Duke University has awarded Samit Dasgupta the prestigious James B. Duke Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Mathematics. He is among 31 faculty members honored with distinguished professorships this year. The university will formally recognize Dasgupta at a ceremony at the Washington Duke Inn on May 14.
Expressing pride in the honorees, Duke University President Vincent E. Price highlighted their contributions to research, innovation, and education. He emphasized that their work leads to groundbreaking solutions and advancements that benefit society.
Distinguished professorships are reserved for faculty who have made exceptional contributions to their disciplines and demonstrated outstanding academic leadership within the Duke community.
Dasgupta’s research primarily focuses on algebraic number theory, particularly the explicit construction of units in number fields and points on abelian varieties. His work explores longstanding mathematical conjectures, including those proposed by Stark, Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer, and Beilinson, as well as their extensions beyond L-functions. By leveraging the theory of modular forms and their related Galois representations, he has made significant strides in advancing these theories.
Dasgupta earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004, following his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, where he graduated in 1999.
Provost Alec D. Gallimore extended his congratulations to the honorees, acknowledging their impressive contributions to both their respective fields and Duke University’s academic community.
Duke’s Board of Trustees formally approved these professorships in February, with the appointments taking effect from July 1, 2025, onward.
