Ismar Volić

Ismar Volić is a Professor of Mathematics and the Director of the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy at Wellesley College. He received a B.A. from Boston University and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Brown University. His research is in topology and social choice theory. He is the author of many articles and books and has delivered more than three hundred lectures in over twenty countries. He was a visiting professor at Harvard University, MIT, and the University of Virginia. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Simons Foundation, and the Fulbright Fellowship among others.

Volić likes to teach across the math curriculum, advise student research, and advocate for mathematics as a relevant and vibrant discipline. He has in recent years dedicated himself to research, education, and outreach on topics that lie in the intersection of mathematics and democracy. It is in this spirit that he co-founded the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy in 2019. His latest book, Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation, won the Mathematical Association of America’s Euler Prize and was a finalist for the PROSE award given by the Association of American Publishers. The book is based on The Mathematics of Democracy, a popular course he created and has taught for several years at Wellesley.

Volić was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and came to the U.S. in 1991 to attend his senior year of high school. Soon after his arrival, a war broke out in his country and he has lived in the U.S. ever since. He now travels to Bosnia-Herzegovina frequently through his involvement in various education and research activities, including advising Ph.D. students and working with various agencies to bring quality STEM education to the country.

Education

• B.A., Boston University
• M.A., Brown University
• Ph.D., Brown University