Sorin Popa
UCLA Mathematics Department,
Education
B.S., University of
Bucharest, 1976; M.S., University of Bucharest, 1977
Ph.D., University of Bucharest,
1983 (advisor Dan Voiculescu)
Positions
Professor,
UCLA Department of Mathematics, 1987-present (Chair
2009-2012)
Professor, University of
Geneva, 1996-1998
Principal Researcher,
INCREST, 1977-87
Sabbaticals and Visiting Positions
Visiting Professor Institut de Mathematique de Jussieu, April -
December 2023
Institute Henri
Poincare (Paris), program "Groups Acting on Fractals,
Hyperbolicity and Self-Similarity", April 10-July 10, 2022.
MSRI Simons Visiting
Professor March-May 2020
Visiting Professor
RIMS and Kyoto University, April 2019
Newton Institute in
Cambridge, member of the program ``Subfactors'', Spring
2017.
Visiting
Professor Institut de Mathematique de Jussieu (under
a Chaire FSMP-FMJH) July 2016-June 2017
Visiting
Professor RIMS and Kyoto University, September 2016
Hausdorff Institute in Bonn,
member/organiser of the program ``von
Neumann Algebras'', May-July 2016
Mittag-Leffler
Institute, member of the program in ``Classification
in Operator Algebras'', April 2016
Visiting Professor at
CNRS and Institut de Mathematique de Jussieu Paris 6&7, July
2012-September 2013
Visiting Professor at
Institut Henri Poincare (under a Chaire Blaise Pascal),
April-July 2011
Visiting Professor,
College de France and CNRS, 2004-2005
Mathematical Sciences
Research Institute Yearlong Member 2000-2001
Visiting Professor,
University of Paris 6 & 7, 1992, 1995-1996, Summer 2001
Visiting Professor, E.
Schroedinger Institute, Viena, Austria, Summer 1994
Institut des hautes Etudes
Scientifiques Yearlong Member 1991-1992
Visiting Professor,
Institute des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, June 1989, Spring
1990
Grants 1995-present
NSF-Grant DMS-1955812: Ergodic embeddings, bimodule
decomposition, and structure of II$_1$ factors,
2020-2024
NSF Grant
DMS-1700344: Rigidity,
L^2-cohomology, and approximate embeddings in II_1
factors, 2017-2020
NSF Grant
DMS-1400208: Approximation,
Deformation-Rigidity, and Classification in II_1 Factor
Framework, 2014-2017
NSF Grant
DMS-1101718, 2011-2014; NSF Grant DMS-0100883, 2001-2006;
NSF Grant DMS-0605456, 2006-2011
Fond National
Suisse Grant, 1996-1998; NSF Grant DMS-9500882, 1995-1998;
NSF Grant DMS-9801324, 1998-2001
Honors, special recognition,
etc
Takesaki Endowed Chair in Operator Alegbras 2018-present
Simons Participant
and Senior Fellow IPAM Program ``Quantitative Linear Algebra''
Spring 2018
The John von Neumann
Lecture, Muenster University, May 4th 2017
Distinguished Lecture Series College de France, Paris,
Nov. 10-24, 2016
Chaire
d'Excellence Fondation des Sciences Mathematiques de
Paris (FSMP) and Chaire Mathematique Jacques Hadamard (FMJH),
July 2016- June 2017
Simons Fellow in Mathematics 2016-2017
Plenary speaker at
the Congress
of Scandinavian Math Society, March 20th 2016.
Coble
Lectures Univ. of Illinois Urbana Champaign Feb 2-4,
2016
Coxeter
Lecture Series, Fields Institute, May 2014
Takagi Lecture May 2013
Elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2013
Fellow of the
American Math Society 2012
Simons Fellow
in Mathematics 2012-2013
E. H.
Moore Research Article Prize 2010 (of the American
Math Society)
Ostrowski Prize 2009
Chaire Blaise
Pascal 2009
Plenary Speaker
Canadian Mathematical Society Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Dec 2008
Bourbaki Seminar
given by S. Vaes on items [57,64,70,73] of my Publications, June 2007
Plenary Speaker
International Congress of Mathematics,
College de France Medal and Special
Lecture Series, Nov. 2004
Plenary Speaker AMS
Meeting, Vanderbilt University, Oct. 2004
Bourbaki Seminar given by A. Connes on item [58] of my Publications, June 2003
Invited Address Joint
Annual AMS Meeting, San Antonio, Jan. 1999
Top 250 most cited mathematicians in Thompson Reuters
(http://highlycited.com/categories/mathematics) 2000
Guggenheim Fellow,
1995-1996
CBMS Lecture Series
``Classification of subfactors and related topics", Univ. of
Oregon 1993
Invited Address Section 9
International Congress of Mathematics, Kyoto, Japan ,
1990.
