Grad alums awarded MacArthur fellowships

Terence Tao GS '96 may be a genius, but he discovered his passion for math in an unlikely place: in front of the television.

It was there, watching "Sesame Street," that the seeds of mathematical renown were planted, when a two-year-old Tao began to teach himself to count. PBS kids' fare, sure, but Tao's parents couldn't help but think their son might be destined for greatness.

That improbable prediction was confirmed once again last week as Tao, 31, was named one of the 25 recipients of a 2006 MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes known as the "genius grant," for expertise in mathematics. University alumna Lisa Curran GS '94 was also recognized in the field of tropical biology.

The MacArthur Fellowship, a $500,000 grant awarded over five years, is given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to individuals for "their creativity, originality and potential to be significant contributors in their fields."

Tao, a recent Fields Medalist and professor at the University of California Los Angeles was awarded the fellowship for his insights in the areas of partial differential equations, harmonic analysis, combinatorics and number theory, according to the foundation.

Curran, a professor at Yale, was honored for "combining expertise in ecological processes with insights into the realities of forest communities to address deforestation and its environmental consequences in endangered areas around the world."

'Few equals in the world'

Tao received his undergraduate degree from Flinders University of South Australia before pursuing a Ph.D. in math from Princeton.

"Being in an environment with so many good people and so many resources was a bit intimidating," Tao said of his time at the University. "I was meeting people with names I'd known about as an undergraduate from reading their papers."

With his extensive math background, Tao made advances in challenging problems, such as Horn's Conjecture and the Schrodinger equation.

"He is technically very strong with few equals in the world," mathematics professor Peter Sarnak said in an email. "Many times he has collaborated with people who are stuck on some interesting and difficult problem, and once he has joined them the difficulties seem to evaporate."

While Tao said winning the fellowship is "a great honor," he is still focused on the math.

"In mathematics, the prizes are very nice and useful, but they don't directly help you with your math problem," he said. "It doesn't matter how many times you've been called a genius, it's just you and a piece of paper."

A 'rare combination of intelligence and commitment'

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As an undergraduate at Harvard, Curran took a course in evolutionary biology and immediately "got hooked," she said.

After graduating, she worked towards her graduate degree in Indonesian Borneo, where she set up a national research camp.

Curran said that during her time at Princeton as an ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) graduate student she was surrounded by a group of "great field biologists" who encouraged her to follow her interests.

"Lisa was a delight to mentor and work with," said EEB professor Daniel Rubenstein, who taught Curran.

Since graduating from Princeton, Curran has continued to focus her research on the forests of Borneo, with an emphasis on the issues of deforestation and logging and their relationship to policy.

Rubenstein said Curran would return from field work in Borneo invigorated by large amounts of intricate data.

"Her insights into forest dynamics and her ability to see the impact that excessive logging was having challenged her to become a science-based advocate of conservation," Rubenstein said. "Her insights and efforts have had an impact, and it is for this rare combination of intelligence and commitment to helping people that she received the award."

Curran said she is grateful for the fellowship because it will allow her to continue research in Borneo and to spread out to another part of the world, perhaps Kenya.

"I have the freedom to try things, and I'm looking around for that opportunity," she said. "I've looked at Indonesia for 23 years, and it would be nice to look at other places."