John Urschel

John Urschel is an accomplished mathematician and former NFL offensive lineman and currently serves as an assistant professor at the Department of Mathematics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Urschel attended Penn State University, where he excelled both academically and athletically, playing football and earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics. While at Penn State, he distinguished himself by being named First-team All-Big Ten in 2012 and 2013. His skill on the field and academic prowess led him to receive the Campbell Trophy, also known as the "Academic Heisman," and the Sullivan Award, presented to "the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States" in 2013.

Following his college career, Urschel was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, playing as a guard for three seasons until 2017. Simultaneously, he exhibited an impressive dedication to his mathematical pursuits. Urschel is an applied mathematician, with his research focused on numerical analysis, graph theory, and data science/machine learning. He is primarily interested in theoretical results and provable guarantees for practical algorithms/problems, which often lead to new and improved algorithms. His work has resulted in several published research papers in areas including graph theory, machine learning, and numerical analysis. He was recognized in 2017 when Forbes listed him in their "30 under 30" list of outstanding young scientists.

Urschel's contributions to the field of mathematics have extended beyond research and academia. He is an advanced stats columnist for The Players' Tribune and is serving a three-year term on the College Football Playoff selection committee. Beyond his professional and academic pursuits, Urschel is also a seasoned chess player, having competed in the 2015 Pittsburgh Open chess tournament and commentating for Chess.com's BlitzChamps event. He also co-authored a New York Times-bestselling memoir, "Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football," with writer Louisa Thomas, to whom he is married. In 2016, Urschel began his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he also received the Dean of Science Fellowship from 2016 to 2018. In the Fall of 2023, he joined the MIT faculty.