Olga Taussky Todd Celebration
of Careers in Mathematics for Women

July 16-18, 1999

MSRI, Berkeley, California

When. The Celebration was held July 16-18, 1999, at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, California. The conference wasorganized by the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) with base funding from the National Security Agency (NSA); additional support was provided by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the U.S. Department of Energy. The scientific community was invited to talks.

Related Links.

Format. Featured lectures showcased the research of outstanding women in mathematics. Talks and discussions by established mathematicians with careers in government, business, industry and academia focused on contemporary issues of concern to young women, highlighting non-traditional career paths for mathematicians. The primary goals of the celebration were to assist, encourage, and inspire the graduate student and recent Ph.D. participants, to provide a forum for networking between mathematicians at different career stages, and to promote the achievements of women in mathematics. Senior investigators provided role models and offered mentoring for the beginning women mathematicians. The graduate students and recent Ph.D.'s who participated were to find in the legacy of Olga Taussky Todd a realistic model and worthy goals for their lives.

Other Activities. Each of the postdoc and graduate student participants at the conference had a mentor to provide individual career guidance. Various careers available to beginning mathematicians are a focus of the conference, and many of the plenary speakers mentioned some aspects of their employment. Two presentations were planned to provide specific career information and advice: Krystyna Kuperberg and Sylvia Wiegand each organized an activity.

A Symposium titled "The Many Careers of Olga Taussky" brought together biographical aspects of Taussky's varied employments with career information. Mary Ann McLoughlin and Edith Luchins organized the symposium which traced Taussky-Todd's career pattern and provided thumbnail descriptions of her various types of work given by persons who are now involved at that site, or, in some cases, who worked with Taussky, or by a biographer. Then, relative to each job, there was a brief description of the opportunities for mathematicians today with that employer.

Final Program. (As of July 1, 1999.)

