Lillian Pierce
Lillian Beatrix Pierce is a mathematician whose
research connects number theory with harmonic Lillian Pierce
analysis.[1] She is a professor of mathematics at Duke
University.[2]
Early life and education
Pierce was home-schooled in Fallbrook,
California [1][3][4] and began playing the violin at age Born 20 July 1980
[5]
four. By age 11 she began performing professionally Fallbrook
as a violinist.[1] As a teenager, she also started taking
Education Bachelor of Arts, Master of
classes at a local community college, accumulating so
Science, Doctor of Philosophy
many units that some of the universities she applied to
Alma mater Princeton University
refused to consider her for freshman admission.[5] She
entered Princeton University majoring in mathematics University of Oxford
but intending to pursue an MD–PhD program;[6] under Employer Duke University (2014–)
the influence of faculty mentor and undergraduate
Hausdorff Center for Mathematics
thesis supervisor Elias M. Stein, her interests shifted
towards pure mathematics.[1][6][3] As an Awards Rhodes Scholarship (2002)
undergraduate, she also became an intern at the NSF Graduate Research
National Security Agency.[1] She was Princeton's 2002 Fellowship Program (2009)
valedictorian and became a Rhodes Scholar, repeating Marie Curie Fellowship (2010)
two accomplishments of her brother Niles Pierce from
Sadosky Prize (2018)
nine years earlier.[3]
Sloan Research Fellowship
She earned a master's degree at the University of (2018)
Oxford in 2004.[2][1] Returning to Princeton for Presidential Early Career Award
doctoral study in mathematics, she completed her for Scientists and Engineers
Ph.D. in 2009. Her dissertation, Discrete Analogues in (2019)
Harmonic Analysis, was supervised by Stein.[2][7] Fellow of the American
Mathematical Society (For
contributions to number theory
Career and harmonic analysis., 2020,
2021)
Guggenheim Fellowship
(mathematics, 2023, 2023)
After postdoctoral studies with Roger Heath-Brown at Oxford and at the Hausdorff Center for
Mathematics in Bonn, Germany, she became an assistant professor at Duke in 2014 and is now a full
professor.[2][1]
Research
Pierce was one of the first mathematicians to prove nontrivial upper bounds on the number of elements of
finite order in an ideal class group.[8]
Awards and honors
Pierce won the 2018 Sadosky Prize for research that "spans and connects a broad spectrum of problems
ranging from character sums in number theory to singular integral operators in Euclidean spaces"
including in particular "a polynomial Carleson theorem for manifolds".[9] She received the 2019
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.[10] She was elected a Fellow of the
American Mathematical Society in the class of 2021 "for contributions to number theory and harmonic
analysis".[11]
Personal life
Her husband, Tobias Overath, also works at Duke as a neuroscientist.[1]
References
1. Smith, Robin (September 26, 2014), "Lillian Pierce: A head for pure mathematics" (https://to
day.duke.edu/2014/09/pierce), Duke Today, Duke University
2. Curriculum vitae (https://services.math.duke.edu/~pierce/documents/Pierce_CV.pdf) (PDF),
July 2017, retrieved 2018-05-12
3. Stevens, Ruth (June 3, 2002), "Selection as valedictorian a family affair for the Pierces" (http
s://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/02/0603/6a.shtml), Princeton Weekly Bulletin, 92 (27),
Princeton University
4. Nussbaum, Debra (May 21, 2000), "Home Schooling Graduates; Students, Jittery About
College at First, Are Doing Well Academically and Fitting In Socially" (https://www.nytimes.c
om/2000/05/21/nyregion/home-schooling-graduates-students-jittery-about-college-first-are-d
oing-well.html), The New York Times
5. Stevens, Ruth (March 5, 2001), "Inclined to succeed: USA Today First-teamer Lillian Pierce
pursues interests ranging from mathematics to music" (https://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/01/
0305/7a.shtml), Princeton Weekly Bulletin, 90 (19)
6. Flapan, Laure (November 2017), Diaz-Lopez, Alexander (ed.), "Lillian Pierce Interview" (http
s://www.ams.org/publications/journals/notices/201710/rnoti-p1170.pdf) (PDF), Notices of the
American Mathematical Society, 64 (10): 1170–1172, doi:10.1090/noti1586 (https://doi.org/1
0.1090%2Fnoti1586)
7. Lillian Pierce (https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=134595) at the Mathematics Genealogy
Project
8. Hartnett, Kevin (March 2, 2017), "New Number Systems Seek Their Lost Primes" (https://w
ww.quantamagazine.org/ideal-numbers-seek-their-lost-primes-20170302), Quanta
Magazine
9. "Pierce Awarded Sadosky Prize" (https://www.ams.org/publications/journals/notices/201708/
rnoti-p924.pdf) (PDF), Mathematics People, Notices of the American Mathematical Society,
64 (8): 925, September 2017
10. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award
for Scientists and Engineers" (https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/pr
esident-donald-j-trump-announces-recipients-presidential-early-career-award-scientists-engi
neers/), whitehouse.gov, 2019-07-02, retrieved 2019-08-03 – via National Archives
11. "2021 Class of Fellows" (https://www.ams.org/cgi-bin/fellows/fellows_by_year.cgi). American
Mathematical Society. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
Further reading
Readdy, Margaret A.; Taylor, Christine (March 2018), "Lillian Pierce" (https://www.ams.org/jo
urnals/notices/201803/rnoti-p248b.pdf) (PDF), Women's History Month, Notices of the
American Mathematical Society, 65 (3): 284–285
Cepelewicz, Jordana (2022-03-30). "In Music and Math, Lillian Pierce Builds Landscapes"
(https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-music-and-math-lillian-pierce-builds-landscapes-20220
330/). Quanta Magazine.
External links
Home page (https://services.math.duke.edu/~pierce/)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lillian_Pierce&oldid=1218407152"
