{"666757":{"#nid":"666757","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Matt Baker Elected Simons Foundation Fellow ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/mattbakermath\/home\u0022\u003EMatt Baker\u003C\/a\u003E is one of 39 researchers around the country named to the 2023 Class of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.simonsfoundation.org\/mathematics-physical-sciences\/programs\u0022\u003ESimons Fellows\u003C\/a\u003E. Baker is a professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E, and will soon depart his role as the inaugural College of Sciences associate dean for Faculty Development to focus on the new fellowship.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Simons Fellows are part of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.simonsfoundation.org\/\u0022\u003ESimons Foundation\u2019s\u003C\/a\u003E mission to support discovery-driven scientific research undertaken in the pursuit of understanding the phenomena of our world. It provides funds to faculty for up to a semester-long research leave from classroom teaching and administrative obligations.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m really excited to have the opportunity to pursue some intellectual projects next year that I haven\u2019t had time for in the recent past,\u201d Baker said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m grateful to the School of Mathematics, the College of Sciences, and the Simons Foundation for their support.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBaker has announced his intention to use the fellowship, along with a Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/faculty-development-grants\u0022\u003EFaculty Development Grant\u003C\/a\u003E, for a sabbatical he will take during the 2023-2024 academic year.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the past five years, as the College\u2019s first associate dean for Faculty Development, Baker has instituted important processes regarding the hiring and retention of faculty, said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/lozier-dr-susan\u0022\u003ESusan Lozier\u003C\/a\u003E, College of Sciences Dean and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u201c\u003C\/strong\u003EMatt will be leaving an indelible mark on the College,\u201d said Lozier. \u201cOver these past five years, he has tirelessly worked to recruit, retain, promote and support faculty. Under his leadership, we now have annual faculty hiring plans that guide our growth. We have a set of robust new faculty mentoring workshops, a more inclusive faculty development grant program, a consistent distribution of best practices in faculty hiring, and a more open process for the solicitation of faculty awards.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u201c\u003C\/strong\u003EIt has been nothing short of a pleasure to work with Matt these past few years, and I will miss the wisdom and wit that he brought to his position.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EPlans for a research-centric year\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe Simons Fellowships have become a principal distinction for senior mathematicians,\u201d explains \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/people\/michael-wolf\u0022\u003EMichael Wolf\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and chair of the School of Mathematics. Annually, \u201conly about 40 mathematicians in the U.S. and Canada receive these awards, and they go to the mathematical scientists with the best research records in the previous five years, whose potential to use a semester to think promises the greatest possibilities. The awardees are the household names of the mathematicians doing the best current work nationally, and while it is natural to see Matt included, it is still a wonderful statement of how his impact is appreciated by his colleagues in this country.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBaker\u2019s research includes his work on matroid theory, which the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ams.org\/home\/page\u0022\u003EAmerican Mathematical Society (AMS)\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ams.org\/journals\/notices\/201808\/rnoti-p902.pdf\u0022\u003Edescribes\u003C\/a\u003E as \u201ca combinatorial theory of independence which has its origins in linear algebra and graph theory, and turns out to have deep connections with many other fields.\u201d Baker will turn the notes from his Spring 2020 graduate course, Topics in Matroid Theory, into a freely available AMS Open Math Notes resource.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBaker said he plans to travel for collaborations with other math researchers, and to attend workshops and conferences. He will also resume regular blogging about math research; his \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mattbaker.blog\/\u0022\u003Eblog\u003C\/a\u003E recently surpassed 300,000 views.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EAbout Matt Baker\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBaker received his B.S. in Mathematics in 1994 from the University of Maryland at College Park, where he graduated summa cum laude. He earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1999.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBaker was a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Science Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E Postdoctoral Fellow and an assistant professor at Harvard University from 1999-2002. He was a visiting professor at the University of Paris, and an assistant professor at the University of Georgia before joining Georgia Tech in 2004. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012, and was named the College of Sciences\u2019 first associate dean for Faculty Development in 2018.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBaker has written three books about math. His fourth book, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mattbakermagic.com\/products\/p\/the-buena-vista-shuffle-club\u0022\u003E\u201cThe Buena Vista Shuffle Club,\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E published in 2019, details his lifelong love of magic and how he explores its connections to mathematics. The \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gamagicclub.com\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Magic Club\u003C\/a\u003E selected Baker as its Greater Atlanta Magician of the Year in 2015 and 2019.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"basic_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Matt Baker is one of 39 researchers around the country named to the 2023 Class of Simons Fellows. Baker is a professor in the School of Mathematics."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMatt Baker\u003C\/strong\u003E is one of 39 researchers around the country named to the 2023 Class of Simons Fellows. Baker is a professor in the School of Mathematics, and will soon depart his role as the inaugural College of Sciences Associate Dean for Faculty Development to focus on the new fellowship.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"basic_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Matt Baker is one of 39 researchers around the country named to the 2023 Class of Simons Fellows. Baker is a professor in the School of Mathematics."}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2023-03-22 17:52:49","changed_gmt":"2023-05-05 17:21:47","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-03-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-03-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"670236":{"id":"670236","type":"image","title":"matt-baker-1_HI-RES.png","body":null,"created":"1679508295","gmt_created":"2023-03-22 18:04:55","changed":"1679938553","gmt_changed":"2023-03-27 17:35:53","alt":"Matt Baker","file":{"fid":"253067","name":"matt-baker-1_HI-RES.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/03\/22\/matt-baker-1_HI-RES.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/03\/22\/matt-baker-1_HI-RES.png","mime":"image\/png","size":9243187,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/03\/22\/matt-baker-1_HI-RES.png?itok=irJIgB6Q"}},"665825":{"id":"665825","type":"image","title":"photo_horizons_matt_baker","body":null,"created":"1676475853","gmt_created":"2023-02-15 15:44:13","changed":"1676475853","gmt_changed":"2023-02-15 15:44:13","alt":"","file":{"fid":"251785","name":"photo_horizons_matt_baker.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/photo_horizons_matt_baker.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/photo_horizons_matt_baker.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":556419,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/photo_horizons_matt_baker.jpeg?itok=sTwZ0j7P"}}},"media_ids":["670236","665825"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/college-sciences-administrator-makes-major-magicians-award-appear","title":"College of Sciences Administrator Makes Major Magician\u0027s Award Appear"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/georgia-tech-mathematicians-forefront-research-icerm-brown","title":"Georgia Tech Mathematicians at the Forefront of Research with ICERM at Brown"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/matthew-baker-named-associate-dean-faculty-development","title":"Matthew Baker Named Associate Dean for Faculty Development"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"170129","name":"matt baker"},{"id":"192363","name":"Simons Fellows"},{"id":"170794","name":"Simons Foundation"},{"id":"365","name":"Research"},{"id":"192364","name":"sabbatical"},{"id":"192365","name":"matroid theory"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\/Science Writer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"basic_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}