C. Maeve Lewis McCarthy is an Irish mathematician whose research interests include

inverse problem An inverse problem in science is the process of calculating from a set of observations the causal factors that produced them: for example, calculating an image in X-ray computed tomography, source reconstruction in acoustics, or calculating the ...

s and

modelling biological systems Modelling biological systems is a significant task of systems biology and mathematical biology. Computational systems biology aims to develop and use efficient algorithms, data structures, visualization and communication tools with the goal of compu ...

. She is the Jesse D. Jones Endowed Professor of Mathematics at

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Education and career

McCarthy was born in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematical physics from

NUI Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, and then continued her studies in computational and applied mathematics at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

, where she earned a second master's degree and in 1997 a Ph.D. Her dissertation, ''An Investigation of the Optimal Design of the Tallest Unloaded Column'', was supervised by Steven J. Cox. After completing her Ph.D., she went to the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

and then, after a year, moved to Murray State in 1998. She worked as executive director of 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 ...

from 2008 to 2011, when she returned to Murray State as a full-time faculty member. At Murray State, she is also the director of a project that "studies the recruitment and retention of women faculty in science at rural institutions".

Recognition

McCarthy was named Jones Professor in 2015. She was selected to join the 2019 class of fellows of th
Association for Women in Mathematics
"for her commitment to mentoring students and colleagues; for her inspired service as executive director of AWM; and for her stewardship of the ADVANCE project at Murray State University".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Maeve Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Women mathematicians Alumni of the University of Galway Rice University alumni Murray State University faculty Fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics Scientists from County Galway 20th-century Irish mathematicians 21st-century Irish mathematicians