Dr. Lisa Piccirillo

Biography

Lisa Piccirillo is a mathematician specializing in the study of three- and four-dimensional spaces. Her work in four-manifold topology has significant applications in the study of mathematical knots. Piccirillo is known for proving that the Conway knot is 'slice,' which was previously an open problem since the mid-1900s presented by John Conway. During a conference where she faced a hearing problem, Piccirillo devoted a week to formulate a proof regarding this topic. She is broadly interested in low-dimensional topology and knot theory and employs constructive techniques related to four-manifolds. Piccirillo earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics from Boston College in 2013 and completed her Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. Following this, she held a postdoctoral position at Brandeis University in 2019-2020 before joining the Department of Mathematics at MIT as an assistant professor in 2020, where she remained until 2024. Throughout her career, she has received numerous accolades, including the inaugural Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize in 2021, which was established by the Breakthrough Foundation to recognize outstanding early-career women in mathematics. Additionally, she was named one of WIRED's 25 'People Making Things' in 2021 and was awarded the Clay Mathematics Research Fellowship and the Sloan Research Fellowship in 2021.

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