Evan Michael O'Dorney (born September 16, 1993) is an American mathematician who is a

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

associate at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. His specialization is

number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...

. As a

home-schooled Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

high school student and college student, he won many contests in mathematics and other subjects, including the 2007

Scripps National Spelling Bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee, formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and often referred to as the National Spelling Bee or simply “the Spelling Bee” in the United States, is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. ...

, 2011

Intel Science Talent Search The Regeneron Science Talent Search, known for its first 57 years as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, and then as the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) from 1998 through 2016, is a research-based science fair, science competition in ...

, four

International Math Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for Student competition, pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. It is widely regarded as the most prestigious mathematical comp ...

medals, and three

Putnam Fellow The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to Putnam Competition, is an annual mathematics competition for undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada (regar ...

ships. A 2013 report by the National Research Council called him "as famous for academic excellence as any student can be".

Education and competitions

O'Dorney grew up in

Danville, California The Town of DanvillePronounced is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is one of the List of municipalities in California, incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their nam ...

. When he was a child, he was assessed as "'profoundly gifted' with

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

behaviors", but he has never been formally diagnosed with a

neurodevelopmental disorder Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of mental conditions negatively affecting the development of the nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord. According to the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manu ...

. As a home-schooled high school student, he attended classes at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

from 2007 to 2011. He was the winner of the 2007

; an interview on

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

with Kiran Chetry after his win, in which he misspelled ''scombridae'' due to the interviewer's pronunciation, later became a

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

. During this time he was a four-time

medalist, with two gold and two silver medals. In 2010, he won $10,000 (half for himself and half for the Berkeley Mathematics Circle) in a national "Who Wants to Be a Mathematician" contest, held at that year's

Joint Mathematics Meetings The Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) is a mathematics conference hosted annually in early January by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Frequently, several other national mathematics organizations also participate. From 1998 to 2020, the JMM ...

in San Francisco. In 2011, he won the top prize in the

for a project entitled "continued fraction convergents and linear fractional transformations". O'Dorney started attending

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 2011, where he studied mathematics. He enrolled in graduate classes in mathematics, skipping the undergraduate-level classes. While at Harvard, he was a three-time Putnam fellow. (His first Putnam was as a high school student.) After graduating ''summa cum laude'', in 2015–16 he studied

Part III of the Mathematical Tripos Part, parts or PART may refer to: People *Part (surname) *Parts (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media *Part (music), a single strand or melody or harmony of music within a larger ensemble or a polyphonic musical composition *Part (bibliograph ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, on a

Churchill Scholarship The Churchill Scholarship is awarded by the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States to graduates of the more than one hundred colleges and universities invited to participate in the Churchill Scholarship Program, for the pursuit of res ...

. In 2016 he received honorable mention for the

Morgan Prize The Morgan Prize (full name Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student) is an annual award given to an undergraduate student in the US, Canada, or Mexico who demonstrates superior mathematic ...

in mathematics. In 2021, he earned a PhD in mathematics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, with a dissertation titled "Reflection theorems for number rings".

Career

He held a two-year post-doctoral position at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

and then took up a similar appointment at Carnegie Mellon University. His specialization is number theory.

Other interests

Although his primary interest is mathematics, O'Dorney has had a strong interest in music. In 2007, he composed a song to help memorize the digits of . At Harvard, he studied music as well as mathematics, and continued to compose music, as well as singing in a chamber music group and playing the organ and piano. He has

absolute pitch Absolute pitch (AP), often called perfect pitch, is the ability to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone. AP may be demonstrated using linguistic labelling ("naming" a note), associating mental image ...

. O’Dorney finds spirituality in his mathematical studies, and his meeting with Eric Riedl at a Catholic Mass led him to Notre Dame.

References

External links

Personal website

{{DEFAULTSORT:ODorney, Evan 1993 births Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge 21st-century American mathematicians Harvard College alumni International Mathematical Olympiad participants Living people People from Danville, California Putnam Fellows Scripps National Spelling Bee participants University of California, Berkeley people Princeton University alumni