14/09/2020

Luna Lomonaco is the first woman to win the UMALCA Award.

The philosophical reasons that motivated Luna Lomonaco to pursue a career in mathematics have earned the IMPA researcher yet another award. This Monday (14), she received the Umalca Recognition Award (Latin American and Caribbean Mathematical Union), in a ceremony broadcast on YouTube , for the work she has been developing in dynamical systems. The initiative recognizes the work of young mathematicians and takes into account the originality, depth, relevance and perspectives of each candidate, as well as the impact on the world mathematics scene.

“Over the past 16 years, I often felt I wasn’t good enough at math, and I heard many stories similar to mine, mainly from female colleagues. We are frequently diminished when we don’t know something. And that hurts the community as a whole, because I know that a condition for understanding something is believing you can understand it. I want to tell everyone, especially all women, who are experiencing or have experienced similar things, that mathematics is about understanding things, and you can’t rush understanding. Sometimes it takes time. But keep trying and trusting that you can understand. Who knows, you might get here, because I didn’t expect it to happen to me either!” Luna encouraged.

In 2019, she became the first woman to receive the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM) Award. After researching and working as a mathematician in six countries , she came to Brazil in 2014, where she worked at the University of São Paulo (USP). Since the beginning of this year, she has been a researcher at IMPA in Rio de Janeiro.

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In addition to Luna, three other mathematicians also received this year's Umalca Prize. Rafael Potrie, from Uruguay, was also recognized for his work in dynamical systems; the Argentinian Ivan Angiono was awarded for his research in algebra; and Luis Nuñez Betancourt, from Mexico, was awarded for his studies in algebras and their connections with algebraic geometry and combinatorics.

The winners were determined by the Scientific Committee, chaired by Andrés Navas and composed of three IMPA researchers, Carolina Araujo, Felipe Linares, and Enrique Pujals, as well as mathematicians Maria Julia Redondo, Liliana Forzani, Nicolas Libedinsky, Alexander Berenstein, Angélica Osorno, Maria Emilia Caballero, Alejandro Ferdman, Ricardo Fraiman, Olga Gil Medrano, Eva Miranda, and Wilfredo Urbina Romero.

The Umalca Prize has already recognized the work of other mathematicians from IMPA in previous editions. Marcelo Viana, the institute's director-general, Claudio Landim, the deputy director, and researchers Enrique Pujals, Fernando Codá Marques, Carlos Gustavo Moreira, Robert Morris, and Henrique Bursztyn have also been awarded the prize.

Check out Luna Lomonaco's speech!