Zvezdelina Stankova

Zvezdelina Stankova ( Bulgarian Звезделина Станкова ; born September 15, 1969 in Russe , Bulgaria ) is a Bulgarian mathematician and university professor. She is a professor of mathematics at Mills College in Oakland , California , founder of the Berkeley Math Circle, and an expert on combinatorial enumeration of permutations with forbidden patterns.

Life and research

Stankova began taking part in the Ruse mathematics group as a fifth grader in Bulgaria. In the same year she learned to solve the Rubik's Cube and won regional math competitions. She was a student of an English-speaking elite high school and took part in the Bulgarian team in 1987 and 1988 in the International Mathematical Olympiads, where she won a silver medal. She studied at Sofia University and was selected in 1989 as one of 15 Bulgarian students to complete her studies in the USA. She studied with Rhonda Hughes as a faculty mentor at Bryn Mawr College , earning a bachelor's and master's degrees in 1992. During her studies, she took part in a summer research program with Joseph Gallian at the University of Minnesota , where her interest in permutation patterns was piqued. She did her PhD in 1997 with Joe Harris at Harvard University with the dissertation: Moduli of Trigonal Curves. She then did research at the University of California at Berkeley as a Morrey Assistant Professor of Mathematics, moved to Mills College in 1999 and continued to teach one course per year as a visiting professor at Berkeley. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Proof School in San Francisco . In 1998 she founded the Bay Area Mathematical Olympiad. She coached the US International Mathematical Olympiad team for six years. Since 2013 she has participated in several videos on the YouTube channel "Numberphile" on the subject of mathematics.

Awards

1992: Alice T. Schafer Prize, Association for Women in Mathematics for her undergraduate research on permutation patterns.
2004: Henry L. Alder Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Faculty of Mathematics College or University
2011: Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Prize, Mathematical Association of America
2009 to 2012: Frederick A. Rice Professor of Mathematics

Web links

Commons : Zvezdelina Stankova - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Stankowa, Svezdelina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Stankova, Zvezdelina Entcheva
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Bulgarian mathematician and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH	15th September 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH	Russian , Bulgaria