Evelyn Marie Silvia (February 8, 1948 – January 21, 2006) was an American mathematician specializing in

functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics)#Defini ...

and particularly in starlike functions. She was a professor at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, and as well as teaching mathematics at the undergraduate and graduate levels there, was active in the improvement of secondary-school

mathematics education In contemporary education, mathematics education, known in Europe as the didactics or pedagogy of mathematics – is the practice of teaching, learning and carrying out scholarly research into the transfer of mathematical knowledge. Although rese ...

Education

Silvia was born in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

. A seventh-grade mathematics teacher told her she was the best student he had ever seen, a moment that built her confidence in the subject and led her to become a mathematician. She graduated from

Southeastern Massachusetts University The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth or UMassD) is a public research university in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It is the southernmost campus of the University of Massachusetts system. Formerly Southeastern Massachusetts Un ...

in 1969, with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Continuing her graduate education at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

, she earned a master's degree in 1973 and completed her Ph.D. in 1973. Her doctoral dissertation, ''Classes Related to Alpha-Starlike Functions'', was supervised by Herb Silverman.

Career

Silvia joined the UC Davis faculty in 1973, and remained there until retiring and becoming a

professor emeritus ''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 ...

shortly before her death. Beyond her work as a mathematics professor, Silvia worked as a volunteer teacher of mathematics in local elementary and secondary schools. In the 1970s, she directed a master's-level teaching program at UC Davis, and in the 1990s, she headed the Northern California Math Project, an effort to improve mathematics education throughout Northern California.

Recognition

The UC Davis Academic Senate gave Silvia their Distinguished Teaching Award in 1990. In 2001, she was one of the winners of the Deborah and Franklin Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, given by 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 ...

to recognize college or university teachers "who have been widely recognized as extraordinarily successful and whose teaching effectiveness has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silvia, Evelyn M. 1948 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Functional analysts Mathematics educators University of Massachusetts Dartmouth alumni University of California, Davis faculty 20th-century women mathematicians 21st-century women mathematicians 20th-century American women 21st-century American women