A generational talent: Allen School professor and Abacus Medal winner Shayan Oveis Gharan. (Photo by Farnaz Ronaghi)
Shayan Oveis Gharan has made it his mission to tackle some of the most famous — and famously hard — problems underpinning computer science. A member of the Theory of Computation Group and Edward D. Lazowska Professor in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, Oveis Gharan has contributed to an impressive series of results that have moved the field forward, from offering the first improvement to the Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP) in more than four decades, to proving a 30-year old conjecture about counting the bases of matroids.
The International Mathematical Union recently honored Oveis Gharan with the 2026 IMU Abacus Medal for “landmark contributions to the theory of algorithms.” The IMU awards the Abacus Medal every four years to a researcher under the age of 40 who has made outstanding contributions in the mathematical aspects of the information sciences. Announced at the same time as the Fields Medal, both recognize generational talent and are among the most prestigious prizes in mathematics.
Although the awards are a closely guarded secret leading up to the public announcement, Oveis Gharan had a hunch even before the official notice came.
