Kevin Yang

E-mail: kevinyang AT math DOT harvard DOT edu (this email will go offline by August 2026; my new email will be yangkev AT berkeley DOT edu)
Department of Mathematics, Harvard.

About:

• I am a Benjamin Peirce fellow at Harvard University. I was an NSF postdoc at U.C. Berkeley and Harvard University.
• Starting July 2026, I will be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Statistics at U.C. Berkeley.
• My research is at the intersection of probability and analysis (e.g. KPZ, stochastic analysis, random matrices, and large-N problems more generally).
• I am also a (trail) runner. See the end of this webpage for more details.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mathematics, Stanford University (2017-2022). Advisor: Amir Dembo.
• A.B. in Mathematics, Harvard University (2013-2017).

Upcoming events:

• Algebraic and combinatorial structures in exactly solvable models, AIM, Jun. 2026.

Research:

• K. Yang, KPZ equation from open ASEP with general boundary asymmetry.
• K. Yang, KPZ equation from a class of nonlinear SPDEs in infinite volume.
• S. Dubova, K. Yang, H.-T. Yau, J. Yin, Delocalization of two-dimensional random band matrices (Quanta article).
• S. Dubova, K. Yang, Quantum diffusion and delocalization in one-dimensional band matrices via the flow method, Accepted, Journal of Mathematical Physics (Editor's Pick).
• K. Yang, KPZ equation from ASEP plus general speed-change drift.
• S. Dubova, K. Yang, H.-T. Yau, J. Yin, Gaussian statistics for left and right eigenvectors of complex non-Hermitian matrices, Accepted, Electronic Journal of Probability.
• S. Dubova, K. Yang, Bulk universality for complex eigenvalues of real non-symmetric random matrices with i.i.d. entries, Accepted, Annales Henri Poincare.
• A. Dembo, K. Yang, KPZ-type equation from growth driven by a non-Markovian diffusion, Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, 249, 2025.
• A. Dembo, K. Yang, A flow-type scaling limit for random growth with memory. Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics, 78, 1147-1198, 2025.
• K. Yang, Time-inhomogeneous KPZ equation from non-equilibrium Ginzburg-Landau SDEs. Electronic Journal of Probability, 30, 1-155, 2025.
• K. Yang, Fluctuations for some non-stationary interacting particle systems via Boltzmann-Gibbs Principle. Forum of Mathematics, Sigma, 11, E32, 2023.
• K. Yang, Non-Stationary Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation from ASEP with a slow bond. Annales de l'Institut Henri Poincare, Prob. et. Stat., 60, 1246-1294, 2024.
• K. Yang, Hairer-Quastel universality in non-stationarity via energy solution theory. Electronic Journal of Probability, 28, 1-26, 2023.
• K. Yang, KPZ Equation from non-simple variations on open ASEP. Probability Theory and Related Fields, 183, 415-545, 2022.
• K. Yang, Kardar-Parisi-Zhang Equation from Long-Range Exclusion Processes. Communications in Mathematical Physics, 400, 1535-1663, 2023.
• K. Yang, Stochastic Burgers Equation via Energy Solutions from Non-Stationary Particle Systems.
• Undergraduate thesis on local statistics for random covariance matrices and bipartite graphs: see here, here, and here.

Invited talks:

