Current Members of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board

Malabika Pramanik (Chair) (University of British Columbia) - Harmonic Analysis

Louigi Addario-Berry (McGill University) - Probability, Combinatorics, Mathematical Statistics, Theoretical Computer Science, Statistical Physics

David Ayala (Montana State University) - Algebraic and Differential Geometry and Topology

Laleh Behjat (University of Calgary) - Developing EDA techniques for Physical Design and Application of Large-Scale Optimization in EDA

Ron Buckmire (Occidental College) - Numerical Analysis, Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Modeling, Machine Learning, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Edward Doolittle (First Nations University of Canada) - Differential Operators, Partial Differential Equations

Peter Dukes (University of Victoria) - Algebraic and Computational Methods in Combinatorics

Henry Fowler (Navajo Technical University) - Math Literacy and Advocating for Social Justice through Mathematics

Michael Hrusak (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) - Set theory, Set-theoretic topology, Boolean algebras

Chris Kapulkin (University of Western Ontario) - Homotopy Theory, (Higher) Category Theory, Homotopy Type Theory, Combinatorics, Formalization of Mathematics, Cryptography

Kathryn Leonard (Occidental College) - Geometric Models for Computer Graphics, Computer Vision, and Data Analysis.

Richard Lockhart (Simon Fraser University) - I have worked a fair amount in the area of goodness-of-fit but have some experience in applications in the physical sciences, high dimensional inference, inference after model selection, probabilistic proofs in number theory, functional data analysis, copulas, inference for stochastic processes, and a variety of other things.

Jianfeng Lu (Duke University) - Applied Mathematics, Machine Learning

Sara Maloni (University of Virginia) - Geometric Structures, Low Dimensional Topology, Hyperbolic Geometry

Karen Meagher (University of Regina) -

Marni Mishna (Simon Fraser University) - Analytic and Enumerative Combinatorics

Saman Muthukumarana (University of Manitoba) - Bayesian Methods, Biostatistics Data Science, Environmental and Ecological Statistics, Computational Statistics, Statistics in Sports

Anotida Madzvamuse (University of British Columbia) - Theoretical and Computational Biology, and Numerical Analysis

Ajay Ramadoss Problems related to noncommutative geometry and its relation with other fields such as differential geometry; algebraic geometry; representation theory

Talia Ringer (UIUC) - Proof engineering, proof automation, proof assistants, dependent type theory, programming languages, AI for theorem proving

Aaron Tikuisis (University of Ottawa) - Structure of C*-algebras



Bio Sketches



Malabika Pramanik (Chair) (University of British Columbia)

Malabika Pramanik is a Canadian mathematician who works as a professor of mathematics at the University of British Columbia. Her research lies in mathematical analysis, specifically in the areas of harmonic analysis, geometric measure theory, complex variables, and partial differential equations. Her work focuses on exploring finer structures in mathematical ensembles involving sets and functions, in particular on fractals. One recurrent theme in her work is the search for patterns in seemingly random objects and their connections with quantifiable properties of these objects, such as regularity, clustering, smoothness or existence of arithmetic-geometric structures. Malabika received her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley (2001). After short-term positions at the University of Wisconsin and Caltech she joined UBC in 2006. She is the 2015-16 winner of the Ruth I. Michler Prize of the Association for Women in Mathematics, the 2016 Krieger-Nelson Prize of the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) and a Killam Research Prize (2017) from the UBC Faculty of Science. In her role as Vice-President for the Pacific region of the CMS and as organizer of ongoing programs such as "Two weeks in Vancouver - a summer school for undergraduate women in math" and "Diversity in mathematics", she is actively engaged in initiatives that promote representation of women and minority groups in STEM fields.

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Louigi Addario-Berry (McGill University)

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David Ayala (Montana State University)

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Laleh Behjat (University of Calgary)

Dr. Laleh Behjat is a professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Calgary, Canada and the NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering. Her research focuses on developing mathematical optimization techniques and software tools for automating the design of digital integrated circuits. She has won several awards for her work including the 1st in International Symposium on Physical Design Placement contest, 3rd place in the Design Automation Perspective Challenge, and Schulich School of Engineering Research Productivity Award. Dr. Behjat acted as an academic advisor for of Google Technical Development Guide and was a member of the Google’s Council on Computer Science Education. She is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits, ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems, and Optimization in Engineering from Springer.

