Ralf Schiffler and George Yin, both professors of mathematics, have been named 2026 Fellows of the American Mathematical Society (AMS).

The AMS Fellows program “recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication, and utilization of mathematics,” according to society.

Schiffler and Yin are among only 40 mathematicians worldwide selected as 2026 Fellows, a prestigious honor awarded to a small and highly accomplished group of scholars each year. Their selection marks a significant achievement for UConn and reflects the growing international reputation of the Department of Mathematics, according to Ambar Sengupta, professor and head of mathematics.

“Having two of our faculty members recognized as Fellows of the American Mathematical Society in the same year is a quite an honor,” Sengupta says. “It highlights the exceptional strength and depth of scholarship within our department and the impact our faculty continue to make in advancing the field of mathematics.”

Schiffler received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the Université du Québec à Montréal, where he was awarded the Academic Gold Medal of Canada’s Governor General. He completed his postdoctoral appointments at Carleton University in Ottawa and at the University of Massachusetts Amherst before joining the UConn faculty in 2008. His research focuses on representation theory and combinatorics, with a focus on cluster algebras. His work has been continuously supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) since 2007, including an NSF CAREER Award in 2013. He has also received multiple recognitions for his scholarship, including the Faculty Excellence in Research Award from the UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2015.

Yin received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Brown University. He taught at Wayne State University before joining the UConn faculty in 2020. His research interests include stochastic processes, stochastic approximation, and stochastic optimization. He has served as editor-in-chief of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Journal on Control and Optimization for two terms from 2018-2023, held numerous editorial appointments at other journals, chaired several SIAM committees, and served on multidisciplinary scientific communities. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2002), the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (2015), and the International Federation of Automatic Control (2014-2017).

Schiffler and Yin join several other AMS Fellows from UConn, including William Abikoff (2013), Richard Bass (2013), Maria Gordina (2023), Changfeng Gui (2013), Lan-Hsuan Huang (2024), and Guozhen Lu (2018).