Ben Hayes

Ben Hayes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Virginia since 2017. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor (Postdoc) at Vanderbilt University (2014–2017). He holds a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (2014), under Dimitri Shlyakhtenko, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington (2009). His research focuses on the intersection of operator algebras and ergodic theory, including sofic entropy, microstates free entropy dimension, and applications to measured group theory and random matrices.

Education:

• PhD in Mathematics, UCLA, 2014 (Advisor: Dimitri Shlyakhtenko)
• Bachelor's in Mathematics, University of Washington, 2009 (Senior Thesis Advisor: Doug Lind)

Research emphasizes applying operator algebra techniques to ergodic theory and vice versa. Current projects include defining extended von Neumann dimension for group actions on L^p-spaces and studying sofic groups. He actively engages in interdisciplinary work linking free probability, random matrices, and geometric group theory.

Advising includes two PhD students (Felipe Flores, Aoran Wu), an undergraduate researcher (James Harbour), and a postdoc (Jacob Campbell). Past advisees include PhD graduate Mat Turnansky and undergraduate standout Yichen Ma. No scientific awards explicitly mentioned, though his work reflects sustained academic rigor. No specialized labs or teams are detailed in the provided information.