Brendan Pass

Brendan Pass is a Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Alberta. His research focuses on optimal transportation theory, with applications in mathematical economics, mathematical physics, and density functional theory. He is a core member of the Kantorovich Initiative, an interdisciplinary group dedicated to advancing optimal transport methodologies and their practical implementations. His work bridges pure mathematics with applied fields, addressing complex problems in multi-marginal transport, economic equilibrium modeling, and geometric analysis.

Pass’s academic contributions span theoretical frameworks for optimal transport between spaces of differing dimensions, cyclic cost structures, and robust risk management. He explores intersections with diverse disciplines, including econometrics, financial mathematics, and geometric probability. His publications often address uniqueness conditions for Monge solutions, Wasserstein metrics, and barycenter problems in metric spaces. He has co-authored works on topics ranging from hedonic pricing models to vectorial martingale transport.

Recent research trends include leveraging optimal transport for inequality measurement, robust optimization, and data denoising. His methodologies emphasize structural analysis and algorithmic design, with applications in crop root systems, quantum chemistry (via density functional theory), and option pricing. Pass frequently collaborates with institutions globally, contributing to both theoretical advancements and real-world problem-solving.

Teaching responsibilities include advanced mathematics courses such as Math 156 (Calculus for Business/Economics) and Math 300 (Boundary Value Problems). His scholarly output includes over 50 peer-reviewed articles, conference contributions, and edited volumes. Current projects explore ODE characterizations of transport problems, distributional robustness, and partial identification in econometric models.