News

Itai Linial, Member (2022–23); Shi-Fan Chen, Member (2022–25); and Nadine Soliman, Member (2025–30), all from the School of Natural Sciences, have received 2025 Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships from NASA. The trio will join an “outstanding” class of fellows to address questions such as “How does the universe work?” and “How did we get here?”

Yue Hu, NASA Hubble Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences, has been announced as one of the recipients of the 2025 Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Doctoral Dissertation Award in Astrophysics. Hu's thesis was praised for opening "new ways of exploring the properties of astrophysical turbulent magnetic fields."

Four of the six recipients of the International Congress of Basic Science's 2025 Basic Science Lifetime Award are past IAS scholars: Shigefumi Mori, George Lusztig, and Robert Tarjan from the School of Mathematics and David Gross from the School of Natural Sciences. The award is bestowed upon “extraordinary” scientists in their respective fields.

Masaki Kashiwara, Member (1977–78) in the School of Mathematics, has been awarded the 2025 Abel Prize, often described as the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for his “fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representation theory, in particular the development of the theory of D-modules and the discovery of crystal bases.”

Chris Hamilton, John N. Bahcall Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences, has been recognized in the 2024 Early Career Collection of the Physics of Plasmas journal for his “outstanding” paper on stellar systems and kinetic theory, a prestigious accomplishment for emerging physics scholars.

Derek Bermel, IAS Artist-in-Residence (2009–13), has been named a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters for “notable achievement” in the field of music. Bermel's time at IAS inspired a number of significant compositions, including “A Short History of the Universe (as related by Nima Arkani-Hamed),” which presents a musical interpretation of gravity.

David Rubenstein, Trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study since 2005, will be conferred the highest honor from Eisenhower Fellowships for his philanthropic generosity, innovative leadership, and commitment to serving others.

David Leslie Kennedy, Member (1986–87, 2004) and frequent Visitor in the School of Historical Studies, was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for his "significant service to archaeology as a researcher and academic." 

Robbert Dijkgraaf, IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor (2012–22), has been elected to lead the International Science Council’s advancement and advocacy efforts to confront today’s most critical scientific challenges. 

This month, an effort to unite three astrophysical research communities who exploit common techniques to understand waves in gaseous disks, galaxies, and stars was made by three scholars from the School of Natural Sciences. John N. Bahcall Fellow Chris Hamilton and Members Callum W. Fairbairn and Uddipan Banik organized a workshop titled IAStrophysical Waves, at which over thirty astrophysicists from across the globe were in attendance.

Rubina Raja, Member (2019) in the School of Historical Studies, has received a Semper Ardens Advance grant from the Carlsberg Foundation for her groundbreaking project titled Locally Crafted Empires (LoCiS). The project, set to launch in the summer of 2025, will contribute a comprehensive and diachronic study of local portrait cultures in ancient West Asia.

Ten past IAS scholars from the School of Mathematics have been named as recipients in the 2025 American Mathematical Society (AMS) Awards. The work for which the scholars were recognized ranged from topics in algebraic geometry to contributions to the Langlands program. AMS described the 2025 awardees as having "far-reaching impact" that has "educated a generation" of mathematicians. 

IAS Trustee David M. Rubenstein has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden. This prestigious honor is the nation's highest civilian award. Rubenstein was recognized "for his philanthropy and generous support for the restoration of historic landmarks and the country’s cultural institutions."

Magdalena Małecka, Deutsche Bank Member (2020–21) in the School of Social Science, has been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council for a project titled “Encoded Knowledge: Epistemology of Computer Technology in Modern Economics.” Małecka's time at the Institute, which included visits to the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center, was formative for her project.

Ellie M. Hisama, Edward T. Cone Member in Music Studies in the School of Historical Studies, has been presented with an honorary membership of the American Musicological Society (AMS). Considered to be the Society's highest honor, such memberships are presented to scholars who have made "extraordinary contributions to the Society and to the study and teaching of music."

On November 11, 2024, Avi Wigderson, Herbert H. Maass Professor in the School of Mathematics, was officially presented with an honorary doctorate from the Weizmann Institute of Science. Wigderson was recognized for "his pioneering contributions to mathematics and computer science, which have opened new horizons in both fields, and at the interface between them."

A number of past and present IAS scholars, including Akshay Venkatesh, Robert and Luisa Fernholz Professor in the School of Mathematics, and Ellen Eischen, von Neumann Fellow in the School, have been appointed to the 2025 Class of American Mathematical Society (AMS) Fellows. 

Wendy Brown, UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science, has been announced as the recipient of Södertörn University’s honorary doctorate for 2025. The citation praises Brown for providing "scholars and students in the humanities and social sciences with an invaluable resource for understanding current events and formulating alternatives."

Pauline Yu, Director's Visitor (2014), Trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study, and prominent scholar of Chinese literature, was officially presented with a 2022 National Humanities Medal by President Joe Biden in a private ceremony held at the White House on Monday, October 21, 2024.

John J. Hopfield, Visiting Professor (2010–13) in the School of Natural Sciences, was named a recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” He remains active within the Institute’s Simons Center for Systems Biology, which concentrates on research at the interface of molecular biology and the physical sciences.