UCI professor honored for mathematics research

Leslie Bruce

UC Irvine mathematics professor Svetlana Jitomirskaya received the

2005 American Mathematical Society Ruth Lyttle Satter Award on

Thursday for her contribution to mathematics research.

Jitomirskaya, a professor at UC Irvine for the past 14 years,

received the Satter Award and $5,000 at an American Mathematical

Society ceremony in Providence, R.I.

Jitomirskaya was recognized for her research of disorderly models

and elements to try to find patterns of order.

“I was very honored and pleasantly surprised,” Jitomirskaya said.

“I didn’t even know I was being considered.”

The Ukrainian-born Jitomirskaya left her country in order to

attend Moscow State University in Russia, where she earned her

bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in mathematics. She came

to the U.S. in 1991 after a stint at the International Institute of

Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics.

She then joined the Mathematics Department at UC Irvine as a

visiting assistant professor.

“She works on the mathematical side of questions that come from

physics,” said Abel Klein, mathematics professor at UCI. “The

practical application of it is up to the engineering department.”

Klein, a study subject for Jitomirskaya’s doctorate work, offered

her an open-ended invitation to teach at UC Irvine after completing

her doctorate, according to the UC Irvine Senate website.

Her research papers, published in both the Annals of Mathematics

and Inventiones Mathematicae, earned her much recognition in the

field, said Mike Breen, a spokesman for the American Mathematical

Society.

The Satter Award, presented every two years, was established in

1990 by Joan S. Birman to honor the memory of her sister, Ruth Lyttle

Satter.

Birman requested that the award recognize her sister’s

contribution to mathematical research and that it encourage women in

science.