Julia Elisenda (Eli) Grigsby is an American mathematician who works as a professor at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. Her research began with the study of

low-dimensional topology In mathematics, low-dimensional topology is the branch of topology that studies manifolds, or more generally topological spaces, of four or fewer dimensions. Representative topics are the structure theory of 3-manifolds and 4-manifolds, knot th ...

, including

knot theory In the mathematical field of topology, knot theory is the study of knot (mathematics), mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are ...

and category-theoretic

knot invariant In the mathematical field of knot theory, a knot invariant is a quantity (in a broad sense) defined for each knot which is the same for equivalent knots. The equivalence is often given by ambient isotopy but can be given by homeomorphism. Some i ...

s. She is currently working in the field of machine learning.

Education and career

Grigsby earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1999, after earlier forays into biochemistry and physics. After a year working as an

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...

er in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

, she returned to graduate school at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, and completed her doctorate in 2005 under the joint supervision of

Robion Kirby Robion Cromwell Kirby (born February 25, 1938) is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley who specializes in low-dimensional topology. Together with Laurent C. Siebenmann he invented the Kirby–Siebenmann invariant ...

and

Peter Ozsváth Peter Steven Ozsváth (born October 20, 1967) is a professor of mathematics at Princeton University. He created, along with Zoltán Szabó, Heegaard Floer homology, a homology theory for 3-manifolds. Education Ozsváth received his Ph.D. from P ...

. She was a postdoctoral researcher at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and the

Mathematical Sciences Research Institute The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath), formerly the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), is an independent nonprofit mathematical research institution on the University of California campus in Berkeley, Califo ...

, and joined the Boston College faculty in 2009.

Service

Grigsby belongs to the advisory board of Girls' Angle, a non-profit organization for encouraging girls to participate in mathematics, and is responsible for creating a sequence of video lectures by women in mathematics for Girls' Angle.

Recognition

In 2014 she became the inaugural winner of the Joan & Joseph Birman Research Prize in Topology and Geometry, given biennially by the

Association for Women in Mathematics The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is a professional society whose mission is to encourage women and girls to study and to have active careers in the mathematical sciences, and to promote equal opportunity for and the equal treatment o ...

to an outstanding early-career female researcher in topology and geometry.

References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grigsby, J. Elisenda Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Topologists Harvard College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Boston College faculty 21st-century women mathematicians 21st-century American women