Lillian Pierce
Professor of Mathematics
Duke University
NSF DMS-2200470 (2022-2025), DMS-1652173 CAREER (2017-2023)

Guggenheim Fellow 2023

Simons Research Fellowship 2023

Bonn Research Chair (2022-2025)

Fellow of the AMS 2021

Birman Fellow (2019-2020)

Presidential Award for Scientists and Engineers 2019

Sloan Research Fellow 2018

Previous Affiliations and Visits

Bass Chair, Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Associate Professor/Professor of Mathematics
Duke University (2018-2023)

Bonn Research Fellow
Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (2017-2021)

von Neumann Fellow
Institute for Advanced Study (2017-2018)

Bonn Junior Fellow
Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, Bonn (2013-2015)

Marie Curie International Fellow
Mathematical Institute, Oxford University (2010-2013)

Research Fellow
Wolfson College, Oxford University (2010-2013)

National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
Mathematical Institute, Oxford University (2013)

National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
Institute for Advanced Study (2009-2010)
Also supported by the Simonyi Fund

PhD in Mathematics, Princeton University 2009
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
The Princeton University Centennial Fund
The Princeton University 250th Anniversary Fund for
Innovation in Undergraduate Education

MSc by Research in Mathematics, University of Oxford 2004
Funded by a Rhodes Scholarship

BA in Mathematics, Princeton University 2002, Valedictorian

As an undergraduate at Princeton, I studied mathematics, with interests also in chemistry, molecular biology, classics, and music. I graduated as valedictorian of the Princeton University class of 2002, having completed the pre-medical requirements and a BA in mathematics.

I spent two years as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where I studied number theory with Roger Heath-Brown. I graduated from Oxford in 2004 with a Masters of Science by Research, with a thesis on bounding the 3-part of class numbers of quadratic fields.

After Oxford, I became a graduate student at Princeton University, where I was funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a Princeton University Centennial Fellowship, and the 250th Anniversary Fund for Innovation in Undergraduate Education. In 2009 I received my PhD, with a thesis advised by Elias M. Stein on discrete analogues in harmonic analysis.

In 2009-2010 I was a Member at the Institute for Advanced Study for the special year on analytic number theory, funded by the Simonyi Fund and a National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2010-2013 I was a Marie Curie Incoming International Fellow and Research Fellow at Oxford, funded by the Marie Curie Actions and the National Science Foundation. During 2013-2014 I was a Bonn Junior Fellow at the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics in Bonn, Germany and I now visit as a Bonn Research Chair. During 2017-2018 I was a von Neumann Fellow at the IAS. My work in 2024 will be supported by a Simons Research Fellowship and Guggenheim Fellowship.