The Mathematics Prize of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics was established in 2014 and is awarded every 2 or 3 years, with the selection process initiated by the Institute’s Scientific Council. The prize consists of a statuette, a certificate, and a monetary award, funded through donations. The recipient of the Prize is determined by an international IMI Prize Committee, consisting of 5 to 7 members who are prominent specialists in mathematics.

The 2026 IMI Mathematics Prize was announced on July 6, 2026, during the opening of the International Conference “Mathematics Days in Sofia 2026”. The award was presented by Prof. Julian Revalski, Chairman of the 2026 Prize Committee.

Evgeni Dimitrov, University of Southern California, USA, receives the IMI Prize for outstanding achievements in mathematics for his groundbreaking work in probability theory. His research helps explain complex random phenomena arising in mathematical models of growing interfaces and random matrices. He is also one of the world leaders in the rapidly developing theory of Gibbsian line ensembles.

Dr. Dimitrov has been working in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Southern California (USC) since 2022. From 2018 to 2022, he worked as an assistant professor at Columbia University. His research interests lie in the fields of probability theory, integrable probability, and mathematical physics. He earned his PhD in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under the supervision of Alexei Borodin (2018). He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in 2013.

He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including:

  • Simons Award, Simons Foundation International (2025–2030).
  • National Science Foundation Award(2021–2024).
  • Minerva Foundation Fellowship, Columbia University (2018–2021).
  • Bronze medal at the 49th International Mathematical Olympiad (2008) and a silver medal at the 25th Balkan Mathematical Olympiad (2008).

Dr. Dimitrov has extensive research experience with numerous articles accepted for publication in journals such as Probability Theory and Related Fields, Communications in Mathematical Physics, and Annals of Probability. He supervises PhD students and postdocs at USC and mentors many undergraduate students. He has held various teaching positions at USC, Columbia University, and MIT, teaching courses ranging from mathematical analysis to advanced topics in probability theory and mathematical analysis.

The members of the IMI Prize Committee for 2026 were Julian Revalski, Director of the International Center for Mathematical Sciences–Sofia at the  Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria – Chairman of the Prize Committee; Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, France; Jaqueline Mesquita, University of Campinas, Brazil; Nikolai Nikolov, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Sofia, Bulgaria; and Yuri Tschinkel, Courant Institute, USA, Foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Evgeni Dimitrov is the fifth laureate of the IMI Mathematics Prize. Previous recipients of the Prize are Martin Kassabov, Cornell University in Ithaca, USA (2014), Kiril Datchev, Purdue University, USA (2017), Greta Panova, University of Southern California, USA (2020), and Vesselin Dimitrov, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA (2023).

The presentation of the award and Dr Dimitrov’s public lecture will be announced at a later date.