Rate My Professor Ulrike Tillmann

Ulrike Tillmann is the NM Rothschild & Sons Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences since 2021. She also holds the position of Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, where she is a Fellow of Merton College. Tillmann obtained her B.A. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Brandeis University in 1985, her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1990, and her Habilitation from the University of Bonn in 1996. Her early career included a SERC Research Assistantship and Junior Research Fellowship at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge (1990–1992), followed by roles as Tutor at Merton College and Lecturer at the University of Oxford (1992–2010), advancing to Professor of Mathematics in 2010.

Tillmann's research focuses on topology, K-theory, and non-commutative geometry, with notable contributions to moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces and higher-dimensional manifolds, inspired by quantum physics and string theory, as well as recent work in applied topology for data science challenges. Key publications include 'The homotopy type of the cobordism category' (Acta Mathematica, 2009, with Galatius, Madsen, and Weiss), 'The stable mapping class group and Q CP^∞' (Inventiones Mathematicae, 2001, with Madsen), 'Divisibility of the stable Miller-Morita-Mumford classes' (Journal of the American Mathematical Society, 2006, with Galatius and Madsen), and 'A Framework for Differential Calculus on Persistence Barcodes' (Foundations of Computational Mathematics, 2021, with Leygonie and Oudot). She has received the Whitehead Prize from the London Mathematical Society (2004), the Bessel Research Prize (2008), was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (2008), inaugural Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (2012), and Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2017). Tillmann has served as President of the London Mathematical Society (2021–2023), Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union (since 2023), Chair of the Royal Society’s Education Committee (since 2020), and on numerous editorial boards, including founding managing editor of the Journal of Topology (2007–2017), significantly influencing mathematical research communities through leadership and collaborations.