Lauren Williams (mathematician) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lauren K. Williams
Williams in 2015
Born	c. 1978 (age 47–48)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Harvard University
Thesis	Combinatorial aspects of total positivity (2005)
Doctoral advisor	Richard P. Stanley

Lauren Kiyomi Williams, born around 1978, is an American mathematician. She is famous for her work in different areas of mathematics. These include cluster algebras, tropical geometry, and algebraic combinatorics. She also studies topics like amplituhedra and the positive Grassmannian. Currently, she is the Dwight Parker Robinson Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University.

Becoming a Mathematician

Early Life and School

Lauren Williams grew up in Los Angeles, California. Her father was an engineer. Her mother is a third-generation Japanese American. Lauren's interest in math started early. She won a math contest in fourth grade. This really sparked her love for numbers and problems.

She attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. In 1996, she was the top student in her graduating class. During high school summers, she did research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She worked with Satomi Okazaki, who was a student of her future advisor, Richard P. Stanley.

University Studies

Lauren Williams went to Harvard University for her undergraduate degree. She graduated in 2000 with a degree in mathematics. She earned this degree with high honors.

She then continued her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her PhD in 2005. Her advisor there was Richard P. Stanley. Her PhD paper was about "Combinatorial Aspects of Total Positivity." This means she studied how different math objects can be counted and arranged.

Her Work in Mathematics

Starting Her Career

After getting her PhD, Lauren Williams worked as a researcher. She held positions at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard. In 2009, she joined the math department at Berkeley as a professor. She became an associate professor in 2013. By 2016, she was a full professor there.

Return to Harvard

In the fall of 2018, Professor Williams returned to Harvard University. She became a full professor in the math department. She was the second woman ever to become a tenured math professor at Harvard. This means she earned a permanent teaching position. The first woman, Sophie Morel, had left Harvard in 2012.

New Discoveries

In 2018, Lauren Williams worked with her former student, O. Mandelshtam. She also collaborated with S. Corteel. Together, they found a new way to describe certain math concepts. These concepts are called symmetric and nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials. They used a special counting method to do this.

Awards and Recognition

Lauren Williams has received several important awards for her math work. In 2012, she became one of the first fellows of the American Mathematical Society. This is a big honor in the math world.

In 2016, she won the AWM–Microsoft Research Prize in Algebra and Number Theory. This award is given by the Association for Women in Mathematics and Microsoft. It recognizes excellent work in algebra and number theory. In 2022, she was also given a Guggenheim Fellowship. This fellowship supports people who are doing important work in their fields.