By Donald Gilpin

The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) combines a heavy dose of tradition with a continuing emphasis on innovation as it welcomes 267 visiting scholars from 35 nations and more than 130 institutions to work alongside its 26 permanent and 22 emeritus faculty in the 2024-25 academic year.

All of the scholars are based in one of the Institute’s four Schools — Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Science — but collaboration among disciplines is “a pillar of Institute scholarship,” an IAS press release states, and creative, unconventional, pioneering work is ubiquitous at IAS.

The IAS October 2 press release highlights, for example, four visiting scholars who “represent a unique cross section of this year’s class.”

Celia Sanchez Natalias, whose research deals with demystifying ancient magical practices, comes to the School of Historical Studies from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, and will be continuing her work with a focus on lead curse tablets (defixiones) from the Roman period, “an unsanctioned technology that allowed individuals to confront a slew of personal problems and crises, such as unrequited love, pending legal prosecutions, and even sabotaging opposing sports teams in chariot races,” according to the IAS website.

Another new visiting scholar, University of Oregon Mathematics Professor Ellen Eischen, will be pursuing her work in the field of number theory, uncovering patterns in numerical data that “transcend cultures and bridge disparate fields of mathematics,” according to the press release, which adds, “Her collaborations have also helped to introduce public audiences to the creative side of mathematics.”

The research endeavors of Beatrix Muehlmann, recently a postdoc at McGill University with a Ph. D. from the University of Amsterdam, lead her into explorations of nothing less than the origin and fate of the universe, as she studies quantum gravity in seeking to describe gravity through the principles of quantum mechanics.

And E. Tendayi Achiume, joining the IAS School of Social Science from Stanford Law School, will be continuing her work on international legal frameworks that govern migration, racism, and xenophobia, challenging accepted notions of borders and race. She plans to expand her analysis beyond nation states to consider how corporations have constituted borders and international migration.

In addition to this year’s visiting scholars, there are three new permanent faculty in the School of Mathematics at IAS this year: Irit Dveer Dinur, an expert in theoretical computer science, interested particularly in error-correcting codes and probabilistically checkable proofs; Elon Lindenstrauss, a leading authority in ergodic theory, dynamical systems, and their applications to number theory; and Aaron Naber, a renowned geometric analyst who “has opened new horizons for studying singular sets arising in the calculus of variations,” according to the IAS website.

For the School of Mathematics this will be a special year with a focus on algebraic and geometric combinatorics, with past IAS scholar and Princeton University Mathematic Professor June Huh serving as distinguished visiting professor and helping to organize a range of academic events.

“The Politics of Migration and Displacement as a Form of Life” is the title of this year’s School of Social Science theme seminar, which will be led by IAS Professor Didier Fassin and Visiting Politics Professor David Owen from the University of Southhampton, U.K. The seminar will explore many questions about immigration and asylum, migrants and refugees.

Among present and past faculty and members of IAS, there have been 36 Nobel Laureates, including one of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics winners, John Hopfield, who was a visiting professor (2010-13) and remains active in the Institute’s Simons Center for Systems Biology. Past IAS faculty and members have also included 44 of the 62 Fields Medalists and 23 of the 27 Abel Prize winners, among many other prestigious award winners.