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Melanie Matchett Wood

  • Mathematics
  • Radcliffe Alumnae Professor, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; and William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Portrait of Melanie Matchett Wood
Photo by Kevin Grady

Melanie Matchett Wood is a Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute and William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Her research is focused on number theory, arithmetic and algebraic geometry, topology, probability, and random groups. She is an editor of Algebra & Number Theory, International Mathematics Research Notices, and Research in Number Theory and was an American Institute of Mathematics Five Year Fellow.

Before joining Harvard, Wood was a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She earned a PhD from Princeton University, a certificate of advanced study at the University of Cambridge, and a BS from Duke University, all in mathematics.

Professor Melanie Matchett Wood on Number Theory, Failing, and Her Lifetime Supply of Hagoromo Chalk (Harvard Crimson, 2/17/23)

Why 2 Is the Best Number and Other Secrets from a MacArthur-Winning Mathematician (Scientific American, 11/22/22)

Harvard Math Professor Melanie Matchett Wood Wins "Genius Grant" (Harvard Crimson, 10/13/22)

Harvard Mathematician Melanie Matchett Wood Named MacArthur Fellow (Harvard Gazette, 10/12/22)

Harvard’s Wood Becomes First Woman to Win $1M Waterman Award in Math (Harvard Gazette, 5/11/21)

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