Catherine Cossaboom will pursue her passion for mathematics at the University of Oxford as the University of Virginia’s newest Marshall Scholar. The Marshall Scholarship includes full tuition costs, travel expenses, a living stipend and additional expenses for up to 50 Americans annually.
Cossaboom, a fourth-year mathematics and cognitive science major from Atlanta, will work toward a master’s degree in mathematics at Oxford. She will study under James Maynard, a recipient of the Fields Medal, one of the highest honors in mathematics.
Cossaboom will investigate classical questions in analytic number theory.
“My research will center on the distribution of number theoretic sequences, with particular emphasis on the primes – objects of enduring fascination and profound importance in mathematics,” she said.
Cossaboom, who received a Goldwater Scholarship earlier this year, has been passionate about math since she was young.
“We are at an exciting juncture where analytic methods are becoming increasingly effective, and the last decade has seen progress toward the elusive twin prime conjecture, the infinitude of Mersenne primes and the Goldbach conjecture (an unsolved number theory that states every even natural number greater than two is the sum of two prime numbers),” she said. “While at Oxford, I aim to develop an expansive view of old and modern techniques in number theory and to build toward making meaningful contributions to fundamental problems in the field.”
Cossaboom is a Jefferson Scholar, an Echols Scholar and a Lawn resident. She has published three papers while at the University of Virginia.
Cossaboom will research the distribution of number theoretic sequences at the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)
Last summer, Cossaboom received an appointment to the prestigious Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, Germany, where she conducted research jointly with the University of Cologne under professor Kathrin Bringmann. While there, she resolved a conjecture in partition theory concerning hook length biases between restricted classes of partitions.
“I’m very proud of Catherine,” said Ken Ono, UVA’s Marvin Rosenblum Professor of Mathematics and Cossaboom’s undergraduate thesis adviser. “As wonderful as her undergraduate thesis is turning out to be, I am even more excited for the work she will do at Oxford working with ‘mathemagician’ James Maynard, the present day Merlin of number theory.”
Cossaboom is also an advocate for women in mathematics. At UVA, she re-started, with Casia Siegel, UVA’s chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics, after it’s pandemic break. The chapter plans mathematical workshops and career panels, and established a semesterly colloquium spotlighting women mathematics professors from around the nation. She also founded the IDEAs Committee, creating a formal venue for graduate students to organize equity-focused initiatives in the department.
“Make no mistake, Catherine is one of the most impressive mathematicians in the country – enough of the mathematicians who understand her work have told me,” Andrus G. Ashoo, director of the Office of Citizen Scholar Development, said. “But I think she is a Marshall Scholar because she is humble, curious, diligent and empathetic. Not everyone can be selected as a Marshall Scholar, but I think we all can look to those characteristics and endeavor to grow like her. I am really proud to know her.”
Cossaboom said she plans to immerse herself in both number theory and Oxford culture over the next two years.
“I am really looking forward to building a community and enjoying all the United Kingdom has to offer,” Cossaboom said. “I think it’ll be great to hang out with the other Marshall Scholars. I’m hoping to learn a lot in particular from scholars in the humanities and maybe even discover some unexpected similarities in our work.
“Many of the Oxford traditions, like punting, formals and balls, are completely new to me and seem like a lot of fun to do with my new friends.”
