Annie Selden facts for kids
Annie Laurer Alexander Selden is a very smart person who knows a lot about how to teach mathematics. She used to be a professor at Tennessee Technological University. Now, she is a professor at New Mexico State University. She also helped start a group called the Association for Women in Mathematics in 1971.
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Early Life and Learning
Annie Louise Laurer was born a long time ago. She finished college at Oberlin College in 1959. During a summer job at IBM in Endicott, New York, she learned how to program computers.
Studying Math Around the World
Annie then traveled to Germany to study math at the University of Göttingen. She went there as a Fulbright scholar, which is like getting a special scholarship to study abroad. She also got help from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.
Advanced Degrees
In 1962, she earned a master's degree from Yale University. Later, she finished her Ph.D. from Clarkson University in 1974. Her special paper for her Ph.D. was called Bisimple ω-semigroups in the locally compact setting. She wrote it under the name Annie Laurer Alexander. Her professor, John Selden Jr., helped her with it. She later married him.
Teaching Career
Annie Selden first wanted to be a math researcher. But, it was hard to find research jobs when she finished school. So, she started teaching math in other countries. This experience made her very interested in how to teach math better.
Teaching in Different Countries
She taught at many universities. These included the State University of New York at Potsdam and Hampden–Sydney College in the USA. She also taught in Turkey at Boğaziçi University and in Nigeria at Bayero University Kano.
Becoming a Professor
In 1985, she joined Tennessee Technological University. She taught there for many years. In 2003, she retired and moved to New Mexico.
Awards and Special Recognition
Annie Selden has received many awards for her work.
Important Awards
In 2002, she won the Louise Hay Award from the Association for Women in Mathematics. She was also chosen as an AWM/MAA Falconer Lecturer. This means she gave a special talk about math.
Being Honored
In 2003, she became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is a big honor for scientists. There is even a special award named after her and her husband, John Selden. It's called the Annie and John Selden Prize of the Mathematical Association of America.
