The Annual Shanks Conference and Lecture
The Department of Mathematics Annual Shanks Conference and Lecture focuses each year on a different mathematical specialty. The five-day event attracts international mathematicians to share the latest research and ideas. The Shanks Lecture is the conference’s keynote address, featuring a leading mathematician in the field.The Shanks Lecture is funded by an endowment from the Shanks family to honor the late Baylis and Olivia Shanks. This year’s Shanks Conference is funded by the Shanks family endowment, as well as by the National Science Foundation and Vanderbilt University College of Arts & Science.
Upcoming Shanks Conference and Lecture
International Conference on L-Functions and Automorphic Forms
May 13-16, 2024
Shanks Lecturer: Kannan Soundararajan
Past Shanks Conferences and Lectures
2023
Approximation Theory and Beyond
May 15-18, 2023
Shanks Lecturer: Wolfgang Dahmen
Conference Website
2019
Noncommutative Geometry and Operator Algebras Spring Institute 2019: Algebra and Geometry Quantized and Quantified
May 3‐9, 2019
Shanks Lecturer: Michael Freedman
Conference Website
2018
7th International Conference on Computational Harmonic Analysis
May 14-18, 2018
Shanks Lecturer: Stephane Mallat
Conference Website
2017
Low-Dimensional Topology and Geometry
May 15-19, 2017
Shanks Lecturer: Ian Agol
Conference Website
2016
International Conference on Evolution Equations
May 16-20, 2016
Shanks Lecturer: Lawrence C. Evans
Conference Website
2015
Recent Advances in Kähler Geometry
May 18-22, 2015
Shanks Lecturer: Shing-Tung Yau
Conference Website
2014
5th International Conference on Computational Harmonic Analysis
May 19-23, 2014
Shanks Lecturer: Jean Bourgain
Conference Website
2013
Topology, Algebra, and Categories in Logic
July 28-August 1, 2013
Shanks Lecturer: Vladimir Voevodsky
Conference Website
2012
International Conference on Cycles in Graphs
May 30-June 2, 2012
Shanks Lecturer: Daniela Kühn
Conference Website
2011
Approximation Theory
May 17-21, 2011
Shanks Lecturer: Charles K. Chui
Conference Website
2010
Optimal Configurations on the Sphere and Other Manifolds
May 17-20, 2010
Shanks Lecturer: Noam Elkies
Conference Website
2009
Mathematical Modeling in the Medical Sciences
Shanks Lecturer: Nicola Bellomo
Conference Website
2008
24th Southeastern Analysis Meeting
Shanks Lecturer: Charles Fefferman
Conference Website
2007
International Conference on Order, Algebra and Logic
Shanks Lecturer: Keith Kearnes
Conference Website
2006
Combinatorial and Geometric Group Theory
Shanks Lecturer: Alex Lubotzky
Conference Website
2005
Spring Institute on Noncommutative Geometry and Operator Algebras
Shanks Lecturer:Vaughan
Jones, University of California , Berkeley
2004
Second International Conference on Computational Harmonic Analysis
Shanks Lecturer: Steve Smale, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago and University of California , Berkeley (Emeritus)
2003
The Clay Mathematics Institute International Conference and Spring School on Noncommutative Geometry and Applications
Shanks Lecturer: Alain Connes, College de France, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, and Vanderbilt University
2002
International Conference on Modern Algebra
Shanks Lecturer: Efim Zelmanov, Yale University
2001
Conference on Horizons in Combinatorics
Shanks Lecturer: William T. Trotter, Arizona State University
2000
Trends in Approximation Theory
Shanks Lecturer: George G. Lorentz, California State University, Chico
1999
Modern and Classical Analysis
Shanks Lecturer: William Arveson, University of California , Berkeley
1998
International Conference on Non-Positive Curvature in Group Theory, Topology and Geometry
Shanks Lecturer: Andre Haefliger, University of Geneva
1997
International Conference on Mathematical Models in Medical and Health Sciences
Shanks Lecturer: M. Nowak, Oxford University
1996
Conference on Modern Algebra and its Applications
Shanks Lecturer: Cancelled due to illness.
1995
Conference on Graph Theory, Combinatorics and Computing
Shanks Lecturer: Laszlo Lovasz, Yale University
1994
Conference on Geometric Group Theory
Shanks Lecturer: John Stallings, University of California , Berkeley
1993
Conference on Functional Analysis and Operator Theory
Shanks Lecturer: Israel Gelfand, Rutgers University
1992
Conference on Wavelet Theory
Shanks Lecturer: Ingrid Daubechies, AT&T Bell Laboratories
1991
Conference on Analysis, Applied Analysis, and Mathematical Biology
Shanks Lecturer: Irving Segal, MIT
1990
Conference on Algebra and Logic
Shanks Lecturer: Ivan Rival, University of Ottawa
1989
Conference on Analysis, Applied Analysis and Mathematical Biology
Shanks Lecturer: James Yorke, University of Maryland
1988
Conference on Geometry and Topology
Shanks Lecturer: Mary Ellen Rudin, University of Wisconsin
1987
Conference on Graph Theory and Combinatorics
Shanks Lecturer: Ronald Graham, AT&T Bell Laboratories
1986
Conference on Graph Theory and Combinatorics
Shanks Lecturer: Victor Klee, University of Washington
1985
Conference on Geometry and Topology
Shanks Lecturer: R.H. Bing, University of Texas at Austin