Dr Michael (Misha) Chertkov is a Professor of Mathematics and Chair of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Applied Mathematics at the University of Arizona. His research addresses foundational challenges in mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, particularly as they apply to and are inspired by physical systems like fluid mechanics. He also works on applications in the control of engineered systems, such as energy grids, and bio-social systems. Dr Chertkov received his PhD in physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1996. After obtaining his PhD, he spent three years as an R H Dicke Fellow in the Department of Physics at Princeton University. In 1999, he joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory, first as a J R Oppenheimer Fellow, later becoming a Technical Staff Member in the Theory Division. He transitioned to the University of Arizona in 2019. Throughout his career, Dr Chertkov has contributed to about 300 research papers. He holds the title of Fellow in both the AAAS and the American Physical Society and is a Senior Member of IEEE.