Shiwen Zhang

Assistant Professor

Department of Mathematics & Statistics
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Southwick Hall
11 University Ave.
Lowell, MA 01854

Office: Southwick Hall 350K
Email: shiwen_zhang@uml.edu

I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at UMass Lowell. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Associate at University of Minnesota and Michigan State University. I earned my Ph.D. in Mathematics at UC, Irvine in June 2016 under my dissertation advisor: Svetlana Jitomirskaya. Here is my curriculum vitae: CV

Research Interests:

My research is in mathematical physics and spectral theory, with further interests in dynamical systems, harmonic analysis, and partial differential equations. I focus on spectral problems for Schrödinger and Jacobi-type operators, as well as related questions in mathematical physics.

Undergrad Research:

I am also interested in working with undergraduate students on projects that are related to my research. If you are currently UML undergraduate students who wish to participate in research projects, feel free to contact with me.

Education & Employment:

2022-present: Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, UMass Lowell
2019-2022: Postdoctoral Associate, School of Mathematics & Simons Collaboration on Localization of Waves, University of Minnesota
2016-2019: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics at the Michigan State University.
2013-2016: Ph.D. Mathematics, University of California, Irvine — Irvine, CA
2009-2013: graduate student in Mathematics, Nanjing University, China. (Transfer to UC Irvine in Sept. 2013)
2005-2009: B.S. Mathematics, Nanjing University, China.

Preprints/Publications:

L. Shou, W. Wang, S. Zhang, Edge localization and Lifshitz tails for graphs with Ahlfors regular volume growth . arXiv:2604.01584.
L. Li, W. Wang, S. Zhang, Upper and Lower Bounds for the Quantum Dynamics of One-Dimensional Divergence-Type Random Jacobi Operators. arXiv:2601.08796, submitted.
L. Shou, W. Wang, S. Zhang, Spectrum and Lifshitz tails for the Anderson model on the Sierpinski gasket graph . arXiv:2412.13583, submitted.
L. Shou, W. Wang, S. Zhang, Landscape estimates of the integrated density of states for Jacobi operators on graphs . arXiv:2406.06794, submitted.
L. Shou, W. Wang, S. Zhang, Landscape approximation of the ground state eigenvalue for graphs and random hopping models . Journal of Functional Analysis 286.7 (2024): 110339.
D. N. Arnold, S. Mayboroda, W. Wang, and S. Zhang, Numerical analysis on the practical landscape law. In preparation.
I. Chenn, S. Mayboroda, W. Wang, S. Zhang, On an Effective Equation of the Reduced Hartree-Fock Theory . Advanced Nonlinear Studies 23.1 (2023): 20220070.
I. Chenn, S. Zhang, On the reduced Hartree-Fock equations with a Small Anderson-Type Background Charge Distribution . Journal of Functional Analysis (2022): 109702.
I. Chenn, W. Wang, and S. Zhang, Approximating the Ground State Eigenvalue via the Landscape Potential . Nonlinearity 35.6 (2022): 3004.
D. N. Arnold, M. Filoche, S. Mayboroda, W. Wang, S. Zhang, The landscape law for tight binding Hamiltonians . Communications in Mathematical Physics (2022): 1–53.
P. Desforges, S. Mayboroda, S. Zhang, G. David, D. N. Arnold, W. Wang, and M. Filoche, Sharp estimates for the integrated density of states in Anderson tight-binding models . Physical Review A 104.1 (2021): 012207.
S. Jitomirskaya, S. Zhang, Quantitative continuity of singular continuous spectral measures and arithmetic criteria for quasiperiodic Schrödinger operators . Journal of the European Mathematical Society (2021).
W. Wang, S. Zhang, The exponential decay of eigenfunctions for tight binding Hamiltonians via landscape and dual landscape functions . Annales Henri Poincaré 22 (2021): 1429–1457.
R. Han, F. Yang, S. Zhang, Spectral dimension for ß-almost periodic singular Jacobi operators and the extended Harper’s model . Journal d’Analyse Mathématique 142.2 (2020): 605–666.
J. Schenker, Z. Tilocco, and S. Zhang, Diffusion in the mean for a periodic Schrödinger equation perturbed by a fluctuating potential . Communications in Mathematical Physics 377 (2020): 1597–1635.
Lecture Notes. S. Jitomirskaya, W. Liu, and S. Zhang, Arithmetic spectral transitions: a competition between hyperbolicity and the arithmetics of small denominators . In Harmonic Analysis and Applications, Vol. 27, AMS, 2020.
R. Han, S. Zhang, Large deviation estimates and Hölder regularity of the Lyapunov exponents for quasi-periodic Schrödinger cocycles . International Mathematics Research Notices (2020).
S. Zhang, The exact power law for Buffon’s needle landing near some random Cantor sets . Revista Matemática Iberoamericana 36.2 (2019): 537–548.
F. Yang, S. Zhang, Singular continuous spectrum and generic full spectral/packing dimension for unbounded quasiperiodic Schrödinger operators . Annales Henri Poincaré 20 (2019): 2481.
S. Zhang, Mixed spectral types for one frequency discrete quasi-periodic Schrödinger operators . Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 144 (2016): 2603–2609.
J. You, S. Zhang, and Q. Zhou, Point spectrum of the quasi-periodic long range operators . Journal of Spectral Theory 4 (2014): 769–781.
J. You and S. Zhang, Hölder continuity of the Lyapunov exponent for analytic quasiperiodic Schrödinger cocycles with weak Liouville frequency . Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems 34 (2014): 1395–1408.
S. Zhang, Z. Zhao, Diffusion bound and reducibility for discrete Schrödinger equations with tangent potential . Frontiers of Mathematics in China 7 (2012): 1213–1235.

