12 New Researchers Join the CRM as Affiliated Members

Bellaterra, September 15th, 2024 – This September, the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM) is delighted to welcome a group of researchers who have recently joined as affiliated members. These researchers bring a wealth of expertise in various fields of mathematics, further enriching the scientific environment at CRM. This collaboration strengthens our centre’s research impact and broadens the horizon for innovative mathematical explorations. The new affiliates come from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), and Universitat de Barcelona (UB), all of which are key institutions in the region’s academic landscape and members of the CRM consortium.

Sílvia Cuadrado joins the CRM from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Sílvia holds a PhD in Mathematics from UAB (2003) and has previously conducted research at Utrecht University. In 1998, she was awarded the prestigious Évariste Galois prize by the Societat Catalana de Matemàtiques, recognizing her contributions to the field. Beyond her research, she has served on the board of the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology. Another addition from UAB is Florent Balacheff, who completed his PhD at Université Montpellier in 2005 after studying at the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan. He’s got a rich academic background and extensive postdoctoral experience at various institutions. Joining from UAB is also, Francesc Bars, another associate professor from UAB. Francesc has been with UAB since 2008, and he previously completed pre-doctoral research at Münster University as part of the Deninger research group. Like Sílvia Cuadrado, he was awarded the Évariste Galois prize in 1998. Lastly, David Moriña brings a strong background in applied statistical methodologies and has held a postdoctoral position at the University of Warwick, where he contributed to the development of advanced statistical tools.

From the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Andrew Clarke joins as a member of the UPC Dynamical Systems Group. His research primarily focuses on Hamiltonian dynamics, with a particular emphasis on celestial mechanics models, billiards, and geodesic flows. He has proved the existence of various chaotic phenomena in these models, such as the existence of hyperbolic sets, unbounded trajectories, and Arnold diffusion. Gissell Estrada, also from UPC, is an Assistant Professor with a background in partial differential equations. She previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford.

Marc Jorba, another addition from UPC, completed his PhD at the Universitat de Barcelona under the supervision of Ariadna Farrés and Àngel Jorba. His research interests lie in Hamiltonian systems and their applications. Also joining from UPC is Marta Mazzocco, a professor specializing in integrable systems, a field that explores complex mathematical structures with applications in mathematical physics. She has recently joined the GEOMVAP research group at UPC as an ICREA researcher. Finally, Adrián Ponce, a theoretical neuroscientist and Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow at UPC, joins CRM with research focused on the general principles of neural computation and the systems that underlie brain function.

The Universitat de Barcelona (UB) has also contributed to the CRM research structure with recent additions. Robert Cardona, an assistant professor at UB, earned his PhD in Mathematics at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. In 2021 he was awarded the Vicent Caselles prize from the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society and his research interests are mostly geometry, topology, and dynamical systems. Vincent Pilaud, who completed his PhD under the supervision of Francisco Santos at the Universidad de Cantabria and Michel Pocchiola at Sorbonne Université, also joins CRM, bringing his research on geometric and combinatorial aspects of mathematics. Tomás Sanz, an Assistant Professor at UB who previously worked at Sorbonne Université, brings expertise in dynamical systems and applied mathematics. 

Together, these new affiliated researchers are set to contribute significantly to the CRM’s mission of advancing mathematical knowledge and fostering collaborative research. Their diverse backgrounds and specialized expertise promise to elevate the impact of mathematical research in Catalonia. We look forward to the contributions they will make as part of our vibrant community.