Guofang Wei facts for kids

Guofang Wei is a talented mathematician. She studies a special area of math called differential geometry. This field looks at shapes and spaces using tools from calculus. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Becoming a Mathematician

Guofang Wei earned her highest degree, a doctorate in mathematics, in 1989. She studied at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her main teacher was Detlef Gromoll.

Her special project, called a dissertation, was very important. It showed new examples of mathematical shapes called "manifolds." These shapes had a special property called "positive Ricci curvature." Her work was published in a major math journal.

Exploring Math and Shapes

Guofang Wei's research explores the shapes and spaces in mathematics. She has studied how shapes with "negative Ricci curvature" behave. She also looked at how these shapes relate to their "isometry groups." These groups describe ways a shape can be moved without changing its look.

She has also worked with other mathematicians on different topics. For example, she studied shapes with "integral Ricci curvature bounds" with Peter Petersen.

Since 2000, Wei has worked with Christina Sormani. They study how different shapes can "converge" or come together. They use special methods developed by other mathematicians like Jeff Cheeger and Tobias Colding. Their work helps us understand what happens when shapes with certain properties get closer and closer.

Wei was invited to give talks about her research in Switzerland. She also worked with her student, Will Wylie. They studied "smooth metric measure spaces" and the "Bakry–Emery Ricci tensor." These are advanced ideas about how to measure distances and curvature in complex spaces.

Guofang Wei was invited twice to present her work at the important Geometry Festival. This shows how respected her research is in the math community.

Helping Young Mathematicians

Besides her research, Guofang Wei also helps young students. She mentored the math team at Dos Pueblos High School.

In 2008, this team won second place in a big competition. It was called the International Shing-Tung Yau High School Math Awards. The competition took place in Beijing, China.

Awards and Recognition

In 2013, Guofang Wei received a special honor. She became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. This award recognized her important "contributions to global Riemannian geometry." It also highlighted her work on how this geometry relates to Ricci curvature.