University of Notre Dame mathematics graduate students Tan Özalp and Fuxiang Yang have been awarded Simons Dissertation Fellowships in Mathematics by the Simons Foundation. Created to honor the legacy of foundation co-founder Jim Simons, these fellowship support doctoral students during the final two years of their Ph.D. research. Only forty awards are made across the country each year.
2026 Award Recipients
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Tan Özalp (advised by Professor Natasha Dobrinen): Specializing in set theory and infinitary combinatorics, Özalp’s project, Ultrafilters and Ramsey Theory, focuses on the structural classification of ultrafilters and topological Ramsey spaces to solve open problems in combinatorial set theory.
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Fuxiang Yang (advised by Professor Claudiu Raicu): Working in algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, Yang’s project, Equations and syzygies of binary form loci, investigates minimal free resolutions and defining equations of projective varieties, advancing key results on the Eisenbud–Huneke–Ulrich conjecture.
With these awards, Özalp and Yang join Notre Dame mathematics doctoral student Atticus Stonestrom (advised by Professor Anand Pillay), who was named a Simons Dissertation Fellow in 2025 for his work on definable groups in model theory.
The two-year fellowship provides each recipient with research support, funding for conference and collaboration travel, and discretionary funds to enhance the department's research environment. These back-to-back honors highlight the research excellence and graduate mentorship within Notre Dame's Department of Mathematics.
Congratulations, Tan and Fuxiang!
Author: David Galvin