In a quiet high school classroom in northern Italy, a teenage Federico Camia is devouring another issue of Scientific American. He does not yet know what it means to become a researcher, or to build a life in mathematics that spans continents. What he does know is that the numbers make sense. Patterns make sense. Curiosity makes sense.
“I cannot remember a time when I was not drawn to physics and math,” he says. “By the end of high school, the only real question was which one to pursue.”
He settled on physics, but only because it felt like the right compromise. “If I studied theoretical physics, I figured I would learn enough math anyway,” he recalls. Even then, he imagined a life in research, long before he understood the reality behind the dream. “At that age, you choose with instinct more than knowledge. And that can be a good thing.”
Today, Camia is a Professor of Mathematics at NYU Abu Dhabi and a Global Network Professor at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. His work explores statistical physics and probability theory, examining uncertainty and the underlying structures that govern both natural and human-made systems.
“Probability theory deals with randomness,” he explains. “Not just situations that are truly random, but those where we simply do not have complete information.” While a coin flip is the simplest example of this logic, the same principles apply to complex phenomena such as weather, materials, financial markets, and the movement of crowds.
His route to Abu Dhabi began in Bologna, where a professor encouraged him to look outward from an early age. A semester at École Polytechnique in Paris opened his eyes to a new world. After graduating, he chose NYU for his PhD, drawn both by New York City and the strength of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. “I wanted to be in a place where ideas and people collided, and New York offered that in abundance,” he says.
At Courant, he transitioned fully into probability theory under a mentor who, like him, bridged the fields of physics and mathematics. “Once you start proving theorems, you become a mathematician,” he says. “But I do not care much about labels. I follow what interests me.”
Postdoctoral roles followed in Switzerland and the Netherlands, including a stint at ETH Zurich and a research position in Eindhoven. He then joined Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics, earning a permanent post soon after. In 2010, NYU Abu Dhabi invited him to help build and define its new mathematics program.
Recalling those early days, Camia says, “There was an energy to it, a sense of possibility. The entire science division was maybe ten people, which meant we could shape what it would become.”
For several years, he split his time between Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi before choosing to make the UAE his full-time home. “NYUAD had become a place where I could contribute and grow. Being part of something from the beginning is rare in academia. That was exciting.”
Camia watched the university grow into a thriving and internationally respected institution. “To see a university develop, not just in size but in confidence and character, has been remarkable,” he says. “I feel fortunate to have been part of that evolution.”
His most valued achievements lie at the intersection of mathematics and physics: creating rigorous proofs that confirm longstanding predictions about how physical systems behave. One prominent example is his work on the Ising model, which is used to describe the phenomenon of magnetism.
Mathematical proofs reflect a lifetime of careful thinking, of refusing to assume, and to insist on ideas to be backed up by evidence. “A mathematical proof is solid and forever,” he says. “Longer lasting than anything tangible, even diamonds.”
Looking ahead, Camia is driven by the same curiosity that drew him to Scientific American as a teenager. There are still unanswered questions at the boundary of disciplines, and there are still systems whose inner logic has yet to be revealed.
“In the end,” he says, “I want to do work that endures. Work that will be valued long after the moment has passed.”
