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Mason Porter

Mason Porter

Nordita Professor

Complex Systems

Statistical and Biological Physics

Office 6109

mason.porter@su.se

About

I am a professor at Nordita and Professor in Complex Systems in the Department of Mathematics at Stockholm University. I arrived at Nordita in September 2026 after previously being a Professor of Mathematics and Sociology at UCLA and Professor of Nonlinear and Complex Systems in the Mathematical Institute at University of Oxford. Before that, I held postdoctoral positions at Caltech (in physics), Georgia Tech (in math), and Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI). I earned my Ph.D. from the Center for Applied Mathematics at Cornell University in 2002, and I earned my B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics from Caltech in 1998.

I was born in Los Angeles in the United States, and I am a huge fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers! I am a fan of games of all sorts, science fiction and fantasy, snark comments, and other delightful things.

A recent CV (September 2026) is available at this website. You can download my research papers and books from this website (or from Google Scholar).

"Mathematical and Computational Methods for Complex Social Systems."

Heather Z. Brooks, Michelle Feng, Mason A. Porter, and Alexandria Volkening. Proceedings of Symposia in Applied Mathematics, Volume 80 (2025).

"Oscillatory and Excitable Dynamics in an Opinion Model with Group Opinions."

Corbit R. Sampson, Juan G. Restrepo, and Mason A. Porter. Physical Review E (2025).

"Bounded-Confidence Models of Opinion Dynamics with Adaptive Confidence Bounds."

Grace J. Li, Jiajie Luo, and Mason A. Porter. SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems (2025).

"Persistent Homology for Resource Coverage: A Case Study of Access to Polling Sites."

Abigail Hickok, Benjamin Jarman, Michael Johnson, Jiajie Luo, and Mason A. Porter. SIAM Review (2024).

"Complex Networks with Complex Weights."

Lucas Böttcher and Mason A. Porter. Physical Review E (2024).

Quantum opinion dynamics on networks

2025

Highly Cited Researcher (in the "Cross-Field category) | Clarivate Web of Science | United States

2025

Fellow of the Network Science Society | Network Science Society | United States

2025

George Pólya Prize for Mathematical Exposition | Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics | United States

2024

Robert Sorgenfrey Distinguished Teaching Award | Department of Mathematics, UCLA | United States

2019

Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics | Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics | United States

2018

Fellow of the American Mathematical Society | American Mathematical Society | United States

2016

Fellow of the American Physical Society | American Physical Society | United States

2016

Young Scientist Award for Socio- and Econophysics | German Physical Society | Germany

2014

Whitehead Prize | London Mathematical Society | United Kingdom

2014

Erdös–Rényi Prize | Network Science Society | United States