Research conducted at USC Dornsife earns mathematics’ highest honor

Research conducted at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences has been recognized with the 2026 Fields Medal, widely regarded as one of mathematics’ highest honors.

Yu Deng, who served on the USC Dornsife faculty from 2018 to 2024 and is now a professor at the University of Chicago, received the award for his contributions to partial differential equations, including the rigorous derivation of the Boltzmann equation, advances in wave kinetic equations and probabilistic approaches to nonlinear Schrödinger dynamics.

“Yu Deng pursued some of the deepest questions in mathematical physics during his time as an assistant professor at USC. His striking talents combined extraordinary creativity and remarkable mathematical rigor,” said Susan Friedlander, director of USC Dornsife’s Center for Applied Mathematical Sciences. “I’m delighted he was awarded one of the 2026 Fields Medals, which is the highest international honor for a mathematician under 40.”

Awarded every four years by the International Mathematical Union, the Fields Medal recognizes exceptional mathematical achievement.

Yu Deng’s research addressed a fundamental question that had challenged mathematicians for more than a century: How does the seemingly random motion of countless microscopic particles give rise to the orderly behavior of gases and fluids observed in everyday life?

His work helped explain how macroscopic behavior emerges from microscopic dynamics, providing rigorous mathematical foundations for phenomena that had challenged mathematicians and physicists for decades.

According to the International Mathematical Union, Yu Deng’s work “has substantially expanded the scope of rigorous analysis in nonlinear dynamics and has had a deep impact on the study of dispersive equations and mathematical physics.”