Leslie Hogben is an American mathematician specializing in

graph theory In mathematics, graph theory is the study of ''graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are conn ...

and

linear algebra Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as: :a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n=b, linear maps such as: :(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \mapsto a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n, and their representations in vector spaces and through matrices ...

, and known for her mentorship of graduate students in mathematics. She is a professor of mathematics at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

, where she holds the Dio Lewis Holl Chair in Applied Mathematics; she is also professor (by courtesy) of electrical and computer engineering at Iowa State, associate dean for graduate studies and faculty development at Iowa State, and associate director for diversity at the

American Institute of Mathematics The American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) is one of eight mathematical institutes in the United States, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It was founded in 1994 by John Fry, co-founder of Fry's Electronics, and originally located ...

Education and career

Hogben graduated '' summa cum laude'' in 1974 from Swarthmore College, and completed her Ph.D. in 1978 at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. Her dissertation, ''Radical Classes of Jordan Algebras'', concerned

ring theory In algebra, ring theory is the study of rings—algebraic structures in which addition and multiplication are defined and have similar properties to those operations defined for the integers. Ring theory studies the structure of rings, their r ...

and was supervised by

Nathan Jacobson Nathan Jacobson (October 5, 1910 – December 5, 1999) was an American mathematician. Biography Born Nachman Arbiser in Warsaw, Jacobson emigrated to America with his family in 1918. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1930 and was awar ...

. She joined

as a tenure-track instructor in 1978. There, she was tenured in 1983, promoted to full professor in 2006, and given the Dio Lewis Holl Chair in 2012. She added her courtesy appointment in electrical and computer engineering in 2013. She was named associate dean in 2019. Hogben became associate director for diversity at the

in 2007.

Books

Hogben is the editor of the ''Handbook of Linear Algebra'' (CRC Press, 2007; 2nd ed., 2014) and the author of the textbook ''Elementary Linear Algebra'' (West Publishing, 1987).

Recognition

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 ...

has included her in the 2020 class of AWM Fellows for "being an endless champion for women in mathematics for nearly 40 years; for her outstanding record of involvement in programs to promote equal treatment and equal opportunities for women and minorities in mathematics". In 2020, she was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in the Section on Mathematics.

Personal life

Hogben is the daughter of C. A. M. Hogben, a physiologist at

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

and later the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

. She is the granddaughter of British zoologist and medical statistician

Lancelot Hogben Lancelot Thomas Hogben FRS FRSE (9 December 1895 – 22 August 1975) was a British experimental zoologist and medical statistician. He developed the African clawed frog ''(Xenopus laevis)'' as a model organism for biological research in his ear ...

and of his wife, demographer Enid Charles. She married mathematician Mark Hunacek, who became an associate teaching professor at Iowa State.

References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogben, Leslie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Graph theorists Swarthmore College alumni Yale University alumni Iowa State University faculty Fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics 20th-century American women 21st-century American women