Po-Shen Loh

Po-Shen Loh (born June 18, 1982) is an American professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University[2] and the national coach of the United States' International Math Olympiad team.[3][4] Under his coaching, the team won the competition in 2015,[5] 2016, 2018,[6] and 2019[7]—their first victories since 1994.[8][9] He had previously won a silver medal for the US as a participant in 1999.[10] Loh runs a popular course to train students for the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition known as Putnam Seminar[11] and is the founder of the educational website Expii.[8][12][13] He also teaches courses on discrete mathematics and extremal combinatorics at Carnegie Mellon.[14] He graduated with honors from the California Institute of Technology with a B.S. in mathematics in 2004. He graduated with a 4.3 GPA and was ranked first in his graduating class at Caltech. After graduating from Caltech, Loh went on to study at Cambridge University on a Churchill Scholarship and received a MASt in mathematics with distinction in the year 2005.[15] He then pursued graduate studies with the support of a Hertz Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship at Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in mathematics in 2010 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "Results in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics", under the supervision of Benny Sudakov.[16]

Po-Shen Loh
罗博深
Born (1982-06-18) June 18, 1982
Wisconsin, United States
Alma materCalifornia Institute of Technology (BS)
Cambridge University (MASt)
Princeton University (PhD)
Children3[1]
Scientific career
InstitutionsCarnegie Mellon University
Doctoral advisorBenny Sudakov

In 2019, Loh developed an alternative to the usual derivation, algorithm and exposition of the solution of quadratic equations, which he believes is "practical for integration into all mainstream curricula".[17]

Development of NOVID

Loh is the lead developer of a pandemic-response app named NOVID[18] which utilizes a new way to mitigate the spread of contagious disease. Unlike contact-tracing apps, the user is notified before exposure rather than after. The user is told how many relationships away the disease is, where a relationship is defined by two people who spend time together in person.[19]

NOVID utilizes Bluetooth and ultrasound technology to track COVID-19 infections.[20] Specifically, NOVID tracks infections anonymously by utilizing information about cell phone locations. Furthermore, NOVID utilizes the "six degrees of separation" technique to trace contacts; in fact, NOVID uses 12 of such degrees. If anyone that uses the NOVID app has a positive COVID-19 test, the app will notify users that they are nearby a person who has a COVID-19 infection. [21]

As of June 2020, NOVID has shown a 99.8% accuracy rate in tracing COVID-19 cases.[20]

References
  1. Sostek, Anya (May 13, 2019). "It took 36 years, but a girl has won the Pennsylvania middle school math championship". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  2. "Po-Shen Loh". Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  3. "International Mathematical Olympiad". www.imo-official.org. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  4. Sostek, Anya (August 14, 2017). "More than 300,000 students entered a math contest. The top score came from a 16-year-old in Pittsburgh Public Schools". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  5. "They're No. 1: U.S. Wins Math Olympiad For First Time In 21 Years". All Things Considered. National Public Radio. July 18, 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  6. "59th International Mathematics Olympiad". www.imo-official.org. Retrieved July 2, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. "60th International Mathematics Olympiad". www.imo-official.org. Retrieved July 2, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. Strauss, Valerie (July 18, 2016). "U.S. students win prestigious International Math Olympiad — for second straight year". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  9. "Count One More Gold For The U.S. — In Math". FiveThirtyEight. August 25, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  10. "International Mathematical Olympiad". www.imo-official.org. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  11. "Carnegie Mellon University Putnam Seminar". www.math.cmu.edu. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  12. Antonick, Gary (July 18, 2016). "U.S. Team Wins First Place at International Math Olympiad". Wordplay Blog. The New York Times. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  13. Tyre, Peg (March 2016). "The Math Revolution". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  14. "Teaching / CMU Putnam". www.math.cmu.edu. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  15. "Churchill Scholarship". www.churchillscholarship.org. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  16. Loh, Po-Shen (2010). Results in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics.
  17. Dockrill, Peter. "Math Genius Has Devised a Wildly Simple New Way to Solve Quadratic Equations". Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  18. NOVID. "The first preventative tool to fight COVID-19". novid.org. Retrieved April 2, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. Lex Fridman (May 14, 2021). "Po-Shen Loh: Mathematics, Math Olympiad, Combinatorics & Contact Tracing | Lex Fridman Podcast #183" (Podcast). Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  20. "NOVID Is the Most Accurate App for Contact Tracing". Carnegie Mellon University. June 30, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  21. Engst, Adam (January 21, 2021). "NOVID Provides COVID-19 Early Warning System". TidBITS. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
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