Michelle Ann Manes is an American mathematician whose research interests span the fields of

number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777� ...

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...

, and

dynamical system In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a Function (mathematics), function describes the time dependence of a Point (geometry), point in an ambient space. Examples include the mathematical models that describe the swinging of a ...

s. She is a professor of mathematics at the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, and has been a program director for algebra and number theory at the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

Education and career

Manes graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1991, and earned a master's degree in

deaf education Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness. This may involve, but does not always, individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and othe ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

in 1993, with a concentration in

mathematics education In contemporary education, mathematics education, known in Europe as the didactics or pedagogy of mathematics – is the practice of teaching, learning and carrying out scholarly research into the transfer of mathematical knowledge. Although rese ...

. She worked in various capacities in the Boston area as a mathematics educator from 1993 to 2003, when she returned to graduate studies. She completed a second master's degree in mathematics in 2004 and a Ph.D. in 2007 at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

; her dissertation, ''Arithmetic dynamics of rational maps'', was supervised by Joseph H. Silverman. After a short-term position at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, she joined the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa (University of Hawaii—Mānoa, UH Mānoa, Hawai'i, or simply UH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Manoa, Mānoa, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. It ...

faculty in 2008. She joined 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 ...

as Deputy Director in 2022. Continuing her interest in mathematics education, Manes co-founded the Math Teachers’ Circle of Hawai‘i (MaTCH) in 2010.

Recognition

In 2015, Manes won the Golden Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

, and in 2017 she won the Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching of the University of Hawaii. Also in 2017, 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 ...

gave her their Service Award. Manes was named an AWM Fellow in the 2020 class of fellows by the Association for Women in Mathematics, for "supporting research careers for women in mathematics through leadership in the WIN Network and AWM Advance Committees to enable the formation of research networks for women in many areas of mathematics". She was elected as a Fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

in the 2024 class of fellows.

References

External links

*Meet a Mathematician
Video Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manes, Michelle Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians University of California, Berkeley alumni Boston University School of Education alumni Brown University alumni University of Hawaiʻi faculty 21st-century women mathematicians Fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics Fellows of the American Mathematical Society 21st-century American women