Associate Professor of Mathematics & Statistics Byung-Jay Kahng, PhD, is a recipient of a grant from the J. William Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program sends American scholars and professionals abroad to lecture or conduct research for up to a year. It is one of several initiatives offered by the Fulbright Program, which is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Financial support is provided by an annual appropriation from the United States Congress to the Department of State and by participating governments and host institutions in the United States and abroad.
Kahng will use his Fulbright to conduct research at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, during the 2012-2013 academic year. His research involves quantum groups and non-commutative geometry. It is an area that combines operator algebras and quantum physics.
Kahng explains that the mathematics group at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven has long been among the prominent centers for research on locally compact quantum groups and related topics. The university is also close to other institutions with similar strengths in his research area, including institutions in the Netherlands, Poland and France.
Kahng earned his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. At Canisius, he guides student research as a principal investigator for the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.
The J. William Fulbright Scholarship is named for Senator J. William Fulbright and is the U.S. government’s premier scholarship program. It is designed to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges, which provide recipients with tuition, fees, travel and research funds for a full year.
