Raphael Rouquier

Raphaël Rouquier is Professor of Mathematics and Graduate Vice Chair in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Paris VII in 1992 at the age of 22, after studying at the École Normale Supérieure and Université de Paris VII. His academic career began at the CNRS in France from 1992 to 2005, where he rose to the rank of Directeur de Recherches in 2003. He then served as Professor of Representation Theory at the University of Leeds from 2005 to 2006, followed by the Waynflete Professorship of Pure Mathematics at the University of Oxford from 2007 to 2011, before joining UCLA in 2011.

Rouquier's research specializes in representation theory, utilizing algebraic geometry—particularly equivalences of derived categories—to tackle problems in the representation theory of groups and algebras. Key areas of impact include block theory of finite groups, complex reflection groups, braid groups, rational Cherednik algebras, Kac-Moody algebras, q-Schur algebras, Deligne-Lusztig varieties, and the initiation of higher representation theory through categorification and 2-representations of structures like sl2. His influential publications encompass "Derived equivalences for symmetric groups and sl2-categorification" (Annals of Mathematics, 2008, with J. Chuang), "Dimensions of triangulated categories" (Journal of K-theory, 2008), "On the category O for rational Cherednik algebras" (Inventiones Mathematicae, 2003, with V. Ginzburg, N. Guay, E. Opdam), and "Picard groups for derived module categories" (Journal of the London Mathematical Society, 2003, with A. Zimmermann). He presented at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid in 2006. Rouquier has received the Collège de France Peccot Prize (2000), London Mathematical Society Whitehead Prize (2006), University of Cambridge Adams Prize (2009), French Academy of Sciences Élie Cartan Prize (2009), Royal Society Wolfson Research Award (2011), and Simons Investigatorship (2015).

Professional Email: rouquier@math.ucla.edu