Dr. Behjat is passionate about increasing the status of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). She believes that equity, diversity, inclusion and justice in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics can be achieved only by removing systemic barriers in the path of women and other underrepresented groups. She was the recipient of the 2015 Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) Women in Engineering Champion Award, Association of Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group in Design Automation Service Award and 2017 Killam Graduate Student Supervision and Mentorship Award. Her team, Schulich Engineering Outreach Team, was also the recipient of the ASTech Leadership Excellence in Science and Technology Public Awareness Award in 2017.

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Ron Buckmire (Occidental College)

Ron Buckmire is the Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs and Professor of Mathematics at Occidental College (Oxy) in Los Angeles, California. He is in charge of all aspects of the curriculum and reports directly to Oxy’s chief academic officer, Wendy Sternberg. His primary responsibility is the direction of the general education program and he has several other academic initiatives reporting to him. Ron holds mathematics degrees (Ph.D., M.Sc. and B.Sc.) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has been on the Oxy faculty since 1994, serving as chair of the mathematics department twice and achieving the rank of Full Professor in 2014 after beginning his academic career at Oxy as a Minority Postdoctoral Scholar-in-Residence. He was an employee of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2011-2013 and 2016-2018. At NSF, he was a Lead Program Director in the Division of Undergraduate Education where he headed the S-STEM program and was responsible for the undergraduate mathematics education award portfolio.

He is the co-editor of Improving Applied Mathematics Education (Springer Nature, 2021) and has published peer-reviewed articles in an eclectic collection of peer-reviewed journals such as Data, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations, IMA Journal of Management Mathematics, Works and Days and the Albany Law Review. He is a passionate advocate for broadening the participation of historically excluded groups (especially LGBTQ+ individuals and racial/ethnic minorities) in mathematics and other STEM disciplines. He serves the broader mathematics community in several capacities, such as Vice-President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at SIAM, Chair of the AMS Committee on EDI, Chair of MSRI’s HRAC, member of BIRS’ EDI board and ICERM’s board of trustees. He is a co-founder and board member of Spectra, the association for LGBTQ+ mathematicians and their allies.

Research interests: Numerical Analysis, Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Modeling, Machine Learning, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

EDI Statement

I believe strongly that “Mathematics is a human endeavor and thus it is important ‘who does the math.’” Humans have identifying characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, national origin, et cetera. As the saying goes, “diversity is a fact, inclusion is a choice, equity is the goal and justice is coming” (Bonato, 2021). Once you have multiple people engaging in an enterprise like doing mathematics you will have diversity because you will have people who have differing identities. Whether everyone involved will feel welcome and included in the activity is a choice that the organizers make through various decisions like what language materials will be printed in, how accessible the space is, whether the location is in an area with discriminatory policies towards certain groups, etc. Equity and justice is what we should all work towards in mathematics and in other aspects of our lives. In mathematics, I think EDI efforts require careful and conscientious organizing and a willingness to be creative, respectful and sometimes disruptive to “norms” or the status quo. I try to engage in activities and associate myself with organizations that will increase the likelihood of equity and justice in mathematics occurring, thus I am proud to be a member of the EDI Board of BIRS.

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Edward Doolittle (First Nations University of Canada)

Edward Doolittle is a Mohawk (Kanyen'kehake) from Six Nations in southern Ontario, born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. He earned a PhD in pure mathematics (partial differential equations) from the University of Toronto in 1997. He has taught mathematics, statistics, mathematics education, and Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto, York University, Queen's University, Confederation College, the University of Regina, and First Nations University.

Since 2001, Edward has been a faculty member at First Nations University in Regina, Saskatchewan. Currently he is Associate Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Indigenous Knowledge and Science at First Nations University. His research interests include Indigenous mathematics, which includes mathematics developed by Indigenous people and mathematics applied to problems of interest to Indigenous people, and Indigenous mathematics education.

