons Foundation, established by noted mathematician and investor James H. Simons, awards fellowships annually to leading researchers in mathematics, theoretical physics, neuroscience and other fields. The foundation awards a maximum of 40 fellowships in mathematics annually to faculty in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

The Fellows Program under the Simons Foundation Division for Mathematics and the Physical Sciences provides funds to faculty for up to a semester-long research leave from classroom teaching and administrative obligations. Such leaves can increase creativity and provide intellectual stimulation. The goal of the Simons Fellows Program is to make it easier to take such leaves or to extend sabbatical leaves by an extra half-year.

“I am very pleased to receive a Simons Fellowship that will enhance my research activities,” Duncan said.

Duncan plans to use his leave to expand his research for the control of stochastic dynamical systems and for strategies of stochastic differential games. Some of these stochastic systems will also be used for relations to differential geometry and Lie groups.

“Tyrone Duncan is a leading figure world-wide in stochastic control theory. The Simons Fellowship is another in a growing list of awards Tyrone has received for his research,” said Daniel Katz, professor and chair of mathematics. “Because of the high visibility of the fellowship, the award not only provides recognition for Professor Duncan but also for the Department of Mathematics and the University of Kansas.”

The Department of Mathematics is part of KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which encourages learning without boundaries in its more than 50 departments, programs and centers. Through innovative research and teaching, the College emphasizes interdisciplinary education, global awareness and experiential learning. It is the broadest and most diverse academic unit at KU.