Kathleen Marie Madden is an American mathematician who works in
dynamical system
In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a function describes the time dependence of a point in an ambient space. Examples include the mathematical models that describe the swinging of a clock pendulum, the flow of water i ...
s. She was the dean of the School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering at
California State University, Bakersfield
California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Bak ...
. She won the
George Pólya Award
The George Pólya Award is presented annually by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for articles of expository excellence that have been published in The College Mathematics Journal. The award was established in 1976 and up to two a ...
and is the co-author of the book ''Discovering Discrete Dynamical Systems''.
Education and career
Madden did her undergraduate studies at the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
. She then spent two years with the
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...
teaching mathematics in
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...
before returning to the US for graduate study.
She completed her Ph.D. in 1994 at the
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...
; her dissertation, ''On the Existence and Consequences of Exotic Cocycles'', was supervised by Nelson G. Markley.
Before joining California State University, Bakersfield as associate dean in 2015,
she was a faculty member in the mathematics department at
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General La ...
and then at
Drew University
Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three sch ...
, where she also served as chair of the department and associate dean. At California State University, Bakersfield, she was appointed interim dean in 2016 and permanent dean in 2017. She served in this position until 2021, at which time she retired to a part-time position in the faculty.
Books and recognition
In 1998, Madden and
Aimee Johnson
Aimee Sue Anastasia Johnson is an American mathematician who works in dynamical systems. She is a professor of mathematics at Swarthmore College, the winner of the George Pólya Award, and the co-author of the book ''Discovering Discrete Dynamical ...
won the George Pólya Award for their joint paper on
aperiodic tiling
An aperiodic tiling is a non-periodic tiling with the additional property that it does not contain arbitrarily large periodic regions or patches. A set of tile-types (or prototiles) is aperiodic if copies of these tiles can form only non- peri ...
, "Putting the Pieces Together: Understanding Robinson's Nonperiodic Tilings". In 2017, Madden, Johnson, and their co-author
Ayşe Şahin published the textbook ''Discovering Discrete Dynamical Systems'' through the
Mathematical Association of America.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madden, Kathleen
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
American women mathematicians
Dynamical systems theorists
University of Colorado alumni
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
Lafayette College faculty
Drew University faculty
California State University, Bakersfield faculty
20th-century women mathematicians
21st-century women mathematicians
20th-century American women
21st-century American women