The
Simion Stoilov Prize of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, 1981
Ph.D. Graduates
Dietmar Bisch
(1991) Professor Vanderbilt University
Florin Radulescu (1991)
Professor University of Rome 2
Florin Boca (1993)
Professor University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Tullio Ceccherini (1994)
Professor University of Benevento, Italy
Mihai Petrescu (1997)
Video-Software Company, California.
Remus Nicoara (2004)
Associate Professor, University of Tennessee Knoxville
Roman Sasyk (2004)
Associate Professor University of Buenos Aires
Jesse Peterson (2006)
Associate Professor Vanderbilt University
Adrian Ioana (2007)
Professor UCSD
Ionut Chifan
(2009) Associate Professor, Univ. of Iowa.
Hiroki Sako (2009;
jointly with Yasu Kawahigashi) Associate Professor, Niigata
University, Japan
Adam Winchester
(2012) Software Company Los Angeles
Owen Sizemore (2012)
Software Company, Wisconsin Madison
Brian Leary (2015),
Associate Professor at West Virginia University Institute of
Technology
Alin Galatan (2016)
software engineer at Twitter Company
Andreas Aaserud
(2016), High School Mathematics Teacher, Copenhagen Denmark
Patrick Hiatt (2024),
postdoc instructor UCSD
Cyril Houdayer,
2007-2009 (Hedrick postdoc)
Thomas Sinclair,
2011-2014 (RTG-Hedrick postdoc)
David Penneys,
2014-2016 (UCLA postdoc)
Brian Leary,
2015-2016 (UCLA adjunct)
Yusuke Isono,
2015-2016 (Japan postdoc fellowship at UCLA)
Daniel Hoff,
2016-2020 (RTG Hedrick, then Adjunct)
Rolando de Santiago, 2017-2020 (RTG
Hedrick, then UC President Fellow)
March Boedihardjo,
2016-2020 (Hedrick, then Adjunct)
Pieter Spaas,
2019-2022 (Hedrick postdoc)
Srivatsav Kunnawalkam
Elyayavalii, 2022-2023 (IPAM/UCLA postdoc)
Changying Ding,
2023-2026 (Hedrick postdoc)
Hui Tan, 2024-2027
(Hedrick Postdoc)
Recent
Professional Service
Hausdorf Institute for Mathematics (HIM), University of Bonn,
August 28th- September 2nd, 2022.
Coorganizer (with Alice Guionnet, Assaf Naor, Gilles Pisier,
Dima Shlyakhtenko, Nikhil Srivastava, Terry Tao) of the Program
``Quantitative Linear Algebra'', 03/19-06/15 2018, IPAM
(UCLA)
Coorganizer (with Damien Gaboriau, Cyril Houdayer and Stefaan
Vaes) of the conference ``von Neumann
Algebras and Measured Group Theory'', July 3-7, 2017, IHP
(Paris)
Coorganiser (with D. Bisch, V.F.R. Jones and D. Shlyakhtenko) of
the Program ``von
Neumann Algebras'', Hausdorff Institute in Bonn, May 2 -
August 15 2016.
Coorganiser (with Dima Shlyakhtenko) of the UCLA mini-conference
``Ergodic
Theory and Logic'', January 15th, 2016.
Coorganiser (with A. Ioana, J. Peterson, D. Shyakhtenko) of the
UCLA Workshop ``von
Neumann algebra and Ergodic Theory'', September 2014.
Coorganiser of the Summer School in ``Rigidity and Group
Actions'', Paris, June 13-28, 2013.
Coorganizer of the UCLA Workshop ``von Neumann Algebras and
Ergodic Theory'', May 2012, March 2009, March 2007.
Coorganiser (with Damien Gaboriau and Stefaan Vaes)
of the program Von
Neumann algebras and ergodic theory of group actions,
April 18 - July 9, 2011, IHP (Paris).
