Each year, the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) Fellows Program honours CMS members who have made outstanding contributions to the profession and to the Canadian mathematical community. Professor Monica Nevins was named Fellow of the CMS in recognition of her notable career in mathematics research, teaching and outreach, as well as her service to Canada’s mathematical community. As part of the Second Inaugural Class of Fellows, Prof. Nevins joins a select group of top Canadian mathematicians. Her research focuses on the representation theory of p-adic groups, a field that has seen significant advances in the past two decades, although major questions remain unanswered. Her work on branching rules, and most recently on types, uses new geometric methods to solve long-standing open problems in this field.
Prof. Nevins received her B.Sc. from the University of Ottawa in Mathematics and Computer Science. She left the capital to complete her PhD at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and later joined the University of Alberta as a Killam postdoctoral fellow. She eventually returned to uOttawa to begin her teaching career as a mathematics professor. She shares her passion for mathematics by teaching undergraduate courses and guiding graduate students in their theses and research projects. In addition, Prof. Nevins demonstrates a remarkable commitment to the mathematical community by organizing various outreach activities for high school students and teachers, as well as research conferences and workshops. She currently holds the titles of Vice-Dean, Governance and International Relations in the Faculty of Science and of Vice-President of the Ontario Section of the Canadian Mathematical Society.
To individuals interested in pursuing a career in research, Dr. Nevins shares that “a career in academic research is as full and as diverse as you want it to be, with all the freedom to choose not only the questions you will study, but also how you channel your talents to give back to the community”.