Increasing the participation of Indigenous people in STEM fields has been a goal of Edward's since he began his university education over 35 years ago. In that time, his thinking about how to approach the issues has continued to evolve. He believes that entire communities should be involved in deciding the goals and methods of mathematics education, and that a critical aspect of success in Indigenous mathematics education is building and maintaining relationships with all stakeholders. Edward also tries to find the mathematical thought that already exists in all cultures, and to use that to motivate and enhance mathematics education at all levels.

Edward received the Adrien Pouliot Award in 2023 from the Canadian Mathematical Society.

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Peter Dukes (University of Victoria)

Peter Dukes is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Victoria. He obtained his PhD in 2003 from the California Institute of Technology, and then joined UVic after postdocs at Arizona State University and the University of Toronto. Peter's mathematical interests are centred on combinatorial structures, such as designs, codes, arrays, finite geometries, graphs and hypergraphs. His favorite problems often have algebraic or extremal themes. Peter was the recipient of the 2007 Kirkman Medal and 2014 Hall Medal in Combinatorics.


EDI Statement

Mathematics is built on ideas, yet enriched through our social activity. Correspondingly, we have both the opportunity and responsibility to attract diverse minds to our subject. I believe underrepresented groups are a great resource for fresh insights and new ways of understanding. Although my own life has been relatively fortunate and privileged, I have seen the harm done by barriers to inclusivity. I consider it a duty to help break down these barriers, whether through mathematical outreach or just listening and forging common ground. I am committed to a better tomorrow in which, through a culture of diversity, our work in the mathematical sciences will be far greater than the sum of our efforts.

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Michael Hrusak (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Michael Hrusak is a Mexican mathematician of Czech origin. He obtained his Master’s in 1994 from the Charles University in Prague and PhD in 1999 from York University in Toronto. Since 2002 he works as a full-time researcher at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). His research involves set theory and its applications to topology, mathematical analysis and geometry.


EDI Statement

Mathematics provides a universal language to deep understanding of a wide range of phenomena. The right to access to this language and to this knowledge must also be universal and not depend on gender, ethnicity, religion, or any other artificial barrier.

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Chris Kapulkin (University of Western Ontario)

Chris Kapulkin is an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Western Ontario. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh in 2014, under the supervision of Thomas C. Hales. He has held appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, CA.

Kapulkin is best known for his work in homotopy type theory and higher category theory, in particular, settling the conjectures of Joyal (2014) and Voeovdsky (2019), but he has also published in combinatorics, formalization of mathematics, cryptography, and philosophy of mathematics. For his contributions, he received the Distinguished Research Professorship in Science in 2022.

Research Areas: Homotopy Theory, (Higher) Category Theory, Homotopy Type Theory, Combinatorics, Formalization of Mathematics, Cryptography


EDI Statement

All people have the right to contribute to the mathematics enterprise, but some face more obstacles while doing so than others. Discrimination takes on many forms, from overt bigotry to unconscious bias, and happens along many axes, including race, gender, and sexual identity, among others. Countering it requires that those of us with resources and influence, be it graduate supervisors, conference organizers, or members of some board, systematically examine the forms and axes of discrimination that they might be (inadvertently) reinforcing.

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Henry Fowler (Navajo Technical University)

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Richard Lockhart (Simon Fraser University)

Richard Lockhart was born in Montreal, and grew up in Winnipeg and Tsawwassen (a Vancouver suburb). He is a mathematical statistician with an undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of British Columbia (1975). He has a PhD in Statistics from the University of California at Berkeley (1979). He has been a faculty at Simon Fraser University since 1979.

Richard Lockhart has experience on a number of grant review committees (two terms with NSERC, one on the scientific advisory committee for the CRM, and currently on an FRQ review committee) as well as experience on advisory committees (Statistics Canada and an ASA committee to advise the US Energy Information Administration). He was once President of the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC) and Editor of the SSC news letter (Liaison). He has also had a fair amount of editorial experience (AE for The Canadian Journal of Statistics and Technometrics, Editor of The Canadian Journal of Statistics, one of 4 current co-editors for Statistics Surveys, and Executive Editor for the Journal of Multivariate Analysis).

