Sylvia Margaret Wiegand (born March 8, 1945) is an American mathematician.[1]

Sylvia Margaret Wiegand
Born (1945-03-08) March 8, 1945 (age 79)
Cape Town, South Africa
Alma materUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
Scientific career
FieldsCommutative algebra
math education, history of math
Thesis Galois Theory of Essential Expansions of Modules and Vanishing Tensor Powers  (1972)
Doctoral advisorLawrence S. Levy
Doctoral studentsChristina Eubanks-Turner

Early life and education

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Wiegand was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She is the daughter of mathematician Laurence Chisholm Young and through him the granddaughter of mathematicians Grace Chisholm Young and William Henry Young.[2] Her family moved to Wisconsin in 1949, and she graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1966 after three years of study.[1] In 1971, Wiegand earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[3] Her dissertation was titled Galois Theory of Essential Expansions of Modules and Vanishing Tensor Powers.[3]

Career

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In 1987, she was named full professor at the University of Nebraska; at the time Wiegand was the only female professor in the department.[1] In 1988, Sylvia headed a search committee for two new jobs in the math department, for which two women were hired, although one stayed only a year and another left after four years.[4] In 1996, Sylvia and her husband, Roger Wiegand, established a fellowship for graduate student research at the university in honor of Sylvia's grandparents.[5]

From 1997 until 2000, Wiegand was president of the Association for Women in Mathematics.[6][7]

Wiegand has been an editor for Communications in Algebra and the Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics.[2] She was on the board of directors of the Canadian Mathematical Society from 1997 to 2000.[2]

Wiegand was an American Mathematical Society (AMS) Council member at large.[8]

Awards and recognition

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Wiegand is featured in the book Notable Women in Mathematics: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Charlene Morrow and Teri Perl, published in 1998.[1] For her work in improving the status of women in mathematics, she was awarded the University of Nebraska's Outstanding Contribution to the Status of Women Award in 2000.[4] In May 2005, the University of Nebraska hosted the Nebraska Commutative Algebra Conference: WiegandFest "in celebration of the many important contributions of Sylvia and her husband Roger Wiegand."[1]

In 2012, she became a fellow of the AMS.[9]

In 2017, she was selected as a fellow of the Association for Women in Mathematics in the inaugural class.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Sylvia Wiegand". Agnesscott.edu. 1945-03-08. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  2. ^ a b c "Sylvia Wiegand". www.agnesscott.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  3. ^ a b Sylvia Wiegand at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  4. ^ a b "OCWW | Vol 32, Issue 3-4 | Features". Aacu.org. Archived from the original on 2003-11-10. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  5. ^ PO BOX 880130 (2010-11-18). "UNL | Arts & Sciences | Math | Department | Awards | Graduate Student Awards". Math.unl.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Sylvia Wiegand's Homepage". Math.unl.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  7. ^ "AWM Profile" (PDF). Ams.org. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  8. ^ "AMS Committees". American Mathematical Society. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  9. ^ List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society, retrieved 2013-09-01.
  10. ^ "2018 Inaugural Class of AWM Fellows". Association for Women in Mathematics. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
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