faculty

With deep sorrow we report the news of the passing of Mariel Vazquez on July 5, 2026, at the age of 55. Mariel was an esteemed applied mathematician and an internationally recognized member of the scientific community. She was well known for applying knot theory and topology to DNA and influencing the development of the field of DNA topology. Mariel leaves behind a distinguished academic career and a trail of devoted students and collaborators.

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Преподали нам славный урок:
Не делить с подонками хлеба,
Перед властью не падать ниц,
И не верить ни в чистое небо,
Ни в улыбки сиятельных лиц....

With scoundrels, never break your bread, 
Before no power bow your head, 
And put no trust in shifting sand, 
Nor in the smiles of high and grand.

by poet Alexander Galich

I joined the UC Davis Department of Mathematics in July 2025 as an Assistant Professor. My research focuses on fluid dynamics and partial differential equations, combining both analysis and computational approaches. Previously, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California Berkeley. I received my Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2023.

Melissa Sherman-Bennett does research in algebraic combinatorics, focusing recently on cluster algebras, total positivity, and connections to particle physics. She received her Ph.D. in 2021 from UC Berkeley, under Lauren Williams. Before coming to Davis, she was a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA and NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Michigan and MIT.

Abi Gopal joined the Department of Mathematics in July 2024 as an assistant professor. Prior to this, he was a Gibbs assistant professor of mathematics at Yale University.

Abi's research is in the field of numerical analysis. He is particularly interested in numerical methods for integral equations, analysis-based algorithms, and numerical linear algebra. His work is primarily motivated by applications in wave propagation and quantum chemistry.

Melissa Zhang is a low-dimensional topologist who likes to use algebraic, combinatorial, and categorical methods to solve problems. Her favorite topological objects are knots and surfaces smoothly embedded in 3- and 4-dimensional spaces.

She received her Ph.D. from Boston College under the supervision of Eli Grigsby and David Treumann. She was previously a postdoc at the University of Georgia, SLMath/MSRI, and UC Davis (and is now a super-postdoc, as she never left).