13/05/2020

Marilda Sotomayor is elected to the American Academy of Sciences.

Professora Marilda Sotomayor. Foto: Cecília Bastos/USP

Professor Marilda Antonia de Oliveira Sotomayor, who holds a master's degree from IMPA, has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). Selected in the social sciences category, in the area of economics, Marilda joins a group of 37 intellectuals from 22 countries chosen as international honorary members of the AAAS. In total, the American academy accepted 276 new members for the 2020 class, including artists, academics, scientists, and leaders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

“We are pleased and thrilled with your election to the Academy. This honor demonstrates the high regard that experts in your field and members across the country hold for you,” the AAAS stated in its letter announcing Marilda's election.

Marilda holds a degree in Mathematics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), a master's degree from IMPA, and a doctorate from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), in conjunction with IMPA. She is one of Brazil's leading representatives in the theory of matching markets, a subfield of game theory, a branch of mathematics with applications in economics .

The professor became interested in the field in 1983 at the University of California, Berkeley, where she co-authored several papers on matching markets with David Gale, a renowned mathematical economist. Their book "Two-sided Matching," co-authored with Alvin Roth, Nobel laureate in Economics in 2012, received the Lanchester Prize, awarded by the Operational Research Society of America. She has become one of the world's leading experts in matching theory.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, and other important American figures, the AAAS seeks to recognize the excellence of leaders in various fields of knowledge and their contributions to knowledge and the ideals associated with the new American republic. Currently presided over by David William Oxtoby, it has more than 13,500 elected members since its creation. Aloisio Araujo, a researcher at IMPA, is another Brazilian who is an honorary member of the AAAS.