• AMS Sectional Meeting, Boston College, Mar. 2026.
• Localization, Delocalization, and Diffusion in Disordered Systems, BIRS, Mar. 2026.
• Center for Nonlinear Analysis (CNA) Seminar, Carnegie Mellon University, Oct. 2025.
• Invited session, Conference on Stochastic Processes and their Applications, Wroclaw, Poland, Jul. 2025.
• Probability Seminar, Princeton University, Apr. 2025.
• Probability Seminar, Columbia University, Apr. 2025.
• Probability Seminar, CRM-ISM Montreal, Mar. 2025.
• Probability Seminar, Brown University, Oct. 2024.
• Probability Seminar, Penn/Temple, Oct. 2024.
• Probability Seminar, Duke University, Apr. 2024.
• Probability and Statistical Physics Seminar, University of Chicago, Apr. 2024.
• Probability Seminar, Stanford University, Mar. 2024.
• Probability Seminar, Courant/NYU, Feb. 2024.
• Probability Seminar, MIT, Feb. 2024.
• Lefschetz Center for Dynamical Systems Seminar, Brown University, Oct. 2023.
• Probability Seminar, U.C. Davis, Oct. 2023.
• Summer School on Stochastic Analysis, EPFL, Aug. 2023.
• Workshop: Laplacian Growth Models, Theory and Applications, Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, Jun. 2023.
• Probability Seminar, UCSD, May 2023.
• Seminario de Probabilidade e Mecanica Estatistica, May 2023.
• Probability Seminar, Cornell University, Mar. 2023.
• Joint Applied Math/Probability Seminar, Stanford University, Feb. 2023.
• Workshop: Stochastic PDEs and Related Topics, Brin Mathematics Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Nov. 2022.
• Probability Seminar, University of Warwick, Nov. 2022.
• Stochastics Seminar, University of Utah, Sept. 2022.
• Probability Seminar, U.C. Berkeley, Sept. 2022.
• [Online] Bristol–Warwick–QMUL Informal Online Probability Seminar, May 2022.
• [Online] Probability and the City, New York, Dec. 2021.
• [Online] Probability Seminar, U.C. Berkeley, Nov. 2021.
• Program Associates Short Talks, MSRI, Oct. 2021.
• Mathematical Physics and Probability Seminar, UC Davis, Sept. 2021.
• Introductory Talk on Scaling Limits for Interacting Particle Systems, MSRI, Sept. 2021.
• [Online] Junior Integrable Probability Seminar, May 2021.
• [Online] Student Probability/PDE Seminar, U.C. Berkeley, April 2021.
• [Online] Probability Seminar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Feb. 2021.
• [Online] Probability Seminar, Stanford University, Nov. 2020.
• [Online] Stochastic PDE Seminar, Columbia University, Oct. 2020.
• [Online] Bernoulli-IMS One World Symposium Aug. 2020.
• Mathematical Physics and Probability Seminar, UC Davis, Dec. 2018.
• Probability Seminar, Columbia University, Oct. 2018.

Previous events:

• Localization, Delocalization, and Diffusion in Disordered Systems, BIRS, Mar. 2026.
• Conference on Stochastic Processes and their Applications, Wroclaw, Poland, Jul. 2025.
• Advances in Probability Theory and Interacting Particle Systems: a conference in honor of S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan, Harvard University, Aug. 2024.
• Summer School on Stochastic Analysis, EPFL, Aug. 2023.
• Workshop: Laplacian Growth Models, Theory and Applications, Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, Jun. 2023.
• Workshop: Stochastic PDEs and Related Topics, Brin Mathematics Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Nov. 2022.
• I was a Program Associate at MSRI in Fall 2021 for "Universality and Integrability in Random Matrix Theory and Interacting Particle Systems".
• Advances in Asymptotic Probability, In honor of Amir Dembo's 60th birthday.

Awards and honors:

• National Science Foundation MSPRF
• Fellowship, Northern California Chapter of the ARCS Foundation, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.
• Herb Alexander Award, Harvard University Department of Mathematics.
• Certificate for Distinction and Excellence in Teaching, Derek C. Bok Center at Harvard University, Fall 2014 to Spring 2017.

Teaching:

Other:

• I used to organize the Harvard Probability Seminar.
• I was the organizer for the Student Probability Seminar at Stanford University from Fall 2019 to Spring 2021.
• In Winter 2018 and Spring 2020, I participated as a mentor in the Stanford Mathematics Directed Reading Program.

Non-math:

• I am an amateur (trail) runner, and my coach is Serena Blacklow. Below are some of the races I've done.
• Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon, San Francisco.
• Marin Ultra Challenge (50M).
• Rodeo Valley Trail Run (3rd place age group, 30K).
• Mammoth Trail Fest (26K).
• Lake Sonoma 50 (50M).
• UTMB Canyons Endurance Runs (25K).
• TARC Fall Classic (1st place overall, 50M).
• TARC Stone Cat (50M).
• Marin Ultra Challenge (again, 50K).
• Loon Mountain Race.
• TARC Fall Classic (again, 1st place age group, 50K).
• HOKA Bandera 100K.
• Everesting Challenge (Bike).
• Broken Arrow 23K.
• Mt. Ascutney Vertical Backyard (Everest Basecamp Challenge).