Former Jesus College DPhil student, and Graduate Scholar, Izar Alonso Lorenzo (Mathematics, 2019-2023) has been awarded a prestigious Vicent Caselles Mathematical Research Award (VCMRA) by the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society and BBVA Foundation.

The VCMRA is a PhD prize for Spanish mathematicians aged under 30, and aims to support and encourage young professionals working in the field of mathematical research.

Izar is a Hill Assistant Professor at Rutgers University. She obtained her DPhil at Oxford under the supervision of Professor Andrew Dancer, John Thomason Tutorial Fellow in Mathematics at Jesus, and Professor Jason Lotay.

She received the award for her outstanding research contributions at the intersection of differential geometry and theoretical physics, focusing in particular on the study of special geometries in dimensions 6, 7, and 8 – primarily related to the Strominger equations governing heterotic string theory.

The VCMRA jury was chaired by María Ángeles Hernández Cifre, Professor of Geometry at the University of Murcia, and comprised of María Cumplido Cabello, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Seville; Joan Elías i García, Professor of Algebra at the University of Barcelona; Rafael Granero Belinchón, Associate Professor at the University of Cantabria; María Pe Pereira, Professor in the Department of Algebra, Geometry, and Topology at the Complutense University of Madrid; and José Ángel Peláez Márquez, Professor of Mathematical Analysis at the University of Málaga.

Izar is one of six young Spanish mathematicians to receive the VCMRA this year. Full details can be found on the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society website here.