Eve Alexandra Littig Torrence (born 1963) is an American mathematician, a

professor emerita ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of mathematics at Randolph–Macon College, and a former president of mathematics society Pi Mu Epsilon. She is known for her award-winning writing and books in mathematics, for her mathematical origami art, and for her efforts debunking overly broad claims regarding the ubiquity of the golden ratio.

Education, career, and service

Torrence was an undergraduate at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

. She completed her Ph.D. in 1991 at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

; her dissertation, ''The Coordination of a Hexagonal-Barbilian Plane by a Quadratic Jordan Algebra'', was supervised by John Faulkner. She was Claire Booth Luce assistant professor at Trinity Washington University from 1991 to 1994, before joining the Randolph–Macon College faculty in 1994. She earned tenure there in 1999, and became a full professor in 2008. She retired in 2021, and was given the Bruce M. Unger Award by Randolph–Macon College on the occasion of her retirement. She served as president of Pi Mu Epsilon, the US national honor society in mathematics, from 2011 to 2014. The Maryland-District of Columbia-Virginia Section of 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 ...

gave her their Sister Helen Christensen Service Award in 2019.

Selected works

Torrence won the 2007 Trevor Evans Award of the

for a paper she wrote with Adrian Rice on

Dodgson condensation In mathematics, Dodgson condensation or method of contractants is a method of computing the determinants of square matrix, square matrices. It is named for its inventor, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known by his pseudonym, as Lewis Carroll, th ...

: * Her books include: * * A sculpture, "Sunshine", by Torrence is displayed in a Randolph–Macon College building lobby; it depicts the compound of five tetrahedra as five interlocked aluminum shapes, inspired by an origami version of the same compound folded by Tom Hull. She also won the "Best in Show" award in a 2015 juried mathematical art exhibit, for her pieces titled "Day" and "Night", mathematical origami using folded cardstock rhombi to make

hyperbolic paraboloid In geometry, a paraboloid is a quadric surface that has exactly one axis of symmetry and no center of symmetry. The term "paraboloid" is derived from parabola, which refers to a conic section that has a similar property of symmetry. Every plane ...

surfaces, connected in the pattern of a rhombic dodecahedron: * *

References

1963 births Living people American mathematicians American women mathematicians Tufts University alumni University of Virginia alumni Trinity Washington University faculty Randolph–Macon College faculty {{Mathematics of paper folding