Rekha Rachel Thomas is a mathematician and

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...

er. She works as a professor of mathematics at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, and was the Robert R. and Elaine F. Phelps Professor there from 2008 until 2012. Her research interests include

mathematical optimization Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfi ...

and

computational algebra In mathematics and computer science, computer algebra, also called symbolic computation or algebraic computation, is a scientific area that refers to the study and development of algorithms and software for manipulating mathematical expressions ...

. Thomas earned a PhD in

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1994, supervised by Bernd Sturmfels; her dissertation concerned Gröbner bases and integer programming. Prior to joining the University of Washington in 2000, she did postdoctoral studies at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and the

Zuse Institute Berlin The Zuse Institute Berlin (abbreviated ZIB, or ''Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin'') is a research institute for applied mathematics and computer science on the campus of Freie Universität Berlin in Dahlem, Berlin, Germany ...

, and held a faculty position at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

beginning in 1995. Thomas is the author of the textbook '' Lectures in Geometric Combinatorics'' (Student Mathematical Library, 33,

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, ...

, 2006). She was a plenary speaker at the 21st International Symposium on Mathematical Programming in 2012.Speaker biography
ISMP 2012, retrieved 2014-12-31. In 2013 she became one of the inaugural

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

s of the

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 2014-12-31.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Rekha R. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Cornell University alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty University of Washington faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society 20th-century American women mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians Combinatorialists Operations researchers American academics of Indian descent