Research Areas: Richard Lockhart has worked a fair amount in the area of goodness-of-fit but have some experience in applications in the physical sciences, high dimensional inference, inference after model selection, probabilistic proofs in number theory, functional data analysis, copulas, inference for stochastic processes, and a variety of other things.

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Jianfeng Lu (Duke University)

Jianfeng Lu is a Professor of Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry at Duke University. Before joining Duke University, he obtained his PhD in Applied Mathematics from Princeton University in 2009 and was a Courant Instructor at New York University from 2009 to 2012. He works on mathematical analysis and algorithm development for problems and challenges arising from computational physics, theoretical chemistry, materials science, high-dimensional PDEs, and machine learning. His work has been recognized by a Sloan Fellowship, a NSF Career Award, and the 2017 IMA Prize in Mathematics and its Applications.

Research Areas: Geometric Structures, Low Dimensional Topology, Hyperbolic Geometry.


EDI Statement

Diversity and inclusion promote excellence. No one should be left behind and equal opportunity is the key for success for the mathematics community and society at large.

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Sara Maloni (University of Virginia)

Sara Maloni (she/her/hers) is an assistant professor of mathematics at University of Virginia (UVa), working at the intersection of geometry and low-dimensional topology. More precisely, she studies deformation spaces of geometric structures on low-dimensional manifolds through their geometric, topological and dynamical properties. She grew up in Genova (Italy), but she received her Ph.D. from the University of Warwick (2013). Before moving to Virginia, she was a Tamarkin Assistant Professor at Brown University and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Paris-Sud 11 and at the University of Toulouse (France). She also spent the Spring semester in 2015 at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley as a Huneke Endowed Postdoctoral Fellow. Maloni has been awarded an NSF grant and a CAREER award to support her work and has been recognized for excellence in teaching at UVa. She is currently advising one PhD student and mentoring one postdoc.



Karen Meagher (University of Regina)

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Maloni has been involved in many programs known to improve the inclusivity and diversity of her department. She started the AWM (Association for Women in Mathematics) Student Chapter at the University of Virginia, and she is currently serving as a faculty advisor for it. She is part of the AWM Student Chapters and the AWM Award Selection Committee. She founded the Directed Reading Program (DRP) at UVa, hoping that it will help to build a more diverse and inclusive undergraduate community. Maloni is a member of the Doctoral Faculty Council (DFC) at the Math Alliance, and has been a mentor for AWM, Math Alliance and UVa for many years. She organized the WINSRS (Women's Intellectual Network Research Symposium) for connecting women working in the mid-Atlantic area and having similar research interests. She also invited Prof. Abby Stewart to give a Diversity Lecture about how to improve the environment of the departments, and she hopes this will become a recurrent event at UVa.

Research Areas: Geometric Structures, Low Dimensional Topology, Hyperbolic Geometry.


EDI Statement

I believe that diversity increases productivity and creativity and creates a better work environment for everyone. I think changes are often very slow, but it is important not to give up. I think too often underrepresented minorities feel they do not belong because they do not see anyone else with who they can identify with, and it is our responsibility to change that. I think everybody needs to be active and vigilant for opportunities to improve the inclusivity of our community.

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Marni Mishna (Simon Fraser University)

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Saman Muthukumarana (University of Manitoba)

Saman Muthukumarana obtained his B.Sc. honours special degree in Statistics (2002) from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka and then M.Sc. in Statistics (2007) and PhD in Statistics (2010) from Simon Fraser University. He joined the Department of Statistics at the University of Manitoba as an Assistant Professor in July 2010 where he was promoted to Associate Professor (with tenure) in 2016 and then to full Professor in 2022. He is the founding Director of Data Science Nexus at the University of Manitoba and he was appointed as the Head of the Department of Statistics at the University of Manitoba starting from July 2023.

