Birgit Speh

Birgit Speh is a Professor of Mathematics at Cornell University, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1977). Her research focuses on Lie groups, automorphic forms, and representation theory, with an emphasis on geometric and topological properties of locally symmetric spaces. Notably, she has contributed to symmetry breaking laws for infinite-dimensional representations and their applications to automorphic forms, including work on the Gross-Prasad conjectures.

Her educational background includes doctoral studies at MIT, and her academic career has been centered at Cornell. Her research explores the intersection of algebraic structures and geometric spaces, addressing questions in representation theory and number theory. Recent collaborative work with Toshiyuki Kobayashi has produced significant results in symmetry breaking and orthogonal groups.

Besides her research, she contributes to departmental activities, including graduate education and program development. Her publications span advanced topics in mathematics, reflecting her deep engagement with foundational theories and their modern applications.