Friday, July 16, 1999
9:15am - 9:30am	Welcome & Announcements
9:30am - 10:15am	Helen Shapiro, Swarthmore College "Numbers, Matrices, and Commutativity"
10:15am - 10:30am	Coffee Break
10:30am - 11:30am	Poster Session I Funded participants will present a poster on their research at one of three poster sessions. Elizabeth S. Allman, University of North Carolina-Asheville "Subgroup Separability and Hyperbolic 3-manifolds" Cheryl Grood, Swarthmore College "Centralizer Algebras of SO(2n, C)" Rachel W. Hall, Pennsylvania State University "Hecke C*-Algebras" Deborah Heicklen, University of California, Berkeley "Discretizing randomly perturbed dynamical systems" Sanjukta Hota, Columbia State Community College "A Mathematical Model for Carbon Dioxide Exchange during Mechanical Ventilation with Tracheal Gas Insufflation (TGI)" Chris Hurlburt, University of New Mexico "Differential Modular Forms" Megan Kerr, Wellesley College "New Homogeneous Einstein Metrics of Negative Ricci Curvature" Jing-Rebecca Li, Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Vector ADI: A Low Rank Right Hand Side Lyapunov Equation Solver, with Applications to Model Reduction" Moira A. McDermott, Gustavus Adolphus College "Tight closure and singularity theory" Regan E. Murray, University of Arizona "Modeling Reaction Zone Dynamics of the Bioremediation Equations" Vanessa Robins, University of Colorado at Boulder "Computational topology with applications to fractal geometry" Masha Sosonkina, University of Minnesota-Duluth "Preconditioning strategies for linear systems arising in tire design" Lesley Ward, Harvey Mudd College "Brownian motion and the shape of a region's boundary"
11:30am - 12:15pm	Lisa R. Goldberg, BARRA, Inc. "Portfolio Risk: Diversification in Volatile Markets"
12:15pm - 2:00pm	Lunch Various lunch items (a la carte) will be available for purchase on Friday. MSRI also has a full kitchen that the attendees will have access to during the conference.
2:00pm - 2:45pm	Fern Y. Hunt, National Institute of Standards and Technology "Measurement Science and Measure Theory: A Mathematician at NIST today"
2:45pm - 3:00pm	Coffee Break
3:00pm - 4:00pm	Poster Session II Funded participants will present a poster on their research at one of three poster sessions. Catherine Bénéteau, Seton Hall University [Unable to attend.] "A Fatou-type Theorem for Functions with Growth Restrictions" Andrea Codd, University of Colorado at Boulder "Elasticity - Fluid Coupled Systems" Sylvia Cook, The University of Iowa "Two Star-Operations and Their Induced Lattices" Sarah J. Greenwald, Appalachian State University "Diameters of Spherical Alexandrov Spaces and Constant Curvature One Orbifolds" Annela Kelly, Northeast Louisiana University "Analytic measures" Tanya L. Leise, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology "Dynamically accelerating cracks along a bimaterial interface" Helen Moore, Stanford University/Bowdoin College "Gauss Map Omissions of Minimal Surfaces" Susan Morey, Southwest Texas State University "Associated primes and ideals of graphs" Julianne Rainbolt, Saint Louis University "Extensions of Periodic Linear Groups" Karen L. Shuman, Dartmouth College "Signal Processing with the Jacobi Group" Jenny Switkes, Claremont Graduate University "Models of Coevolutionary Interaction" Julia M. Wilson, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee "Non-uniqueness of boundaries of CAT(0) groups" Golbon Zakeri, Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee "You too can optimize using a metacomputer"
4:00pm - 4:45pm	Linda R. Petzold, University of California, Santa Barbara "Math, with an Attitude"
4:45pm - 4:55pm	Break
4:55pm - 6:10pm	Panel: "Issues and Inside Information for women in mathematics" Organizer: Sylvia M. Wiegand, University of Nebraska Panelists: Ellen Kirkman, Wake Forest University Maria Klawe, University of British Columbia Susan Morey, Southwest Texas State University Claudia Polini, Hope College Jean Taylor, Rutgers University
6:30pm	Buffet Reception
7:45pm	Biographical Remarks Richard Varga, Kent State University "Remembrances of Olga Taussky Todd, and her impact on me and on her many students" Plus a few comments by Jack Todd, Professor Emeritus, California Institute of Technology
Saturday, July 17, 1999
9:15am - 10:00am	Cathleen Synge Morawetz, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University "Problems, including mathematical problems, from my early years"
10:00am - 10:15am	Coffee Break
10:15am - 11:15am	Poster Session III Funded participants will present a poster on their research at one of three poster sessions. Elizabeth A. Arnold, University of Maryland, College Park "Using Hilbert Lucky Primes to Compute Gröbner Bases" Lora Billings, University of Delaware "Newton's Method and Chaotic Attractors" Sharon Frechette, Wellesley College "Hecke Structure of Spaces of Modular Forms" Weiqing Gu, Harvey Mudd College "Volume-Preserving Great Circle Flows on the 3-Sphere" Lois Kailhofer, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee "A Classification of Inverse Limit Spaces with Periodic Critical Points" Sandra Kingan, Trinity College, D.C. "Structural Results for Matroids" Gema A. Mercado, University of Arizona "Formation of Hotspots and Dynamics of the Electric Field in Microwave Heating" Dorina Mitrea, University of Missouri-Columbia "The transmission problem for multilayered anisotropic elastic bodies with rough interfaces" Nilima Nigam, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, University of Minnesota "Variational methods for some problems exterior to a thin domain" Ruth Pfeiffer, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health "Some Problems for Stochastic Processes with Hysteresis" Claudia Polini, Hope College "Resolution of Singularities" Victoria Rayskin, University of Texas at Austin "Degenerate Homoclinic Crossings"
11:15am - 12:00pm	Lani Wu, Microsoft Corporation "Following my interest"
12:00pm - 1:45pm	Lunch Lunch boxes will be provided for the workshoppers (graduate students, recent Ph.D.'s) and their mentors to facilitate communication. Lunch will be provided to other participants within availability.
1:45pm - 3:00pm	Symposium: "The Many Careers of Olga Taussky" Organizers: Mary Ann McLoughlin, The College of Saint Rose Edith Luchins, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Panelists: Isabel Beichel, National Institute of Standards and Technology Christa Binder, Vienna University of Technology Mary Gray, American University Helen Grundman, Bryn Mawr College Svetlana Katok, Pennsylvania State University Alice T. Schafer, Wellesley College Helene Shapiro, Swarthmore College
3:00pm - 3:20pm	Coffee Break
3:20pm - 4:05pm	Evelyn Boyd Granville, Professor Emerita, California State University, Los Angeles "Looking Back …Looking Ahead"
4:05pm - 4:15pm	Break
4:15pm - 5:00pm	Diane Lambert, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies "Statistics: Is it Really A Mathematical Science?"
5:00pm	Dinner (attendees will be on their own)
Sunday, July 18, 1999
9:00am - 9:45am	Margaret H. Wright, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies "A Selection of Mathematical Experiences"
9:45am - 10:00am	Coffee Break
10:00am - 10:45am	Christa Binder, Vienna University of Technology "Fräulein Dr. Taussky in Vienna and Göttingen"
10:55am - 12:25pm	Panel: "Finding a Traditional or Nontraditional Job and Growing in It" Organizer: Krystyna Kuperberg, Auburn University Panelists: Karen M. Brucks, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Barbara S. Deuink, National Security Agency Barbara B. Flinn, National Security Agency Lisa R. Goldberg, BARRA, Inc. Sarah Holte, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Fern Y. Hunt, National Institute of Standards and Technology Linda R. Petzold, University of California, Santa Barbara Margaret H. Wright, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies

