Ken Ono

Ken Ono
Ken Ono in 2015 at the Toronto International Film Festival
Born	(1968-03-20) 20 March 1968 (age 49)
Nationality	United States
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Emory University University of Wisconsin–Madison
Alma mater	UCLA University of Chicago
Doctoral advisor	Basil Gordon
Notable students	Daniel Kane Karl Mahlburg Robert Schneider Gwynneth Coogan

Ken Ono (born 20 March 1968) is a Japanese-American mathematician who specializes in number theory, especially in integer partitions, modular forms, Umbral moonshine, and the fields of interest to Srinivasa Ramanujan. He was the Manasse Professor of Letters and Science and the Hilldale Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

He is currently the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Mathematics at Emory University.

Ono is the son of mathematician Takashi Ono, who emigrated from Japan to the United States after World War II. His older brother, immunologist and university president Santa J. Ono, was born while Takashi Ono was in Canada working at the University of British Columbia, but by the time Ken Ono was born the family had returned to the US for a position at the University of Pennsylvania. In the 1980s, Ono attended Towson High School, but he dropped out. He later enrolled at the University of Chicago without a high school diploma. There he raced bicycles, and he was a member of the Pepsi–Miyata Cycling Team.

He received his BA from the University of Chicago in 1989, where he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. He earned his PhD in 1993 at UCLA where his advisor was Basil Gordon. Initially he planned to study medicine, but later switched to mathematics. He attributes his interest in mathematics to his father.