Jeremy Rouse receives Selfridge Prize for best paper at international symposium

Jeremy Rouse, professor of mathematics and graduate program coordinator, received the Selfridge Prize for the best paper presented at the 17th Algorithmic Number Theory Symposium (ANTS XVII) at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands. The prestigious award recognizes research that combines mathematical depth with significant algorithmic innovation.

Rouse and his co-author, Jacob Mayle, a former Wake Forest professor now at the University of Delaware, earned the award for their paper, “Rational points on modular curves via maps to elliptic curves with rank zero”

Attending ANTS for the first time, Rouse was unsure how the paper would be received by a new audience. He and Mayle were surprised and honored when their work was selected for the Selfridge Prize. “Winning this prize makes it clear that this type of work is appreciated and valued by the community,” said Rouse. “On one hand, the core idea of the paper is very simple. But some new theoretical and practical ideas were necessary to make the necessary computer computations feasible.”

Rouse and Mayle’s paper stood out because it solves a significant computational bottleneck; it drastically expands what can realistically be computed; it bridges theory and computation; its theories allow for further research, and lastly, the paper fits the mission of the conference’s focus on algorithms in number theory. 

Rouse and Mayle’s paper stood out among the submissions for several reasons. Their research:

• addresses a significant computational bottleneck.
• expands what can realistically be computed.
• bridges theoretical mathematics with practical computational methods.
• creates opportunities for further research in the field.
• aligns closely with ANTS’ focus on advancing algorithms.