Anne Lester Hudson is an American mathematician and mathematics educator. Her research specialty is the theory of

topological semigroup In mathematics, a topological semigroup is a semigroup that is simultaneously a topological space, and whose semigroup operation is continuous.Artur Hideyuki TomitaOn sequentially compact both-sides cancellative semigroups with sequentially continu ...

s; she is also known for her skill at mathematical problem-solving, and has coached students to success in both the

International Mathematical Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except i ...

and the

William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to Putnam Competition, is an annual list of mathematics competitions, mathematics competition for undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in th ...

. She is a professor emeritus at the

Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

(formerly Armstrong State College).

Education

Born as Anne Lester, Hudson is originally from

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, and grew up in

Inverness, Mississippi Inverness is a town in Sunflower County, Mississippi, Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,019 at the 2010 census. As the town had the largest cotton gin in the Delta, it served as a gathering place for farmers from th ...

, a town so small that there were only seven students in her high school class. She did her undergraduate studies at

Hollins College Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States ...

, with

Herta Freitag Herta Freitag ( Taussig; December 6, 1908 – January 25, 2000) was an Austrian-American mathematician, a professor of mathematics at Hollins College, known for her work on the Fibonacci numbers. Life She was born as Herta Taussig in Vienna, ...

as a mentor. Unusually for the time, she continued at Hollins for four years, instead of transferring after two years to another university, in order to continue working with Freitag. She graduated in 1953. In 1961, she earned her Ph.D. in mathematics from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

, where she also met her husband, mathematician Sigmund Hudson. Her dissertation, ''On the Structure of Certain Classes of Topological Semigroups'', was supervised by Paul Stallings Mostert. She became the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics at Tulane.

Career

After postdoctoral studies funded by the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

and NATO, Hudson became a faculty member at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, and earned tenure there in 1966 for her research. In 1971 she moved to Armstrong State College in Georgia, "to an environment more heavily involved in undergraduate teaching". In 1994 Hudson directed the United States Math Olympiad Program, a training program for the U.S. team in the

. She went to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, where the Olympiad was held, as the coach for the team, and led the team to win the Olympiad.

Recognition

In 1993, when the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

began giving out its

Deborah and Franklin Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics The Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics are awards given by the Mathematical Association of America to recognize college or university teachers "who have been widely recognized as ...

, Hudson was one of the first winners. The

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) is a U.S.-based education policy and research center. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress. Among its most nota ...

named her as one of their 1996 Outstanding Professors of the Year. She was given a special commendation by the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...

in 1997. Hollins College has also given her their outstanding alumna award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Anne Lester Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Mathematics educators Hollins University alumni Tulane University alumni Syracuse University faculty 20th-century women mathematicians Mathematicians from New York (state) 20th-century American women 21st-century American women