She received an AB in mathematics from Harvard College, and a PhD in mathematics from MIT in 2018. Her dissertation, Results on Spectral Sequences for Monopole and Singular Instanton Floer Homologies, was supervised by Tomasz Mrowka.[2]
Gong is the second U.S. woman (after Alison Miller won in 2004[3]) to win a gold medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad, which Gong won in 2007, earning a tie for seventh place out of 536 participants[4] (she scored a 32). She was the only woman on the U.S. team that year, and also one of only three women ever to make the U.S. team.[4] She also tied for first place in the China Mathematical Olympiad for Girls in 2007.[4][1]
Gong participated in IMO five times, winning HM in 2002, bronze in 2003, silver in 2004 and 2005 and gold in 2007. In 2005 she was named the 2005 Clay Olympiad Scholar.[1] In 2006 she earned a silver medal at the 2006 International Physics Olympiad.[5] She was a winner (top twelve) at the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad in 2005, 2006, and 2007, including placing 2nd in 2007.
In 2010 Gong helped coach the U.S. team that competed in the China Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad; five team members won gold medals.
