Kay Kirkpatrick is a full Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She holds affiliations with the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Physics within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Her roles include being a Blackwell Scholar and Helen Corley Petit Scholar. Kirkpatrick’s research focuses on quantum and statistical mechanics, nonlinear quantum equations, and applications to physics and biology, including dark matter dynamics, biophysical systems, and computational models of biological computation. She has contributed to understanding Bose-Einstein condensation, topological insulators in microtubules, and the channel capacity of ribosomes. Education: Ph.D. in Mathematics from UC-Berkeley (2007), B.S. in Mathematics from Montana State University. Additional training includes a Study in a Second Discipline Fellowship in Neuroscience (2020–2021). She has held postdoctoral positions at MIT and NYU, and visiting roles at CRM Montréal and MIT. Research interests span quantum statistical mechanics, nonlinear Schrödinger equations, Gibbs measures, and computational biology. Notable awards include the Simons Fellowship, NSF CAREER Award, and Tenney Peck Teaching Award. Kirkpatrick has mentored students and led projects in percolation theory and phase transitions through Illinois Geometry Lab initiatives. Her recent publications (2022–2024) address topics like Bose-Einstein condensation in dark matter, ribosome channel capacity, and fractional quantum models. She teaches advanced courses in machine learning and partial differential equations, emphasizing interdisciplinary applications and effective communication.













