Pauliina Ilmonen

‘The thing I get most excited about is positive definite matrices. If mathematics is not a familiar field or you do not know exactly what these matrices are all about, you can imagine a game with a specific set of rules. Positive definite matrices are like the game's pawns, which can be used to play the game alone or with others, e.g. with my dear colleagues. And, like with all games, this will lead at its best to wins. Sometimes they are minor victories, but Matias Heikkilä and I recently achieved a major victory when we were able to use our own ‘game’ to get a new sentence approved into the multidimensional extreme value theory. This is a matter of great magnitude even internationally.’

Pauliina Ilmonen, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis