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Jonathan Christopher Mattingly

Kimberly J. Jenkins Distinguished University Professor of New Technologies
Mathematics
105 Math/Physics Building, Box 90320, Durham, NC 27708
120 Science Drive, I, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Jonathan Christopher  Mattingly grew up in Charlotte, NC, where he attended Irwin Avenue Elementary and Charlotte Country Day.  He graduated from the NC School of Science and Mathematics and received a BS is Applied Mathematics with a concentration in physics from Yale University. After two years abroad with a year spent at ENS Lyon studying nonlinear and statistical physics on a Rotary Fellowship, he returned to the US to attend Princeton University, where he obtained a PhD in Applied and Computational Mathematics in 1998. After 4 years as a Szego assistant professor at Stanford University and a year as a member of the IAS in Princeton, he moved to Duke in 2003. He is currently a professor of mathematics and statistical science.

His expertise is in the longtime behavior of stochastic system including randomly forced fluid dynamics, turbulence, stochastic algorithms used in molecular dynamics and Bayesian sampling, and stochasticity in biochemical networks.

Since 2013 he has also been working to understand and quantify gerrymandering and its interaction of a region's geopolitical landscape. This has lead him to testify in a number of court cases including in North Carolina, which led to the NC congressional and both NC legislative maps being deemed unconstitutional and replaced for the 2020 elections. 

He is the recipient of a Sloan Fellowship and a PECASE CAREER award.  He is also a fellow of the IMS, the AMS, SIAM and AAAS. He was awarded the Defender of Freedom award by  Common Cause for his work on Quantifying Gerrymandering.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Kimberly J. Jenkins Distinguished University Professor of New Technologies · 2022 - Present Mathematics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Mathematics · 2012 - Present Mathematics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Statistical Science · 2016 - Present Statistical Science, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published April 24, 2025
Two Duke Faculty Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Published March 25, 2025
Gerrymandering: Duke professor explains how it impacts ‘one person, one vote’
Published October 23, 2024
Jonathan Mattingly on the Beauty of Math

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Recent Publications


PHASE SPACE CONTRACTION OF DEGENERATELY DAMPED RANDOM SPLITTINGS

Journal Article Probability and Mathematical Physics · January 1, 2025 When studying out-of-equilibrium systems, one often excites the dynamics in some degrees of freedom while removing the excitation in others through damping. In order for the system to converge to a statistical steady state, the dynamics must transfer the e ... Full text Cite

Convergence of stratified MCMC sampling of non-reversible dynamics

Journal Article Stochastics and Partial Differential Equations: Analysis and Computations · December 1, 2024 We present a form of stratified MCMC algorithm built with non-reversible stochastic dynamics in mind. It can also be viewed as a generalization of the exact milestoning method or form of NEUS. We prove the convergence of the method under certain assumption ... Full text Open Access Cite
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Recent Grants


RTG: Training Tomorrow's Workforce in Analysis and Applications

Inst. Training Prgm or CMECo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2021 - 2026

Stochastic Dynamics and SPDEs

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Simons Foundation · 2024 - 2025

Quantifying Gerrymandering in the North Carolina Legislature

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Imagine North Carolina First · 2022 - 2025

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Education, Training & Certifications


Princeton University · 1998 Ph.D.
Yale University · 1992 B.S.