Back in the fall of 1996, I made a little web page describing my Math 55 classmates. One day in 2009, I thought it would be interesting to create an update of that old page. The information here comes from a combination of personal knowledge, The Google, and Facebook. To the best of my knowledge, it is current as of July 2021. (If you want yourself deleted from this page or want to fix your entry, just email me.)
Nils Barth received a MS in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 2002 and is currently a Senior Software Engineer at Google.
Meghana Bhatt received a PhD in economics from Caltech in 2007 and worked in academia before switching to Data Science, and is currently Director of Content Science and Analytics at Netflix.
Mike Develin, a 2-time Putnam Fellow, received a PhD in mathematics (discrete geometry) from UC Berkeley in 2003, under the direction of Bernd Sturmfels. He was an AIM 5-year Fellow, then a quant at D.E. Shaw, and then a data scientist at Facebook and Instagram, and now Passbook’s Head of Strategy at Remitly.
Jenny Hoffman received a PhD in physics (high-temperature superconductivity) from UC Berkeley in 2003, under the direction of Seamus Davis. She is a recipient of PECASE, CAREER, and Sloan awards. She is currently the Clowes Professor of Science in the Harvard physics department, running a scanning tunneling microscopy lab. She is also a noted ultramarathon runner.
Dan Lee received a PhD in mathematics (geometric analysis) from Stanford in 2005, under the direction of Richard Schoen. He is an Associate Professor in the Queens College mathematics department.
Max Lieblich received a PhD in mathematics (algebraic geometry) from MIT in 2004, under the direction of Aise Johan de Jong. He is a recipient of Sloan and CAREER awards and is an AMS Fellow. He is currently the Craig McKibben & Sarah Merner Endowed Professor in the University of Washington mathematics department, studying algebraic geometry.
Paul Lujan received a PhD in physics (experimental high-energy) from UC Berkeley in 2009, under the direction of Lina Galtieri. He is an experimental high-energy physicists who has spent his career working with the LHC’s CMS detector at CERN.
Anna Medvedovsky received a PhD in mathematics (number theory) from Brandeis in 2015, under the direction of Joel Bellaiche. She is currently a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Boston University.
Dragos Oprea, a Putnam Fellow, received a PhD in mathematics (algebraic geometry) from MIT in 2005, under the direction of Gang Tian. He is a recipient of Sloan and CAREER awards and is currently a Professor in the UC San Diego mathematics department, studying algebraic geometry and mathematical physics.
Joon Pahk received a MS in physics from Stanford. He was an instructor in the Harvard physics department for many years, and is now a professional puzzle constructor whose work has appeared in the New York Times. He won 2nd place at the 2019 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and was a 8-time Jeopardy! champion.
Nick Proudfoot received a PhD in mathematics (algebraic geometry) from UC Berkeley in 2004, under the direction of Allen Knutson. He is a recipient of a CAREER award and is currently a Professor in the University of Oregon mathematics department, studying algebraic geometry and related topics.
Dmitry Sagalovskiy was one of the founders of Hudson River Trading (a quantitative trading firm), the New York Math Circle, and Grist Labs (a software startup).
Alex Saltman received a PhD in physics (string theory) from Stanford in 2006, under the direction of Eva Silverstein. He worked in politics, was the executive director of the Commerical Spaceflight Federation, and is currently the CEO of GeoOptics
Joe Subotnik received a PhD in chemical biophysics from UC Berkeley in 2006, under the direction of Martin Head-Gordon. He currently the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, running a lab focusing on the electronic processes in the condensed phase
Anne Sung participated in Teach For America, received a MPP from Harvard in 2013, and is currently a Trustee for the Houston school board.
Igor Teper received a PhD in physics (atomic) from Stanford in 2006, under the direction of Vladen Vuletic. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer at AOSense, which makes atom optic sensors.
Lauren Williams received a PhD in mathematics (combinatorics) from MIT in 2005 under the direction of Richard Stanley. She is a recipient of Sloan and CAREER awards, and is an AMS Fellow. She is currently the Dwight Parker Robinson Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University and the Sally Starling Seaver Professor at the Radcliffe Institute, studying algebraic combinatorics.
Yu Yasufuku received a PhD in mathematics (number theory) from Brown in 2008, under the direction of Joe Silverman. He is currently a Professor in the Nihon University mathematics department in Tokyo.
Random observation: Half of the class went to graduate school at either Berkeley or Stanford.
Our professor at the time was Alexander Polishchuk, a postdoc working in algebraic geometry. He is now a Professor in the University of Oregon mathematics department.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some other students from our entering Harvard class who are continuing careers in mathematical academia (or near-math). This list is not comprehensive; it's just people I happen to know about.
Jacob Lurie won the 2000 Morgan Prize for undergraduate research and received a PhD in mathematics (algebraic geometry, etc.) from MIT in 2004, under the direction of Mike Hopkins. He was an AIM 5-year Fellow, Section Speaker at the 2010 ICM, winner of a Breakthrough Prize in 2014, and won a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship in 2014. He is widely known for his influential book, Higher Topos Theory. He is currently a Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Harish Bhat received a PhD in applied mathematics from Caltech in 2005, under the direction of Jerrold Marsden. He is an Professor in applied mathematics at UC Merced.
Carina Curto received a PhD in mathematics (algebraic geometry/string theory) from Duke in 2005, under the direction of David Morrison. She was a Sloan fellow, and is now Professor a Penn State University, studying mathematical neuroscience.
Liam McAllister received a PhD in physics (string theory) from Stanford in 2005, under the direction of Shamit Kachru. He is a recipient of a Sloan and CAREER awards. and is currently a Professor in the Cornell physics department, studying string theory.