Rita Jiménez Rolland is a French-born Mexican mathematician whose research lies at the intersection of algebraic topology, representation theory, low-dimensional topology, and geometric group theory. She began her academic career as a student in the Applied Mathematics bachelor’s program at the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes in her local hometown in north-central Mexico. Thanks to a CONACyT scholarship from the Mexican government, she spent two years in Mexico City during her master's studies at CINVESTAV-IPN in Mexico City, where she first learned about algebraic topology and was encouraged to pursue an academic career in pure mathematics in the United States. Funded by the University of Chicago she completed a PhD in Mathematics under the supervision of Professor Benson Farb.

She was postdoctoral researcher at Northeastern University in Boston before she returned to Mexico and joined the Centro de Ciencias Matemáticas of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) at Morelia in 2015. Since 2016, she has been a researcher at the Oaxaca Branch of UNAM’s Institute of Mathematics in southern Mexico.

A significant part of Rita’s research focuses on studying properties of the mapping class group, a mathematical object that captures the symmetries of a topological surface. Much of her recent work comes from collaborations, particularly with early-career researchers in Mexico and Latin America. In recognition of her work and collaborative efforts, she was awarded the 2025 IMSA Young Mathematician Prize which acknowledges outstanding research contributions by young mathematicians working in Latin America.

An important part of Rita’s academic activities consists of teaching and mentoring students and early-career researchers at various stages of their journeys. For instance, she regularly teaches courses in both the bachelor’s program in mathematics at the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca and UNAM’s graduate program. Beyond the classroom, she guides students during short academic stays, has advised and served as a committee member for several undergraduate and graduate theses, and has supervised four postdoctoral researchers.

Rita has served on the organizing and scientific committees of several local, national, and international mathematical events, aiming to foster closer connections within the mathematical community. She has also co-organized schools and workshops for undergraduate and graduate students to broaden their academic horizons, and introduce them to cutting-edge topics in mathematics.

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