The Centre de recherches mathématiques, the Fields Institute, and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) have awarded the 2026 CRM-Fields-PIMs Prize to Professor Robert McCann. McCann is cross appointed to the Departments of Economics and Mathematics at the University of Toronto. The prize recognizes research achievements in the mathematical sciences.
In its comments, the award jury cited research that Professor McCann started to publish in the field of optimal transport, the art of developing tools to find the most efficient way to distribute real or theoretical mass from one place to another. The work has widespread, cross-disciplinary applications.
“Working at the interface of analysis, geometry, physics, and economics, Dr. McCann has continually broadened the reach of optimal transport,” read the jury’s press release. “His analytical framework has become central in economic models of matching and equilibrium, in which optimal transport maps provide the mathematical underpinning for understanding how agents are effectively assigned to contracts or goods. This interplay between pure mathematics and applied modelling exemplifies his versatility and the breadth of his scientific vision.”
The award comes with a monetary prize of $10,000 and the opportunity to deliver a lecture at each of the three awarding institutions over the next year.
“I am honoured and humbled to have my work on optimal transportation and its applications to economics and physics recognized by the CRM-Fields-PIMS prize of the three Canadian mathematics institutes,” said McCann. “I am also excited to begin my cross-appointment in the Department of Economics and look forward to future interactions with the department and its students at the University of Toronto, starting with this year’s ECO3200 class! I believe the whole optimal transport community can join me in taking pride in these acknowledgements of the impact and success of our efforts, and as an incentive to further achievements.”
The interdisciplinary nature of McCann’s work and his outlook are a welcome addition to the department.
“It is my pleasure to congratulate Robert on behalf of the department,” said Professor Ettore Damiano, Chair. “We are honoured to have such a distinguished scholar affiliated with the Department of Economics, and excited to see how his contributions will enhance research and the student experience in our unit.”
Return to the Department of Economics website.
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