Coorganizer (with A. Ioana, N. Ozawa, Y. Shalom) of
the Special Session ``von Neumann Algebras and Ergodic Theory'',
AMS Meeting, UCLA Oct 10-12, 2010.
Coorganiser of Spring Institute ``Non-commutative geormetry and
Operator Algebras'', Vanderbilt, May 2010.
Coorganizer of the Oberwolfach Conference in ``von Neumann
Algebras and Ergodic Theory'', Oct. 26-30, 2008.
Coorganizer of the Fields Institute Workshop in ``von Neumann
Algebras'', Oct 29-Nov 2, 2007.
Coorganizer of the UCLA Workshop ``von Neumann Algebras and
Ergodic Theory'', March 2007.
Coorganizer of the UCLA Conference ``Beyond Amenability: Groups,
Actions and Op. Alg. '', May 2006
Coorganizer of the AMS Section Meeting ``von Neumann
Algebras'', Vanderbilt Univ., October 2004
Coorganizer of the UCLA Conference ``von Neumann Algebras and
Ergodic Theory'', May 2003
Editor: Pacific Journal of Mathematics (1999-2023).
Editorial Board: Journal of the American Mathematical
Society (2005-2012), Journal of Operator Theory (Editor
1986-1988), Annali dell'Universita di Ferrara,
Revue Roumaine de Math. Pures et Appl., PanAmerican
Mathematical Journal
Co-Editor of the Clay Math Institute Proceedings ``Non-commutative Geometry'', April 2007 Conference in honour of A. Connes.
ICM 2010 Panel Section 9 Speaker Committee (Chair)
ICM 2018 Program Committee, 2016-2018 (member)
ICM 2022 Panel Speaker Committee for Section 8 (Analysis),
2020-2022 (member)
Committee member for the inaugural ``Foias Prize in
Operator Theory'' 2021.
Committee member for the E.H. Moore Research Article Prize
of the AMS 2024-2027.
Selected Recent
Talks
Invited talk at the
Conference ``Operator Algebras and Mathematical Physics
(Yasu's Festa)'', Tokyo University, July 24-28, 2023.
Invited talk at the
Conference ``Subfactor Theory'', Newton Institute, Cambridge,
June 26-30, 2023.
Invited talk at the
Workshop ``Where mathematics Meets Quantum Physics: a workshop
on the occasion of Roberto Longo's 70th birthday'',
Rome, June 21-23, 2023.
Invited talk at the
Conference ``Groups and Operator Algebras'', Inst. of Math.
Orsay, June 6-9, 2023.
Invited talk at the Conference
``Modern Trends in Operator Algebras'', UCLA, March 25-29,
2023.
Invited talk at the
Workshop ``von Neumann algebras and geometric group theory'',
UCSD, Feb. 1012, 2023.
Invited talk at the
Oberwolfach meeting in ''C*-algebras", August 7-13, 2022.
Invited speaker at the Satellite
ICM Converence "Operator Algebras, Dynamics, Groups and
Applications", U. of Copenhagen (Denmark), July 1-4, 2022.
Invited speaker
``Memorial Conference for Dick Kadison'',
Copenhagen Univ., Nov 29-30, 2019
Invited speaker
Banff Workshop ``Classification problems in
vN algebras'', Oct 1-4, 2019
Invited talk
Oberwolfach Conference ``C*-algebras'', August
12-18, 2019
Invited talk
GPOTS, May 28-June 1 2019
Colloquium talk Kyoto University April 24, 2019
KTGU
Lecture Series RIMS and Kyoto University, April
8-12, 2019
Invited
talks at the Workshops of the Program ``Quantitative
Linear Algebra'', March-May, 2018.
Invited
talk at the AIM Conference on ``Classification of
group von Neumann algebras'', Jan 29-Feb 2, 2018
Invited
talk, Conference "Non-commutative geometry" in honor
of A. Connes 70th birthday, Fudan Univ. Shanghai,
03/28-04/02 2017
Invited
talk at the workshop ``Subfactors'', Newton
Institute, Cambridge, UK, January 22-27, 2017
Colloquium talks at Bordeaux University (October
2016) and Univ. of South Paris (March 2017).
Invited talk at the
Oberwolfach Conference in ``C*-Algebras'', August 21-27,
2016.
