Mihalis Dafermos

Mihalis Dafermos is a Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, with affiliations in the Department of Physics and the Princeton Gravity Initiative. He holds dual roles as a researcher and educator in mathematical physics and partial differential equations.

• Education: B.A. in Mathematics (Harvard, 1997), Ph.D. in Mathematics (Princeton, 2001 under Demetrios Christodoulou).
• Professional History: Previous positions include Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at the University of Cambridge (2015–present), and roles at MIT (2001–2004) and other institutions.

Research: Focuses on general relativity, black hole stability, gravitational collapse, and singularities. His work combines geometric analysis with PDEs, addressing foundational questions like cosmic censorship and the formation/stability of black holes.

Awards:

• Adams Prize (2004)
• Bodossaki Prize (2008)
• Whitehead Prize (2009)
• IAMP Early Career Award (2009)
• Fellow of the AMS (2016)

Advising & Grants: Advisor to 16 Ph.D. students. Secured grants from NSF, ERC, and others, including NSF DMS-2005464 (2020–2024) and EPSRC Programme Grant (with A. Neves et al., 2013–2019).

Labs/Teams: Member of the Princeton Gravity Initiative and editorial boards of journals like Annales Henri Poincaré and Classical and Quantum Gravity.