Aaron Pixton

{{short description|American mathematician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Aaron Pixton | image = PixtonAaron MFO17461.jpg | alt = | caption = Pixton at the Workshop ''Moduli Spaces in Algebraic Geometry'', Oberwolfach 2013 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1986|01|13|mf=y}} | birth_place = Binghamton, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | fields = Mathematics | workplaces = Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Michigan | alma_mater = Princeton University (AB, PhD) | thesis_title = The tautological ring of the moduli space of curves | thesis_url = https://math.mit.edu/~apixton/papers/tautological.pdf | thesis_year = 2013 | doctoral_advisor = Rahul Pandharipande | doctoral_students = | known_for = | awards = Morgan Prize (2009) Putnam Fellow (2004, 2005, 2007) | module2 = {{Infobox chess player | child = yes |title = FIDE Master |peakrating = 2465 (July 2009) |country = United States }} }}

'''Aaron C. Pixton''' (born January 13, 1986) is an American mathematician at the University of Michigan. He works in enumerative geometry, and is also known for his chess playing, where he is a FIDE Master.

==Early life and education== Pixton was born in Binghamton, New York; his father, Dennis Pixton, is a retired professor of mathematics at Binghamton University. He grew up in Vestal, New York. While a student at Vestal Senior High School, he scored a perfect score on the American Mathematics Competition three times from 2002 to 2004.<ref>{{cite web | date=May 24, 2002 | url=http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e6-amc12/e6-1-12archive/2002-12a/02-1012abperfpaper.html | title=2002 AMC 10A/B & AMC 12A/B Perfect Papers | publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln | access-date=2006-05-24 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823211443/http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e6-amc12/e6-1-12archive/2002-12a/02-1012abperfpaper.html | archive-date=August 23, 2006 }}; {{cite web | date=March 30, 2004 | url=http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e6-amc12/e6-1-12archive/2003-12a/03perfect1012ab.html | title=2003 - AMC 10 & 12, A&B Perfect Papers | publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln | access-date=2006-05-24 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823184805/http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e6-amc12/e6-1-12archive/2003-12a/03perfect1012ab.html | archive-date=August 23, 2006 }}; {{cite web | date=June 17, 2004 | url=http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e6-amc12/e6-1-12archive/2004-12a/04perfect1012AB.html#NY-Pixton | title=2004 - AMC 10 & 12, A&B Perfect Papers | publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln | access-date=2006-05-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060407234435/http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e6-amc12/e6-1-12archive/2004-12a/04perfect1012AB.html#NY-Pixton | archive-date=2006-04-07 | url-status=dead }}</ref> He went on to the International Mathematical Olympiad in 2003 and 2004 to win consecutive gold medals.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 24, 2003 |url=http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e9-imo/e9-1-imoarchive/2003-ia/03imoteam.html |title=2003 IMO USA Team |publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln |access-date=2006-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516105408/http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e9-imo/e9-1-imoarchive/2003-ia/03imoteam.html |archive-date=2006-05-16 |url-status=dead }}; {{cite web |date=July 28, 2004 |url=http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e9-imo/e9-1-imoarchive/2004-ia/2004imoresults.html |title=2004 IMO USA Team |publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln |access-date=2006-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430095829/http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e9-imo/e9-1-imoarchive/2004-ia/2004imoresults.html |archive-date=2006-04-30 |url-status=dead }}; {{IMO results |id=7382 }}; [http://amc.maa.org/e-exams/e9-imo/e9-1-imoarchive/2004-ia/2004imoresults.shtml IMO 2004 US Team Results in Athens, Greece]</ref>

He received a Bachelor of Arts in 2008 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 2013, both from Princeton University.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aaron Pixton {{!}} U-M LSA Mathematics |url=https://lsa.umich.edu/math/people/faculty/pixton.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221203194351/https://lsa.umich.edu/math/people/faculty/pixton.html |archive-date=2022-12-03 |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=lsa.umich.edu |language=en}}</ref>

While an undergraduate at Princeton University, Pixton was a three-time Putnam Fellow.<ref name="MMA">{{cite web |title=Putnam Competition Individual and Team Winners |url=http://www.maa.org/programs/maa-awards/putnam-competition-individual-and-team-winners |publisher=Mathematical Association of America |access-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-date=March 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312205244/http://www.maa.org/programs/maa-awards/putnam-competition-individual-and-team-winners |url-status=dead }}</ref> For his research conducted as an undergraduate, he was awarded the 2009 Morgan Prize.<ref>{{citation|title=2009 Morgan Prize|journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society|date=April 2009|pages=502–503|volume=56|issue=4|url=https://www.ams.org/notices/200904/rtx090400502p.pdf}}</ref> In 2008, he received a Churchill Scholarship to the University of Cambridge.<ref>[https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S20/47/48A86/ Students win Churchill Scholarships]</ref> Pixton received his Ph.D. in 2013 from Princeton under the supervision of Rahul Pandharipande; his dissertation was ''The tautological ring of the moduli space of curves''.<ref>{{mathgenealogy|id=178357}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pixton |first=Aaron |date=2013-04-24 |title=The tautological ring of the moduli space of curves |url=https://math.mit.edu/~apixton/papers/tautological.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203194703/https://math.mit.edu/~apixton/papers/tautological.pdf |archive-date=2022-12-03 |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}</ref>

