Four Johns Hopkins professors to speak at the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians

Four members of the Krieger School's Department of Mathematics have been invited to speak at the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians, one of the most prestigious honors the field has to offer.

Image caption: Clockwise from top left: Jacob Bernstein, Chikako Mese, Emily Riehl, and Ziquan Zhuang

The congress, which is held once every four years, is considered the top showcase for new developments in math. The prizes awarded during its opening ceremony are the highest distinction in the discipline and include the Fields Medal, which is often described as the "Nobel Prize of math." An invitation to speak is considered a crowning moment in a mathematician's career, says David Savitt, professor and chair of the department.

"ICM invitations reflect the most important mathematical developments of the past four years," Savitt says. "Having four invited speakers from our department is a remarkable recognition, particularly given the relatively small size of the department."

The congress will be held in July 2026 in Philadelphia, marking just the third time in its 129-year history that the meeting will take place in the U.S. Those invited from Johns Hopkins are:

Jacob Bernstein, professor and vice chair of the department, whose focus is geometric analysis. He studies minimal surfaces, which can be visualized as the film of soap bubbles, and which find important applications in geometry, topology, and theoretical physics. He also studies mean curvature flow, a simplified model for physical processes involving surface tension. Applications can be found in materials science and computer imaging.

Chikako Mese, professor, who studies differential geometry and geometric analysis. She does mathematical analysis of geometric objects, such as those that model naturally occurring physical phenomena. She also studies harmonic maps, a mathematical tool used to find the smoothest or least-distorted way to connect two shapes or spaces. Mese was named a Simons Fellow in 2017 and a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2020.

Emily Riehl, Kelly Miller Professor, whose focus is higher category theory, homotopy type theory, and computer formalization. Category theory recognizes connections between mathematical theorems relating to seemingly dissimilar objects, opening the way for new data and new understanding. Riehl received the Johns Hopkins President's Frontier Award in 2020 and the Association for Women in Mathematics' Joan and Joseph Birman Research Prize in 2021. She was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and a Simons Fellow, both in 2022.

Ziquan Zhuang, professor, who studies algebraic geometry with a focus on birational geometry and K-stability. Algebraic geometry uses abstract algebra to solve geometrical problems. Zhuang's goal is to address foundational questions in birational and complex geometry. He was named a Clay Research Fellow in 2022, a Sloan Research Fellow in 2023, and a Packard Fellow in 2024.