Grants, Funding, and Awards:

National Science Foundation Grant (LEAPS-MPS). DMS-2418611. 2024–2026
UMass Lowell Teaching Excellence Award, 2025
Kovalevsky Outstanding PhD Thesis Award, UC Irvine, 2016
Euler Award for Outstanding Promise as a Graduate Student, UC Irvine, 2014
Samsung Scholarship, Nanjing University, China 2007
National Encouragement Scholarship, Nanjing University, China 2006

Recent Seminars, Conferences and Workshops:

Conferences / Workshops Organized

(together with L. Alon and L. Shou), AMS Spring Eastern Sectional Meeting – Special Session on Spectral Theory and Geometry in Mathematical Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, March 28–29, 2026.
(together with L. Shou), AMS Spring Eastern Sectional Meeting – Special Session on Quantum Theory and Spectral Analysis, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, April 5–6, 2025.
(together with L. Shou), AMS Spring Eastern Sectional Meeting – Special Session on Spectral Theory and Quantum Systems, Howard University, Washington, DC, April 6–7, 2024.
(together with I. Kachkovskiy and M. Cha), AMS Sectional Meeting – Special Session on Ergodic and Topological Quantum Systems, Ann Arbor, MI, October 20–21, 2018.

Seminars

Math Physics and Harmonic Analysis Seminar, Texas A&M University, February 12, 2026.
Analysis and Probability Seminar, University of Connecticut, October 10, 2025.
Dynamical Systems Seminar, BICMR, Peking University, December 23, 2024.
Analysis Seminar, Department of Mathematics, Rice University, March 5, 2024.
Applied Mathematics Seminar, University of Massachusetts Amherst, May 16, 2023.
Math Physics and Operator Algebras Seminar, Michigan State University, April 18, 2023.
Applied Mathematics Seminar (virtual), Texas Tech University, April 5, 2023.
Colloquium, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, March 4, 2022.
Colloquium, Department of Mathematics, Wichita State University, January 31, 2022.
Colloquium, Department of Mathematics, University of Illinois at Chicago, January 13, 2022.
Seminar (virtual), Leipzig and Potsdam, January 12, 2022.
Colloquium, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Reading, UK, October 13, 2021.
Colloquium, Department of Mathematics, King’s College London, UK, August 4, 2021.
Math Physics Seminar (virtual), University of California, Irvine, April 15, 2021.
Math Physics and Operator Algebra Seminar (virtual), Michigan State University, March 8, 2021.
Math Physics Seminar, University of California, Irvine, November 15, 2019.
Probability Seminar, University of California, Los Angeles, November 14, 2019.
PDE Seminar, University of Minnesota, October 9, 2019.
Dynamical Systems Seminar, University of Science and Technology of China, June 14, 2019.
Analysis Seminar, Yale University, September 28, 2018.
Dynamical Systems Seminar, Tsinghua University, May 23, 2018.
Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory Seminar, University of California, Riverside, May 18, 2018.
Math Physics Seminar, University of California, Irvine, January 12, 2018.
Dynamical Systems Seminar, Nanjing University, July 20, 2017.
Analysis and PDE Seminar, Michigan State University, October 31, 2016.
Fractal Geometry Seminar, Morningside Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, May 22, 2015.
Geometry–Analysis Seminar, Rice University, April 23, 2014.

