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Photograph of Joshua Lansky

Joshua Lansky Professor Mathematics and Statistics

Contact
Joshua Lansky
(202) 885-3687 (Office)
(202) 885-3155 (Fax)
CAS | Math and Statistics
Don Myers Technology and Innovation Building 106A
Mon 10:30–11:30 am
Wed 2:00–3:00 pm
Thurs 8:00–9:00 pm (virtual)
Degrees
Ph.D. in Mathematics, Harvard University
A.M. in Mathematics, Harvard University
Sc.B. in Mathematics and Physics, Brown University

Languages Spoken
English, French, Hebrew
Favorite Spot on Campus
SIS Building 2nd Floor Balcony
Book Currently Reading
Lyonesse, by Jack Vance
Bio
Dr. Lansky attended Brown University as an undergraduate. He graduated magna cum laude with Honors in 1993 with an ScB degree in mathematics and physics. He did his graduate study in mathematics at Harvard University, receiving an AM in 1995 and a PhD in 1998. He had postdoctoral positions at the University of Rochester (from 1998 to 2000) and the University of Toronto (from 2000 to 2001). From 2001 to 2004, he was an assistant professor at Bucknell University. Dr. Lansky has been a member of the American University Department of Mathematics and Statistics since 2004. His research interests lie in the representation theory of p-adic groups and automorphic forms. His current research centers on distinguished representations and liftings for p-adic and finite groups.
See Also
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Spring 2025

  • MATH-403 Foundations of Mathematics

  • MATH-440 Topology

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • Awarded the Academic Achievement Award for Outstanding Performance or Innovation in Online Teaching, 2021
  • Awarded the Morton Bender Prize, American University, 2010.
  • Panelist at the American University Noontime Conversation, Reflections on Inspired Teaching, 2009.
  • Chosen to appear in the video Inspired Teaching, filmed for the 2009 Ann Ferren Teaching Conference, by the Center for Teaching Excellence at American University.
  • Selected to give the address at the annual banquet of the Bucknell University chapter of the Pi Mu EpsilonMathematical Society, 2004.
  • Nominated for Professor of the Year, University of Rochester, 2000.
  • Joseph Leonard Walsh Fund Award (Harvard University scholarship award), 1994–1998.

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Lansky's research interests lie in the representation theory ofp-adic groups and automorphic forms. Past work has involved algebraic modular forms on various groups and their corresponding Galois representations, Artin L-functions and the Dedekind Conjecture, representations of parahoric Hecke algebras, and newforms for certain groups. He is currently studying liftings of representations of certain finite and p-adic groups, orthogonally distinguished supercuspidal representations of GL(n) with applications to the Shimura correspondence, and quantum mechanical entanglement.

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

 

Grants and Sponsored Research

  • National Security Agency Mathematical Sciences Program Grant, Liftings and Symmetric Spaces over p-adic Fields, September 2013-August 2015
  • National Science Foundation Grant, Focused Research Group Program, Characters Liftings, and Types: Investigations in p-adic Representation Theory, September 2009-August 2013
  • Faculty Research Award from the American University College of Ars and Sciences for the project Harmonic Analysis on p-adic Groups, May 2008–April 2009   
  • Consultant on National Security Agency Mathematical Sciences Program Young Investigator Grant H98230-07-1-002

 

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS

  • Calculations of Hecke Algebra Actions on Spaces of Algebraic Automorphic Forms in the American Institute of Mathematics workshop Algorithms for Lattices and Algebraic Automorphic Forms, Palo Alto, California, May 2013.
  • Liftings of Representations of Finite Reductive Groups  in the conference Characters, Liftings, and Types II, Boulder Colorado, June 2011.
  • Orthogonally Distinguished Tame Supercuspidal Representations of GL(n) in the Ben Gurion University Algebraic Geometry and Number Theory Seminar, March 2010.
  • Tame Supercuspidal Representations of GL(n) in the American Mathematical Society Special Session on Harmonic Analysis and Representations of Reductive p-adic Groups, Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Francisco, California, January 2010.
  • Liftings of Representations of Finite Groups with Applications to p-adic Base Change in the Oklahoma State University/University of Oklahoma Joint Automorphic Forms Seminar, November 2008.   
  • Liftings of Representations of Finite Groups with Applications to p-adic Base Change in the American Mathematical Society Special Session on Automorphic Forms: Representation Theory of p-adic and Adelic Groups, Chicago, Illinois, October 2007.   
  • Newforms for SL(2) and U(1,1) in the City University of New York Number Theory Seminar, March 2007. 
  • Shintani Lifting and Types in the American Mathematical Society Special Session on Number Theory, Storrs, Connecticut, October 2006.
  • Base Change and K-Types for U(3) in the University of Maryland Lie Group and Representation Theory Seminar, December 2004.
  • Base Change and K-Types for U(3) in the American Mathematical Society Special Session on Representation Theory of Reductive Groups, Evanston, Illinois, October 2004.
  • Base Change for Unitary Groups at the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques Workshopon the Langlands Program and Its Applications, January 2003.
  • K-Types and Base Change for U(3) in the Cornell University Lie Groups Seminar,November 2002.
  • The Structure of the Spherical Hecke Ring and Double Coset Decompositionat the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques Workshop on Algebraic Modular Forms and Modular Forms modp, October 1998.

 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

  • Organizer for the conference Characters, Liftings, and Types funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation FRG Program, held at American University in summer 2012
  • Referee for International Mathematics Research Notices
  • Referee for Representation Theory
  • Referee for the Pacific Journal of Mathematics
  • Referee for the Journal of the Ramanujan Mathematical Society
  • Reviewer for Mathematical Reviews
  • Reviewer for Zentralblatt Math
  • Reviewer for W. H. Freeman & Company

 

MEDIA APPEARANCES

  • Chosen to appear in the video Inspired Teaching, filmed for the 2009 Ann Ferren Teaching Conference, by the Center for Teaching Excellence at American University.
  • Invited to contribute “A Proof That Zero Is Greater than 23, www.wizznutzz.com (a Washington, DC-based humor website that chronicles the Washington Wizards NBA basketball team), April 2006.