Mathematics Professor at Clayton State Dr. Mohsen Aliabadi Awarded American Mathematical Society-Simons Foundation Research Enhancement Grant

(September 10, 2026) - Clayton State College of STEM Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr. Mohsen Aliabadi was recently awarded the American Mathematical Society-Simons Foundation Research Enhancement Grant for Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Faculty. The grant funds his participation in Mathematics conferences across the United States and internationally, expanding his knowledge of different math specialties through engagement with experts in various fields.  

Thanks to the grant, Dr. Aliabadi traveled in late July to participate in the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Aliabadi said, “ICM takes place every four years. And last time, probably because of COVID, it was virtual. So, this was the first conference after eight years. This was my first time attending, and this is considered the most prestigious and one of the most crowded conferences in mathematics.”

Dr. Aliabadi said, “As a mathematician, there's always this tendency that we are focused on our own mathematics, the kind of branch that we do. And sometimes we become ignorant about other parts of mathematics. But the good thing about this conference is that all kinds of serious research problems are mentioned there, and we see a lot of research talks and a lot of conversations about all kinds of mathematics.”

“On the first day of the conference, prestigious awards like the Fields Medal are given to the recipients and also usually their advisors. Their PhD advisors or close collaborators explain the research that led to the Fields Medal, the Nobel Prize of mathematics. On other days, we see poster presentations, and also we have a lot of small, small talks, like mini symposium-style talks in different rooms,” according to Dr. Aliabadi.

Dr. Aliabadi shared that, “One very vital thing for a mathematician is to be able to meet with other mathematicians in conferences, and this AMS Simon Grant is giving me this opportunity to travel all around the world and attend and give talks at different conferences. This way, I share my ideas with other mathematicians in similar fields, and I can also gain new ideas from other mathematicians. That's the most important thing about receiving this grant funding.”

As for future plans to attend more conferences, Dr. Aliabadi said, “The next one that I have in mind is going to be JMM, Joint Mathematics Meeting in Chicago 2027, which is also going to be a very big conference. And I have other plans to go to some conferences in Europe, hopefully next summer.” 

As for his work as a professor at Clayton State, Dr. Aliabadi explained that “I teach a lot of courses at Clayton State. They range from calculus basic-level courses to more advanced courses like graph theory. Since I've been here for a short time, those are the courses I taught. But before Clayton State University, I was a Warschawski assistant professor and postdoc at the University of California, San Diego, and Iowa State University, respectively, where I taught courses related to abstract algebra, field theory, and combinatorics.”