His research interests lie broadly in Bayesian methods and computation for complex models which integrate both theoretical and computational aspects. Along with this main theme, he has developed methods to facilitate modelling and inference on non-standard complex data which lead to innovative analyses of data arising from environment and ecology, fisheries, fresh and marine water animal movements, health, infectious diseases, assessing noninferiority in drug developments, user behaviour, social networks and sports.


EDI Statement

We are moving towards a data rich digital world and open AI continues to evolve and integrate into our daily lives. The STEM fields have a bigger role to embrace this new era and I strongly believe that creating equal opportunities for everyone and removing systematic barriers, which prevent accessing the opportunities are crucial for fostering novel collaborations within and between STEM fields in this new era. It’s time to act on EDI principles to actively address inequalities and actively seek the value in diversity.

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Anotida Madzvamuse (University of British Columbia)

Anotida Madzvamuse holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Theoretical and Computational Biology at The University of British Columbia and is a full Professor in the Mathematics Department within the Faculty of Science since October 2022. Before, that he was Full Professor of Mathematical and Computational Biology in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Sussex, where he has been a faculty member since August 2006. He is a DPhil holder in Mathematics awarded by the University of Oxford in 2000. He is a former receipt of the Royal Society Research Merit Award (2016-2021), and was awarded the Theodor von Kaman Fellowship (2016) by RWTH University of Aachen in Germany. Madzvamuse has supervised and mentored more than 25 early career fellows (PhDs and PDRAs) as well as mentoring young early faculty members in the UK, mainland Europe, Africa, South America, North America and Asia. He is an advocate and ambassador for Mathematical Sciences in general and Mathematical and Computational Biology in particular. He was the Principal Organiser of the 6-months research programme at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (Cambridge, UK) in 2015 on Coupling Geometric PDEs with Physics for Cell Morphology, Motility and Pattern Formation. He continues to work closely with Learned Societies such as the London Mathematical Society (LMS) (on MARM in Africa), the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications and the Royal Society and International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh, Scotland. Currently, he is a Board Member of the BIRS Scientific and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Boards, the INI Gateway Scientific Advisory Panel and the LMS Committee for Women and Diversity in Mathematics.

Madzvamuse is fully committed to implementing good practice in creating a modern and inclusive research environment. He has supervised, mentored and trained early career fellows from diverse economic and social backgrounds including researchers from underrepresented minority groups, including female early career fellows and junior faculty members.

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Ajay Ramadoss (Indiana University)

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Talia Ringer (UIUC)

Talia Ringer is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Their main interest is in making program verification using interactive theorem provers more accessible through better proof engineering tools and practices, especially when it comes to maintaining proofs as programs change over time. Their vision is a future of verification that is accessible to all programmers, not just to experts. They got their Ph.D. from University of Washington in June 2021. Prior to graduate school, they earned their bachelor’s in mathematics and computer science from University of Maryland, then worked at Amazon as a software engineer for three years. They are the founder and previous chair of the SIGPLAN-M international long-term mentoring program, the founder and president of the Computing Connections Fellowship, and a contributor to the Coq interactive theorem prover. They helped organize the National Academies workshop on AI to Assist Mathematical Reasoning. They also organize online communities for neurodivergent researchers in computer science. They were awarded the ACM SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award in 2023.


EDI Statement

My commitment to diversity is about giving researchers of all backgrounds the tools necessary to succeed, especially when systemic barriers deprive researchers of those tools. My approach is to analyze the systems or lack thereof that deprive researchers of those tools, and use that information to improve existing systems or build new systems. I leverage my experiences as a queer neurodivergent person when they are relevant; I uplift and empower others when they are not. Concretely, I have focused most on: (1) creating better mentorship systems to make the implicit "hidden curriculum" explicitly available to everyone, and (2) creating systems to help researchers in unsafe research environments get to better environments and safely speak up. I believe that safety is the very foundation of a sound research community, and that it should be every researcher's top priority to ensure that all researchers---especially those from marginalized groups---have that foundation.

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Aaron Tikuisis (University of Ottawa)

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