Mary Elizabeth (María) Falk de Losada is an American-born

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

n mathematician. She is a retired professor of mathematics at the

National University of Colombia The National University of Colombia () is a national public research university in Colombia, with general campuses in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, and satellite campuses in Leticia, San Andrés, Arauca, Tumaco, and La Paz, Ces ...

, and a former rector of Antonio Nariño University., She is known for her work developing mathematics competitions in Colombia. She should be distinguished from her daughter Marta Losada Falk, a Colombian physicist who succeeded her as president of Antonio Nariño University.

Education and career

Falk was born in the US. She graduated from Manhattanville College in suburban New York State in 1964, and earned a master's degree from Harvard University in 1965. She completed her doctorate in mathematics at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1970. She worked at the

from 1966 until retiring in 1995. She was a member of the senior board of Antonio Nariño University beginning in 1988, and served as its rector from 2001 to 2010.

Competitions

Beginning in 1981, Falk pushed the development of the Colombian Mathematical Olympiad, a local offshoot of the

International Mathematical Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except i ...

that she cofounded. She was chair of the jury for the 54th International Mathematical Olympiad, held in

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

, Colombia. At the Olympiad, her daughter María Elizabeth Losada served on the organizing committee, and her 12-year-old granddaughter Isabella Mijares worked as a microphone runner. She is also a cofounder and the former president of the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions, and has written several books of mathematics problems and books for mathematics teachers.

Recognition

In recognition of her work on mathematics competitions, Falk won the

David Hilbert Award The David Hilbert Award, named after David Hilbert, was established by the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions to acknowledge mathematicians who have contributed to the development of mathematics worldwide. Each awardee is sele ...

of the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions in 1994. She was Howard Lyons Lecturer in the Canadian Mathematics Competition Seminar at the University of Waterloo in Canada in 2000. In 2011 the Colombian Mathematical Society gave her their José Celestino Mutis Prize, and 2017 the Ecuadorian Mathematical Olympiad gave her their Juan Montalvo Prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falk de Losada, Maria Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians American emigrants to Colombia 20th-century Colombian mathematicians Manhattanville College alumni Harvard University alumni University of Illinois Chicago alumni Academic staff of the National University of Colombia 20th-century women mathematicians 21st-century women mathematicians Mathematicians from New York (state) Heads of universities in Colombia 20th-century American women 21st-century American women