Pamela E. Harris
Pamela Estephania Harris (born November 28, 1983) is a Mexican-American mathematician, educator and advocate for immigrants. She is an assistant professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and co-founder of the online platform Lathisms.[1] She is also an editor of the e-mentoring blog of the American Mathematical Society (AMS).[2]
Dr. Pamela E. Harris | |
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Born | November 28, 1983 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Marquette University, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee |
Thesis | Combinatorial problems related to Kostant’s weight multiplicity formula (2012) |
Doctoral advisor | Dr. Jeb Willenbring |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Williams College |
Early life and career
Harris first emigrated with her family from Mexico to the United States when she was 8 years old.[3][4] They returned to Mexico, before eventually settling in Wisconsin when Harris was 12.[3][5] Because she was undocumented, she could not attend university.[6][5] Instead, she studied at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, where she earned two associate degrees.[5] After she married a US citizen and her immigration status changed, she transferred to Marquette University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics.[6][3] She went on to complete her master's degree and in 2012 a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her PhD dissertation was advised by Jeb F. Willenbring.[7] Harris was a Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) fellow in 2012.[8] She became a Davies Research Fellow at the United States Military Academy[3][5] and, in 2016, an assistant professor at Williams College.[9][5]
Harris studies algebraic combinatorics, in particular the representation of Lie algebras.[5] In order to understand this representation she studies vector partition functions, in particular Kostant's partition function.[3] She is also interested in graph theory and number theory.[9] In 2016 she co-founded an online platform called 'Lathisms' which aims to promote the contributions of Latinxs and Hispanics in mathematics.[1][3]
Recognition
In 2020, Harris was selected as a fellow in the 2020 Inaugural Class of Karen EDGE Fellows[10]. In 2019, Harris won the Henry L. Alder Award of the Mathematical Association of America, a national teaching award for young faculty, for her mentorship towards undergraduate research and for her "fierce advocate for a diverse and inclusive mathematics community".[11] She further received the early career Faculty Mentor Award from the Council of Undergraduate Research.[9]
She was an invited plenary speaker for Mathematical Association of American at the 2019 Joint Mathematics Meetings.[12] In 2019 she was a keynote speaker at national conference of SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science).[6][13]
In 2018 Harris was featured in the book Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics.[4][13]
References
- "Check out the Lathisms website, co-founded by Professor Harris!". Mathematics & Statistics. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- "About the Editors". e-Mentoring Network. January 25, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- Williams, Talithia (October 23, 2019). "Spotlight on: Pamela Harris". Chalkdust. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- Williams, Talithia (2018). "Pamela E. Harris (b. November 28, 1983): Improving Diversity on the Mathematical Sciences". Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics. Race Point Publishing. pp. 192–195. ISBN 978-0-7603-6028-6.
- Cortez, Ricardo; Ardila, Federico (September 1, 2018). "Pamela Harris: The Mathematical Rise and Social Contribution of a Dreamer" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 65: 1. doi:10.1090/noti1723.
- Serrato Marks, Gabriela (January 16, 2020). "Five facts about Pamela E. Harris, Mexican-American mathematician and educator of "leaders of character"". Massive Science. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
- Pamela E. Harris at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- "Fellow Search Form | Mathematical Association of America". www.maa.org. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- "CUR Math/CS Division Selects 2019 Faculty Mentor Awardees | General News – News | Council on Undergraduate Research". www.cur.org. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- "2020 Inaugural Class of Karen EDGE Fellows".
- "Henry L. Alder Award". Mathematical Association of America. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- "Joint Mathematics Meetings 2019". Retrieved January 17, 2020.
- "Keynote Speakers – SACNAS". Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
External links
- Personal webpage
- Curriculum vitae
- Meet a Mathematician! Video interview
- Carrington, Léolène (January 22, 2018). "#WCWinSTEM: Pamela E. Harris, Ph.D. (interview)". Vanguard: Conversations with Women of Color in STEM.