Bicentennial Professor of Mathematics
Amherst CollegeDepartment of Mathematics
Amherst, MA 01002
Amanda Folsom
Department of Mathematics
Amherst, MA 01002
Education
Employment
Professor 2014-2019;
Mathematics and Statistics Department Chair or Associate Chair 2023-2025 & 2019-2021
Grants and Awards
Professional Biography
Amanda L. Folsom is the Bicentennial Professor of Mathematics at Amherst College, where she served as Department Chair or Associate Chair from 2019-21 and 2023-25. She received her BA in Mathematics in 2001 from the University of Chicago, and her PhD in Mathematics in 2006 from UCLA. Prior to joining the Amherst faculty in 2014, Folsom held positions at Yale University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Max Planck Institute, Bonn, and she is a former Member of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton. Folsom is the recipient of National Science Foundation grants including an NSF Career Award (2013-19). She was named a Simons Fellow in Mathematics (2018-19), and received the American Mathematical Society (AMS) Mary P. Dolciani Prize for Excellence in Research (2021). Folsom has published numerous mathematics research and expository articles, and co-authored a research-level book on Harmonic Maass Forms published by the AMS. She advised a math PhD student and dozens of undergraduate math research students from Amherst and Yale, resulting in co-authored publications with her students. Folsom has also twice served as a research project co-leader for Women in Number Theory (WIN). Folsom’s many invited mathematics talks include a Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Invited Address at the 2019 Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) titled “Symmetry, Almost.” Folsom serves or served on professional committees including AMS Committee on Meetings and Conferences; AMS-Simons PUI Grants Committee; AMS Levi L. Conant Prize Committee; AMS Mary P. Dolciani Prize Committee; MAA Committee on Invited Paper Sessions; American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) Scientific Research Board. She also serves on the editorial boards of various mathematics journals including Proceedings of the AMS where she is the incoming Managing Editor (2026—); La Matematica, Official Journal of the AWM; Journal of Number Theory; and others.
Research Interests
I specialize in Number Theory, one of the oldest branches of mathematics which also continues to be a field of active research today. In particular, I study modular and mock modular forms (certain complex-valued functions), harmonic Maass forms, Jacobi forms, quantum modular forms, q-series, and related objects. Historically, modular forms have played fundamental roles in Number Theory, for example, they are central to the well known Riemann Hypothesis and Fermat's Last Theorem. Modular forms also often yield applications to other areas of mathematics; my research focuses on harmonic Maass forms, q-series, and related functions, with applications to Combinatorics, Mathematical Physics, and other areas. In addition to research and expository articles, on these topics I am co-author of the book Harmonic Maass forms and mock modular forms: theory and applications, published by the American Mathematical Society in 2018, and winner of the 2018 AAP Prose Award for best scholarly book in Mathematics.
Teaching Interests
I enjoy teaching a wide range of students and courses in a variety of settings and levels, including beginning Calculus, Fractal Geometry at the intermediate level, and Analytic Number Theory and Abstract Algebra at the more advanced level. I am also actively involved in mentoring and advising student research.