Ashwin Iyengar

Hi! My name is Ashwin and I am the 2024-2025 American Mathematical Society Congressional Fellow. From September 2024 to August 2025 I will be doing policy work in the U.S. Senate.

Previously, I was a J.J. Sylvester Assistant Professor (3 year postdoc) in the Johns Hopkins University mathematics department. Before that I was a Ph.D student at King’s College London and the London School of Geometry and Number Theory supervised by James Newton and Toby Gee, a master’s student at Paris Nord, and an undergraduate at UC Berkeley.

I am also a volunteer scientist at the Baltimore Underground Science Space (BUGSS), where I conduct research for the Open Insulin Foundation. I spend my time in the lab trying to make insulin, and thinking about federal regulations around pharmaceutical drug pricing. Insulin is an essential prescription medication for diabetics globally, but is often unaffordable in the United States. The Open Insulin Foundation aims to make open-source recipes for insulin, with the ultimate goal of making it accessible and affordable for everyone who needs it.

I strongly believe in Federico Ardila’s axioms:

• Axiom 1: Mathematical potential is equally present in different groups, irrespective of geographic, demographic, and economic boundaries.
• Axiom 2: Everyone can have joyful, meaningful, and empowering mathematical experiences.
• Axiom 3: Mathematics is a powerful, malleable tool that can be shaped and used differently by various communities to serve their needs.
• Axiom 4: Every student deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.