Mary Elizabeth Schaps (; born August 6, 1948), also known as Malka Elisheva Schaps, is an Israeli-American mathematician. She is Professor of Mathematics and Dean of the Faculty of Exact Sciences at

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...

. She received her Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and has published in

deformation theory In mathematics, deformation theory is the study of infinitesimal conditions associated with varying a solution ''P'' of a problem to slightly different solutions ''P''ε, where ε is a small number, or a vector of small quantities. The infinitesim ...

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ...

, and

representation theory Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebraic structures by ''representing'' their elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies modules over these abstract algebraic structures. In essen ...

. She is also a writer, authoring several novels under the pseudonym Rachel Pomerantz.

Early and personal life

Mary Elizabeth Kramer was born on August 6, 1948, in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, United States. From 1965 to 1969, she was educated at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

in Pennsylvania, majoring in mathematics, philosophy and history, and graduating ''summa cum laude'' in 1969. She then attended

as a mathematics graduate student: she completed her

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(MA) degree in 1971 and her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(PhD) degree in 1972. Her doctoral thesis was titled "Non-singular deformations of space curves, using determinantal schemes": her advisors were

David Mumford David Bryant Mumford (born 11 June 1937) is an American mathematician known for his work in algebraic geometry and then for research into vision and pattern theory. He won the Fields Medal and was a MacArthur Fellow. In 2010 he was awarded t ...

and

Heisuke Hironaka is a Japanese mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1970 for his contributions to algebraic geometry. Career Hironaka entered Kyoto University in 1949. After completing his undergraduate studies at Kyoto University, he received his ...

. She was brought up a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

and then a

Unitarian Universalism Unitarian Universalism (UU) is a liberal religion characterized by a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists assert no creed, but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth, guided by a ...

. She became interested in Judaism, and formally converted to

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...

in college. In 1968, she married David Schaps, a classics professor who was then also studying for a PhD at Harvard. They both gradually felt more and more drawn to

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

and considered themselves

Haredi Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

by the time they had completed their doctorates. The couple made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

(moved to Israel) in 1972. Together, she and her husband had two children: this was a small family by Haredi standards, and they raised four more

foster children Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state- certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family me ...

. They live in

Bnei Brak Bnei Brak or Bene Beraq ( he, בְּנֵי בְּרַק ) is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an are ...

, a Haredi city near Tel Aviv.

Career

Schaps had some teaching experience at Harvard University: she was

teaching assistant A teaching assistant or teacher's aide (TA) or education assistant (EA) or team teacher (TT) is an individual who assists a teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include ''graduate teaching assistants'' (GTAs), who are graduate school ...

from 1971 to 1972, and a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

at the 1975

Harvard Summer School Harvard Summer School, founded in 1871, is a summer school run by Harvard University. It serves more than 5,000 students per year. History Harvard Summer School was founded in 1871. It is the first academic summer session established and the ol ...

. In 1972, having moved to Israel, she was appointed a lecturer in mathematics at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. In her second year in Israel the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...

occurred: the change in language, culture and the threat to her new family were a shock. In 1977, she moved to

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...

as a

senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this concep ...

: she was promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

in 1991 and

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 2006. She was the only female

professor in Israel. In October 2013, she was appointed

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of Exact Sciences at Bar-Ilan University: having been the only female Haredi professor, she now became the highest ranking Haredi woman in Israeli academia. She stepped down as dean in 2015, and was made

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 ...

on retirement in 2016.

Selected publications

*. * Katz, Mikhail G.; Schaps, Mary; Vishne, Uzi. Logarithmic growth of systole of arithmetic Riemann surfaces along congruence subgroups. J. Differential Geom. 76 (2007), no. 3, 399–422. * Schaps, Mary. Deformations of Cohen–Macaulay schemes of codimension 2 and non-singular deformations of space curves. Amer. J. Math. 99 (1977), no. 4, 669–685. * Schaps, Mary; Zakay-Illouz, Evelyne. Combinatorial partial tilting complexes for the Brauer star algebras. Representations of algebras (São Paulo, 1999), 187–207, Lecture Notes in Pure and Appl. Math., 224, Dekker, New York, 2002.

References

External links

Prof. Malka Schaps
Bar Ilan University {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaps, Mary Living people American Haredim Israeli Haredim Israeli mathematicians Harvard University alumni Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University Women mathematicians 1948 births People from Cleveland Converts from Presbyterianism Converts to Judaism from Protestantism Converts to Orthodox Judaism Swarthmore College alumni Academic staff of Tel Aviv University People from Bnei Brak