Jill Pipher facts for kids

Jill Catherine Pipher, born on December 14, 1955, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a very important mathematician. She was the president of the American Mathematical Society starting in 2019. This is a big group for mathematicians in America.

She also led the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) from 2011 to 2013. This group helps women who work in math. Plus, she was the first director of a special math center. It's called the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM). This center helps people study math using computers. It is located in Providence, Rhode Island.

What Jill Pipher Does in Math

Jill Pipher works on many interesting math topics. These include harmonic analysis and Fourier analysis, which are ways to study waves and signals. She also works with partial differential equations, which are math problems that help us understand how things change.

One of her most important areas is cryptography. This is the science of making and breaking secret codes. She has written over 50 research papers about her math work. She also helped write a textbook called An Introduction to Mathematical Cryptography. This book teaches about the math behind secret codes.

Her Journey in Education and Career

Jill Pipher is currently a special professor of Mathematics at Brown University. She earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1979. She then continued her studies at UCLA and received her PhD in 1985. Her teacher for her PhD was John B. Garnett.

After finishing her studies, she taught at the University of Chicago from 1985 to 1990. In 1990, she moved to Brown University. At Brown, she was in charge of the Mathematics Department from 2005 to 2008.

In 1996, Jill Pipher and her friends Jeffrey Hoffstein, Daniel Lieman, and Joseph H. Silverman started a company. It was called NTRU Cryptosystems, Inc. They created this company to share their special coding methods, called NTRUEncrypt and NTRUSign. These methods help keep information safe and secret.

Awards and Recognition

Jill Pipher has received many honors for her work in mathematics. In 2012, she became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. Being a fellow means she is recognized as a top expert in her field.

In 2017, she was chosen as a fellow of the Association for Women in Mathematics. She was part of the very first group to receive this honor. In 2019, she was named a SIAM Fellow. This award was for her amazing work in math analysis and her important contributions to public key cryptography. It also recognized her great leadership in science.

She was also named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2021. This is another high honor for scientists.

In 2014, Jill Pipher gave a special talk at a big math meeting. She spoke about The Mathematics of Lattice-based Cryptography. This topic is about how math can be used to create strong codes. The Association for Women in Mathematics also chose her to give their important Noether Lecture in 2018.

In 2017, she was elected to be the president of the American Mathematical Society. She started this important two-year job in 2019.