Alissa Crans facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alissa Susan Crans
Alissa Crans (3rd from left) at the 2008 MFO workshop Invariants in Low-Dimensional Topology
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Redlands
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Pomona College Loyola Marymount University

Alissa Susan Crans is an American mathematician. She specializes in a field called higher-dimensional algebra. This area of math explores structures in more complex ways than just length, width, and height. She is a professor of mathematics at Loyola Marymount University. She also helps new mathematicians and teachers through a program called Project NExT. This program is part of the Mathematical Association of America.

Becoming a Mathematician

Early Education

Alissa Crans was a top student in college. She graduated with high honors from the University of Redlands in 1999. She also became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. This is a very old and respected honor society in the United States.

Advanced Studies

She continued her studies at the University of California, Riverside. She earned her master's degree in 2000. Then, she completed her Ph.D. in 2004. Her main research for her Ph.D. was about "Lie 2-Algebras." Her professor, John C. Baez, guided her work.

Teaching and Research Roles

After her studies, Dr. Crans taught at several universities. In 2002, she was a lecturer at Pomona College. From 2005 to 2006, she worked at Ohio State University. She also taught at the University of Chicago in 2008.

She started as a professor at Loyola Marymount University in 2004. She became a full professor there in 2016. She also took a break to work at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. There, she helped with diversity and education programs from 2012 to 2014.

Helping Other Mathematicians

Since 2014, she has been an associate director for Project NExT. This program helps new math professors and teachers. Dr. Crans also works to support women in mathematics. She was on the executive committee for the Association for Women in Mathematics from 2014 to 2018.

Awards and Recognition

High School Honors

Diamond Bar High School has recognized Alissa Crans. They list her among their "Distinguished Alumni." This means she is one of their notable former students.

Teaching and Research Awards

In 2011, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) gave Dr. Crans a special award. It was the Henry L. Alder Award for excellent teaching by a new college math professor. That same year, she won the Merten M. Hasse Prize from the MAA. This was for her paper called "Musical Actions of Dihedral Groups."

Public Speaking and Mentorship

Dr. Crans was an MAA Distinguished Lecturer in 2014. She gave talks about Catalan numbers. These are special numbers that appear in many math problems.

The Association for Women in Mathematics honored her in 2020. They named her an AWM Fellow. This was for her work in mentoring and supporting women in math. She helped through programs like EDGE, SMP, SPWM, and Project NExT. She was also recognized for her role in the Pacific Coast Undergraduate Mathematics Conference.

Unique Recognition

Alissa Crans is also featured in a deck of playing cards. These cards highlight important women mathematicians. The Association of Women in Mathematics published them.