AWM is grateful to MSRI and their staff for all their efforts on behalf of the Olga Taussky Todd Celebration of Careers in Mathematics for Women.

AWM also wishes to thank all the individuals who participated in the Celebration including the speakers, the panelists and the mentors.

AWM is grateful to the National Security Agency (NSA) for the initial base support and to the Department of Energy (DOE), the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for their additional support.

The organizers for the conference included:

Bettye Anne Case, Florida State University (Chair)
Sue Geller, Texas A&M University
Carolyn Gordon, Dartmouth College
Dianne O'Leary, University of Maryland, College Park
Gail Ratcliff, University of Missouri, St. Louis
Jean Taylor, Rutgers University
Sylvia M. Wiegand, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

The organizers thank those who joined them in serving on committees for the conference: Isabel Beichl, Mary Ellen Boch, Jane Cullum, Sharon Frechette, Jenny Harrison, Linda Keen, Krystyna Kuperberg, Edith Luchins, Mary Ann McLoughlin, Carolyn R. Mahoney, Linda P. Rothschild, Janice B. Walker.

The initial planning was assisted by: Isabel Beichl, Lynne Billard, Lenore Blum, Mary Ellen Bock, Sun-Yung Alice Chang, Jane Cullum, Susan C. Geller, Carolyn S. Gordon, Mary W. Gray, Jenny Harrison, Gloria Hewitt, Linda Keen, Krystyna M. Kuperberg, Edith Luchins, Carolyn R. Mahoney, Linda P. Rothschild, Alice T. Schafer, Bhama Srinivasan, Chuu-Lian Terng, Janice B. Walker, Carol Wood.

Questions? Contact the AWM at 301-405-7892 or by email at awm@awm-math.org

Links for more information about Olga Taussky Todd.

Olga Taussky Todd from the AWM Booklet Profiles of Women in Mathematics: The Emmy Noether Lectures - Olga Taussky Todd presented the 1981 Noether Lecture at the Joint Meetings in San Francisco, California.
Olga Taussky-Todd - Biography from the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive.
Remembering Olga Taussky Todd, Chandler Davis, AWM Newsletter, 26(1), Jan-Feb 1996 - "Others remember Olga as author of some beautiful research papers, as teacher, as collaborator, and as someone whose zest for mathematics was deeply felt and contagious." (This article is housed at the Biographies of Women in Mathematics Website.)
Olga Taussky Todd, Richard Varga, SIAM News, 29(2), Mar 1996 - An obituary of Olga Taussky Todd, "not only a great mathematician, but also an inspiring teacher, colleague, and friend."
In Memoriam: Olga Taussky Todd, PDF version, Edith H. Luchins and Mary Ann McLoughlin, Notices, 43(8), Aug 1996 - A gentle and powerful beacon for mathematics is dimmed, but her work and influence retain their vigor.
Olga Taussky-Todd's Work in Class Field Theory, H. Kisilevsky, Pacific Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 181 No. 3 (1997), pp. 219-224 - A summary of some of Taussky-Todd's work in a memorial issue honoring her.