Heather Harrington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Heather Harrington
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| Alma mater | University of Massachusetts Amherst, Imperial College London |
| Awards | Whitehead Prize, Adams Prize, Philip Leverhulme Prize |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Oxford, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics |
| Thesis | Mathematical models of cellular decisions (2010) |
| Doctoral advisor | Jaroslav Stark, Dorothy Buck |
Heather A. Harrington, born in 1984, is a leading applied mathematician. She uses math to solve real-world problems. Her work combines different areas of math, like algebra and geometry. She also studies how systems change over time. This includes looking at how cells make decisions.
Since 2020, she has been a professor at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. There, she leads a research group. This group uses math to understand biological systems. In 2023, she also became a director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. She helps lead a big science center there called CSBD.
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Her Journey in Mathematics
Heather Harrington grew up in Massachusetts. She went to Concord-Carlisle High School. She then studied applied mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was a very good student. She even won a special award called the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. She graduated with high honors in 2006.
She earned her Ph.D. in 2010. She completed her studies at Imperial College London. Her Ph.D. work focused on math models. These models helped explain how cells make important decisions.
Working at Oxford
After her Ph.D., Heather Harrington continued her research. From 2010 to 2013, she worked at Imperial College. She studied theoretical systems biology. In 2013, she moved to the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. She started as a research fellow.
She became an associate professor in 2017. She also received a special research fellowship. In 2020, she became a full professor of mathematics at Oxford. She is also a board member for the EDGE Foundation. This group helps increase diversity in graduate education.
Awards and Recognition
Heather Harrington has received several important awards for her work. These awards show how much her contributions are valued in mathematics.
Whitehead Prize
In 2018, she won the Whitehead Prize. This award is given by the London Mathematical Society. It recognizes mathematicians who have made excellent contributions.
Adams Prize
She was also a co-winner of the 2019 Adams Prize. This prize comes from the University of Cambridge. The topic for the prize that year was "The Mathematics of Networks." This shows her skill in understanding complex systems.
Philip Leverhulme Prize
In 2020, she received the Philip Leverhulme Prize. This award recognized her important advances. She developed new ways to analyze data that might be "noisy." This means data that has errors or is not perfectly clear.
