Three Faculty Members Receive NYU Shanghai Tenure

Three faculty members from Interactive Media Arts (IMA) and Mathematicshave received NYU Shanghai tenure this new semester. They are Associate Professor of Mathematics Vahagn Nersesyan, Associate Professor of Contemporary Global Media Anna Greenspan, and Professor of Mathematics, Alejandro Ramírez.

“The tenuring of these three members of NYU Shanghai's faculty is the outcome of a painstaking process of scholarly review by colleagues both inside and beyond the university,”  said Provost Joanna Waley-Cohen. “It at once reaffirms and expands the intellectual breadth and depth that are hallmarks of our academic endeavor, and we are delighted that their achievements have been recognized in this way.”

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Professor Vahagn Nersesyan joined NYU Shanghai in September 2021 as a visiting faculty member and became an associate professor in January 2023. Prior to NYU Shanghai, he was also an Assistant Professor at Université Paris-Saclay, Versailles. His main research interests are in the intersection of Probability Theory and Partial Differential Equations. 

Already establishing himself within the intellectual community of Shanghai, Nersesyan recently received the Distinguished Young Scholar award from Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.

“At NYU Shanghai, I am looking forward to integrating within the university in teaching, research, and service. I hope to teach some advanced courses related to my research topics such as analysis and probability. I will try to involve some students from NYU Shanghai in my research activities and supervise PhD students and postdocs,” he said. “I am looking forward to creating new collaborations with colleagues in China and also fostering new ties between the Institute of Mathematical Sciences of NYU Shanghai and Courant Institute in New York.” 
 

Associate Professor of Contemporary Global Media Anna Greenspan came to Shanghai in 2009 as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Shanghai study away site (the predecessor of NYU Shanghai). 

With a broad research interest spanning from continental philosophy, to urban Asia, cyberculture, emerging media, artificial intelligence, and city food, Greenspan has immersed herself and her students in the city’s cultural and intellectual life. “I strongly believe that part of our role as professors  - especially in an institution like NYU Shanghai - is to contribute to the intellectual life in the city,” Greenspan said.

Some of her projects include holding a screening and panel discussion on Sino-Futurism, workshops on Shanghai street food, the Hacked Matter Symposium, and a series of talks at the Rockbund Art Museum as part of the Shanghai Studies Society.

In 2021, Greenspan collaborated with colleagues to launch the NYU Shanghai Center for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Culture and served as its inaugural co-director. The Center will soon publish its first book, titled “Machine Decision Is Not Final.” Coming up, Greenspan is excited to collaborate with Visiting Associate Professor of Buddhist Cultures Francesca Tarocco on a project called “Dean's Service Scholar: the Cultivated City.” In September, she will teach “Global Perspectives on Society” with Assistant Professor of Global China Studies Zhao Lu. 

Alejandro Ramírez is currently the Area Head of Mathematics and a Professor of Mathematics at NYU Shanghai. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai, Ramírez was a Professor at the Universidad Católica de Chile. He has also taught at École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in France. He arrived at NYU Shanghai in 2017 as a visiting professor, and has since enjoyed being a part of the intellectual community at NYU Shanghai as well as collaborating with other mathematicians in the city, including the NYU-ECNU Institute of Mathematical Sciences. 

Ramírez’s research is centered in topics within probability theory. In particular, random walks, interacting particle systems and KPZ universality. “I am interested in understanding mathematical models in probability theory including random walks in random environment, random polymers, stochastic partial differential equations and interacting particle systems, which can be interpreted as representations of phenomena involving the movement of particles in highly disordered landscapes,” he said. “As a visiting professor, I enjoyed the charm, positivity and energy of people in China and the modernity of the country. I am looking forward to continuing to live and work here as a professor.”