Series of talks at
the ``Operator
Algebras and Mathematical Physics'' Conference in
Sendai (Japan), August 1-14, 2016
Invited Speaker at
the CMTP Conference Operator
Algebras and Conformal Field Theory in Rome June
27-29, 2016
Invited Speaker at
the ``Haagerup
Symposium'', Coopenhagen June 24-26, 2016
Invited Speaker NCGOA
Conference at Hausdorff Institute May 17-25, 2016
Talk at the
Mittag-Leffler Institute April 2016
Invited Speaker ``Non-commutative
Geometry'' Conference for G. Skandalis' 60th, CIRM
(Luminy), November 2015.
Invited Speaker ``East
Coast Operator Algebra Conference'', U. of Iowa, Oct 2015.
Invited talk at Oberwolfach
Conference in ``Non-commutative Geometry'', June 2015.
Invited speaker ``Great Plains
Operator Theory'' Conf. Purdue University, May 2015.
Mini Course at the Spring Institute
Non-Commutative Geometry and
operator Algebras, Vanderbilt Univ. May 2015
Series of talks at
the Operator Algebra Conference, Te Anau, New Zealand,
January 2014
Colloquium talk UCLA
October 2013
Series of talks at
the Summer School in ``Rigidity and Group Actions'',
Paris, June 13-28, 2013
Invited speaker ``Mathematics
and quantum physics'', Academia dei Lincei, Rome, July
8-12, 2013
Invited Speaker ``von
Neumann algebras and measurable group theory'', Leuven
University, July 1-4, 2013.
Invited Speaker ``Math
Physics and Operator Algebra'', University of Milano,
December 2012.
Invited Speaker ``10 years
anniversary of Journal of Inst Math Jussieu'', November
2012.
Invited Speaker ``Interactions
Between Ergodic Theory, Number Theory and Noncommutative
Geometry'' Conference at Ohio State University, May 2012.
Colloquium Lecture UC
San Diego, April 2012.
Invited speaker ``von
Neumann
Algebras and Related Topics'' conference at RIMS (Kyoto,
Japan), Jan 2012.
Chaire Blaise Pascal
Closing Conference, Institut Math Jussieu, Oct
2011
Colloquium Lecture
University of Rome II (Italy), June 2011
Lecture Series at the
Program von Neumann Algebras
and Ergodic Theory of Group Actions,
Institut Henri Poincare May 2011
Mini Course at the Spring Institute
Non-Commutative Geometry and
operator Algebras, Vanderbilt Univ. May 2010
Invited Speaker
``Operator Algebras Conference in Honor of Uffe Haagerup's
60the birthday'', Coopenhagen April 2010.
Colloquium
Lecture
Invited Speaker
SUMIRFAS Conference,
Invited Speaker ``Non-commutative
Geometry'' Coference in Honor
of
Ricu Moscovici 65th Birthday, Max Planck Institute,
Main Speaker ``East
Coast
Operator
Algebra'' meeting,
Invited Speaker ``Operator
Algebras'', Oberwolfach Aug 2008.
Invited Speaker ``Geometry,
Rigidity
and
Group Actions'', Conference in Honor
of
Bob Zimmer 60'th Bithday, Sept. 6-9, 2007,
Invited Speaker ``von
Neumann
Algebras
and Non-Commutative Geometry'', Coference
in
Honor of Alain Connes 60'th Bithday, April 2-6, 2007, Inst
Henri Poincare (Paris)
Invited Speaker ``Groupoids
in
Oper.
Institut
Henri Poincare (
Invited Speaker
``US-Japan Conference in Operator Algebras'',
Invited Speaker
``von Neumann algebras''
Invited Speaker
``Logic and Mathematics''
Colloquium lectures
University of Michigan and University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, Feb. 2006
Invited Speaker
``Geom. and prob. methods in group theory and dyn. sys.''
Main Speaker ``East
Coast Operator Algebra'' Conference,
Invited Speaker ``Operator
Algebra'' Conference, Oberwolfach (
Invited Lecture ``Group
actions,
rigidity
and dynamics'',
Minicourse Lecturer, ``Spring
Institute
on
Noncommutative Geometry'',
Main Speaker, ``Geometric
Group Theory and Harmonic Analysis'', Cortona, June 2004
Colloquium Lecture
Main Speaker, School in ``von
Neumann Algebras'', Marseille, February 2004
Main Speaker: ``Group
Theory'',