Kathlén Kohn, a WASP Fellow and associate professor at KTH, has been awarded the Wallenberg Prize in Mathematics by the Swedish Mathematical Society (Svenska Matematikersamfundet). This prize, widely recognized as Sweden’s most prestigious award for young mathematicians, honors her significant and versatile work in applied algebraic geometry, particularly her important contributions to the field of algebraic statistics.
“I was shocked to learn that I am one of this year’s two recipients,” says Kathlén. “There are so many great mathematicians in this country! I am deeply honored to find myself on the list of prize winners—excellent mathematicians, several of whom I look up to.”
Developing Algebraic Neural Network Theory
Kathlén’s research is making substantial strides in developing an Algebraic Neural Network Theory. Initiated in 2019 with Matthew Trager from Amazon Web Services AI Lab, NYC, this work is now coming to fruition and is becoming an established approach to deep learning theory.
“Together with my amazing postdocs, PhD students, and co-authors, we have recently achieved many exciting results explaining deep learning phenomena—several of which can only be rigorously proven using tools from Algebraic Geometry,” says Kathlén. She hopes to leverage these insights for the mathematically grounded design of neural networks.
Kathlén is one of the PIs in the WASP NEST project Neural3D.
Published: May 26th, 2025
