“Networks are fascinating. They are all around us – from social networks to power grids. Yet we know so little about them and even less we can prove. But we are getting there!”

Nelly Litvak is a professor in Algorithms for Complex Networks; she has a background in Applied Probability and Stochastic Operations Research. She works on random graphs and complex networks.

Complex networks are large collections of objects (people, cities, webpages, scientific articles) and connections between them (friendship, transport, web links, scientific citations). Algorithms extract interpretable quantitative insights into network data such as ranking nodes by their centrality, finding tightly knit communities, detecting anomalies and predicting the spread of information or infections. These algorithms are at the heart of search engines, epidemic modeling, network security and AI.

Random graphs are mathematical constructs that mimic typical properties of real-life networks. The analysis of algorithms on stylized random graph models helps us explain algorithms' outcomes, understand their strengths and flaws, and create better and faster algorithms. Even in the time of superfast computers, mathematical understanding is ever more important: we save a lot of computing power by making algorithms faster, and even more so if we can replace a massive algorithm by an analytical formula.

Litvak's research is geared towards these goals. Her current research lines include centrality, community detection, anomaly detection, reinforcement learning and pandemic preparedness.

Nelly Litvak received her PhD from TU/e / EURANDOM in 2002 and joined the University of Twente, where she became associate professor in 2012 and full professor in 2022. She was a visitor at INRIA, University of South Australia and Columbia University, and was a research professor at the Simons Laufer Institute at UC Berkeley in spring semester 2025. She joined TU/e as a part-time professor in 2017 and has been full-time there since 2023. She was managing editor of Internet Mathematics and is associate editor of Stochastic Processes and Their Applications.

Nelly is passionate about teaching and innovative education. She received the Teacher of the Year award from the University of Twente in 2022, developed many courses and innovative teaching methods, and published extensively on the topic of mathematics education at university, including the series Better than Blackboard (Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde, 2023–2026), which examines what actually works in university mathematics teaching, from lecture attendance and proof anxiety to grading methods and AI's growing role in the classroom.

Nelly is the author of several best-selling non-fiction books about mathematics and has given many public lectures on mathematics and education.

• 4TU Applied Mathemarics Institute
• INFORMS

Partners in (semi-)industry

• RIVM
• LUMC
• Tetractys