Karen Saxe is an American mathematician who specializes 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, norm, topology, etc.) and the linear functions defined o ...

, and in the mathematical study of issues related to

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

. She is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Mathematics, Emerita at

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

,. She is Associate Executive Director of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

and Director of its Office of Government Relations, based in Washington DC. She is the author of ''Beginning Functional Analysis'', published in the Springer Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics series in 2001.

Education and career

Saxe graduated from

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

in 1982. She obtained her Ph.D. from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in 1988, with a dissertation on

Fredholm theory In mathematics, Fredholm theory is a theory of integral equations. In the narrowest sense, Fredholm theory concerns itself with the solution of the Fredholm integral equation. In a broader sense, the abstract structure of Fredholm's theory is given ...

supervised by Bruce Barnes. She joined the Macalester faculty in 1991. She chaired the department of mathematics, statistics, and computer science at Macalester from 2007 to 2013, and was named DeWitt Wallace Professor in 2015. She took part on a commission to redraw

Minnesota's congressional districts Minnesota is currently divided into eight congressional districts, each represented by a member of the United States House of Representatives. After the 2010 census, the number of Minnesota's seats remained unchanged. Minnesota statutes do not ...

in 2010, and has served as a science and technology advisor to Minnesota senator

Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...

Recognition

Saxe is the recipient of a Distinguished Teaching Award from the Mathematical Association of America. In 2017 she was given an honorary doctorate by Bard College.

References

External links

Home pageCapital Currents
Saxe's blog, published by the American Mathematical Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Saxe, Karen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Functional analysts Bard College alumni University of Oregon alumni Macalester College faculty 20th-century women mathematicians 21st-century women mathematicians 20th-century American women 21st-century American women