==Career== Pixton was appointed as a Clay Research Fellow for a term of five years beginning in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.claymath.org/people/aaron-pixton|title=Aaron Pixton|website=Clay Mathematics Institute|year=2013}}</ref> After two years as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, he became an assistant professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2015.<ref>{{citation|url=https://news.mit.edu/2015/five-professors-join-school-science-0925|title=Five professors join the School of Science this fall|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|date=September 25, 2015}}</ref> In 2017, he received a Sloan Research Fellowship.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.ams.org/news?news_id=3360|title=2017 Sloan Research Fellows |date=March 8, 2017|publisher=American Mathematical Society}}</ref> In 2020, he moved to the University of Michigan as an assistant professor.

==Chess== Pixton is also a former child prodigy in chess. He was the 2001 U.S. Cadet Champion<ref>{{citation|title=Young and Old Strive to Master the Intricacies of Ancient Game|date=August 10, 2001|first=Jack|last=Peters|authorlink=John Peters (chess player)|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-aug-10-cl-32543-story.html}}</ref> and the 2002 US Junior Chess Champion,<ref>{{citation|title=Revived D.C. Open to honor Shapiro|newspaper=The Washington Times|date= August 3, 2002|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2002/aug/3/20020803-035534-6427r/}}</ref><ref>[http://www.dallaschess.com/USJ2002/US%20JR%20Tournment%20Bulletin.pdf US Junior Open Tournament Bulletin]; [http://www.dallaschess.com/USJ2002/standings.html U. S. Junior Invitational Championships-- Final Standings]</ref> and had a win against the former US Champion Joel Benjamin in 2003.<ref>{{citation|title=Better Thinking, Better Chess: How a Grandmaster Finds his Moves|first=Joel|last=Benjamin|publisher=New In Chess|year=2018|isbn=9789056918088|at=Game 19, pp. 49–51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTlyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49}}</ref>

==Selected publications== *{{citation|mr=3264769|last1=Pandharipande|first1= Rahul|authorlink1=Rahul Pandharipande|last2=Pixton|first2= Aaron|last3= Zvonkine|first3= Dimitri| title=Relations on <math>\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}</math> via 3-spin structures| journal=Journal of the American Mathematical Society | volume=28|year=2015|issue=1|pages=279–309|doi=10.1090/S0894-0347-2014-00808-0|doi-access=free}} *{{citation|mr=3668650|last1=Janda|first1= Felix| last2=Pandharipande|first2= Rahul|authorlink2=Rahul Pandharipande|last3=Pixton|first3= Aaron|last4= Zvonkine|first4= Dimitri|title=Double ramification cycles on the moduli spaces of curves|journal=Publications Mathématiques de l'IHÉS| volume=125 |year=2017|pages= 221–266|doi=10.1007/s10240-017-0088-x|arxiv=1602.04705|s2cid=78089766}} *{{citation|last1=Pandharipande|first1=Rahul|author1-link=Rahul Pandharipande|last2=Pixton|first2=Aaron|doi=10.1090/jams/858|issue=2|journal=Journal of the American Mathematical Society|mr=3600040|pages=389–449|title=Gromov–Witten/Pairs correspondence for the quintic 3-fold|volume=30|year=2017|arxiv=1206.5490|s2cid=117481664}} *{{citation|mr=3827207 | last1=Oberdieck|first1= Georg|last2= Pixton|first2= Aaron|title=Holomorphic anomaly equations and the Igusa cusp form conjecture| journal=Inventiones Mathematicae|volume= 213 |year=2018|issue= 2|pages= 507–587|doi=10.1007/s00222-018-0794-0|arxiv=1706.10100| bibcode=2018InMat.213..507O| s2cid=3616255}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://math.mit.edu/~apixton/ Home page at MIT] *{{cite web|url=http://amc.maa.org/e-exams/e8-usamo/picsusamo.shtml|title= USAMO Official Portraits 1990 – Present}} *{{IMO results}} *{{FIDE|2017245}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pixton, Aaron}} Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American mathematicians Category:Sportspeople from Binghamton, New York Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Chess FIDE Masters Category:Putnam Fellows Category:International Mathematical Olympiad participants Category:MIT School of Science faculty Category:Mathematicians from New York (state) Category:Sloan Research Fellows Category:Algebraic geometers Category:University of Michigan faculty Category:21st-century American chess players