Conferences and Workshops

Simons Collaboration on Localization of Waves Annual Meeting, Simons Foundation, New York, NY, February 19–20, 2026.
Ninth Great Lakes Mathematical Physics (GLaMP) Meeting, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, June 6–8, 2025.
Abel Klein in Random Environments (80th Birthday Conference), University of California, Irvine, April 25–27, 2025.
Simons Collaboration on Localization of Waves Annual Meeting, Simons Foundation, New York, NY, February 20–21, 2025.
Randomness and Quasiperiodicity in Mathematical Physics (BIRS 24w5237), Banff International Research Station, Banff, Canada, January 14–19, 2024.
Spectral Theory and Applications, Texas A&M University, October 13–15, 2023.
Simons Collaboration on Localization of Waves Annual Meeting, New York, NY, February 17–18, 2022.
AMS Special Session (Zoom), San Francisco State University, May 1, 2021.
(Canceled) NSF-CBMS Regional Research Conference, Florida State University, August 17–21, 2020.
(Canceled) New Directions in Disordered Systems (on the occasion of the 75th birthday of Abel Klein), Institute of Advanced Studies of CY Cergy Paris Université, France, June 28 – July 3, 2020.
(Canceled) Almost-Periodic Spectral Problems, Banff International Research Station, Canada, April 12–17, 2020.
Simons Collaboration on Localization of Waves Annual Meeting, New York, NY, February 20–21, 2020.
Joint Mathematics Meetings, AMS Special Session on Localization and Delocalization for Disordered Quantum Systems, Baltimore Convention Center, January 18–19, 2019.
Spectral Theory of Quasi-Periodic and Random Operators, CRM, Montreal, November 12–16, 2018.
Recent Advances in Functional Analysis (dedicated to the memory of Joe Diestel and Victor Lomonosov), poster session, Kent State University, October 11–14, 2018.
Young Researchers Symposium at ICMP, McGill University, Montreal, July 21, 2018.
28th Annual PCMI Summer Session: Research Program in Harmonic Analysis, Park City, Utah, July 1–21, 2018.
AMS Sectional Meeting, Special Session on “Spectral Theory”, Portland, OR, April 14–15, 2018.
8th Ohio River Analysis Meeting, University of Kentucky, Lexington, March 24–25, 2018.
Joint Mathematics Meetings, Special Session on Spectral Theory, Disorder and Quantum Physics, San Diego, CA, January 10–13, 2018.
Recent Developments in Harmonic Analysis, MSRI, Berkeley, CA, May 15–19, 2017.
7th Ohio River Analysis Meeting, University of Cincinnati, March 25, 2017.
Introductory Workshop: Harmonic Analysis, MSRI, Berkeley, CA, January 23–27, 2017.
AMS Special Session at the Joint Mathematics Meeting, Seattle, WA, January 6–9, 2016.
AMS Fall Western Sectional Meeting, Fullerton, CA, October 24–25, 2015.
Workshop on Spectral Properties of Quasicrystals via Analysis, Dynamics, and Geometric Measure Theory, BIRS, Oaxaca, Mexico, September 27 – October 2, 2015.
Almost Periodic and Other Ergodic Problems, University of Cambridge, UK, March 20 – May 20, 2015.
33rd Annual Western States Mathematical Physics Meeting, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, February 16–17, 2015.
USA–Uzbekistan Conference on Analysis and Mathematical Physics, Special Session, CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, May 20–24, 2014.

Teaching / General Audience Talks

Colloquium, Department of Mathematics, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, January 26, 2022.
Mathematics Department Colloquium, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, September 20, 2018.
Department Seminar, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, November 5, 2015.
Colloquium, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, March 13, 2015.
Geometry and Topology Seminar, California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, February 20, 2015.

Student Mentoring and Teaching

Fall 2024 – Spring 2026: Ipsita Sinha (M.S. in Physics), jointly mentored with Hugo Ribeiro.
Fall 2025: Independent study — Introduction to Quantum Information, Sean Gately.
Fall 2025: Undergraduate senior project, Devon Rimal.
Spring 2024: Undergraduate senior projects, Patrick O’Keefe and Andrew Allman.

UMass Lowell

Fall 2026: Calculus II; Partial Differential Equations.
Spring 2026: Mathematical Methods for Quantum Error Correction.
Fall 2025: Calculus II; Partial Differential Equations.
Spring 2025: Calculus II.
Spring 2024: Honors Calculus II.
Fall 2023: Partial Differential Equations.
Spring 2023: Honors Calculus II; Calculus II.
Fall 2022: Calculus 1B.

Past Teaching:

University of Minnesota

Spring 2022: Math 5651 — Basic Theory of Probability and Statistics.
Fall 2021; Fall 2020; Fall 2019: Math 1271 — Calculus I.
Spring 2021: Math 4512 — Differential Equations with Applications.

Michigan State University

Fall 2018 – Spring 2019: Undergraduate Research Program (Discovering America Program) on Landscape Theory.
Summer 2018: Teaching Assistant, PCMI Graduate Summer School on Harmonic Analysis (lectures by S. Jitomirskaya).
Spring 2019: Math 309 — Linear Algebra.
Fall 2017; Fall 2016: Math 133 — Calculus II.
Spring 2017: Math 132 — Calculus I.

University of California, Irvine

Winter 2016: Teaching Assistant, Math 3D — Elementary Differential Equations.
Fall 2015: Instructor, Math 2B — Calculus II.
Summer 2015: Teaching Assistant, Math 176 / Econ 135 — Mathematics of Finance.
Fall 2014: Teaching Assistant, Math 2B — Calculus II.

My "research assistant" Viola

Making sure my code runs correctly.

My research assistant Viola