Contact Information
376 Altgeld Hall, MC-382
1409 W. Green Street
Urbana, IL 61801
Biography
I am a professor in the Department of Mathematics, and served as Director of Graduate Studies in Mathematics (2012-2017), Associate Chair for Faculty (2021-2026), and Director of the Internship Network in the Mathematical Sciences (INMAS) (2020-2025).
Research Interests
Differential equations, mathematical physics, and complex analysis, with specialization in extremal problems.
Education
Ph.D. Mathematics, Washington University in St. Louis, 1993
Grants
NSF award #2246537 "Spectral Shape Optimization: Extremality and Curvature", 2023-2026
NSF award #2015431 "INMAS - Internship Network in the Mathematical Sciences", 2020-2025
NSF award #1345032 "PI4: Program for Interdisciplinary and Industrial Internships at Illinois" (co-PI), 2014-2019
Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant #964018, 2022-2027
Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant #429422, 2016-2022
Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant #204296, 2011-2016
Sloan Foundation award "Making way for a New Generation in STEM: A Proposal for The Illinois Sloan University Center of Exemplary Mentoring" (co-PI), 2015-2018
NSF award #0751046 "Special Meeting: Illinois/Missouri Applied Harmonic Analysis Seminars"
NSF award #0140481 "Wavelet Frames and Bases, and Fourth Order Thin Film Eigenproblems"
Awards and Honors
Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching, University of Illinois, 2017
Distinguished Teaching Award for Tenured Faculty, Mathematics Department, University of Illinois, 2016
Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois, 2003
Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois, 2003
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Mathematics
Associate Chair for Faculty, Mathematics
External Links
Highlighted Publications
Laugesen, R. S., Levy, R., & Santosa, F. (2018). BIG Jobs Guide: Business, Industry, and Government Careers for Mathematical Scientists, Statisticians, and Operations Researchers. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Publications.
Recent Publications
Clark, C., & Laugesen, R. S. (2025). Riesz capacity: monotonicity, continuity, diameter and volume. Analysis and Mathematical Physics, 15(1), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13324-024-01000-2
Fan, Q., & Laugesen, R. S. (2025). Hausdorff measure and decay rate of Riesz capacity. Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, 550(2), Article 129625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmaa.2025.129625
Langford, J. J., & Laugesen, R. S. (2025). Maximizing the Second Robin Eigenvalue of Simply Connected Curved Membranes. Computational Methods and Function Theory, 25(1), 83-117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40315-023-00516-1
Clark, C., & Laugesen, R. S. (2024). Balls Minimize Moments of Logarithmic and Newtonian Equilibrium Measures. Potential Analysis. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11118-024-10175-z
Langford, J. J., & Laugesen, R. S. (2023). Maximizers beyond the hemisphere for the second Neumann eigenvalue. Mathematische Annalen, 386(3-4), 2255-2281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00208-022-02455-z