Stephanie Singer
Stephanie Frank Singer is an American mathematician and local politician in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Early in her adulthood, Singer pursued a career in education as an assistant professor at Haverford College, serving from 1991 to 2002. She then went on to pursue careers in data science before going into politics, serving as city commissioner in Philadelphia.
Early life and education
Singer was born in 1964 to Maxine and Daniel Singer where she was raised in Washington, D.C..
She spent two years at the National Cathedral School before continuing on to Yale University, where she graduated with a B.A. in Mathematics. After a year of graduate study in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University she moved to the Courant Institute of New York University where she obtained her Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1991, under the supervision of Nicholas Ercolani.[1]
Career
Academic
Singer was on the faculty at Haverford College for eleven years (1991-2002), during which time she created and taught courses, wrote several research papers and her first book on symmetry in physics, and earned tenure in the Mathematics Department.
She is the author of two books:
- Linearity, Symmetry, and Prediction in the Hydrogen Atom (Springer, Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics 115, 2005) [2]. Linearity, Symmetry, and Prediction in the Hydrogen Atom, a volume in Springer’s series of Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics, is about representation theory and the fundamental role it plays in quantum mechanics and the prediction of quantum phenomena. The text is aimed at advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students in mathematics, physics or chemistry. After some fundamental background material on quantum mechanics and linear algebra over the complex numbers, we are introduced to Lie groups and Lie group representations. The two final chapters look at projective representations, electron spin and quantum computing.
- Symmetry in Mechanics: A Gentle, Modern Introduction (Birkhauser Boston, 2001)[3]. Symmetry in Mechanics is an introduction to modern symplectic geometry and classical mechanics which is aimed at undergraduates in mathematics or physics. The book is bookended with a derivation of Kepler's laws for the motion of two bodies interacting under Newtonian gravitation. Kepler's laws are derived in a traditional manner at first, then it uses Newton's laws in twelve-dimensional phase space to derive the concept.
In a 2017 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education she discussed her experience as a victim of sexual harassment at that institution.[4]
After her departure she finished a second book on symmetry in quantum mechanics.
Data strategist and entrepreneur
Singer owned and ran two businesses: Campaign Scientific, which provided custom data work to political organizations and small businesses, and Wise Acre Real Estate, which provided education, support and research for real estate investors.
She also worked at AthenianRazak as data strategist.
Politics
Singer was elected Democratic Party committeeperson for Philadelphia's 8th Ward in 2008.
In 2011, she was elected as a city commissioner, defeating 36-year incumbent Marge Tartaglione. Singer served one term as city commissioner from 2012 to 2015.[5] Ultimately, Singer won both the primary and general elections and served a term as City Commissioner. While in office, she published the first voter guide in both English and Spanish, modernizing the office’s website, and working to make meeting transcripts publicly available for greater accountability among Commissioners. Singer is currently a Principled Project Lead at Free & Fair, a Portland, Oregon-based election technology company that aims to improve the integrity of US elections.[6]
In October, 2018, Singer launched a podcast entitled Defend Democracy! where she reflects on her experience as a former election official, data strategist, and successful candidate, with advice to those who have interests in entering politics.[7]
References
- "Biographical - Stephanie Frank Singer". symmetrysinger.com. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
- Fulling, Stephen A. (August–September 2007), "Review of Linearity, Symmetry, and Prediction in the Hydrogen Atom", American Mathematical Monthly, 114 (7): 650–653, JSTOR 27642297
- "Symmetry in Mechanics: A Gentle, Modern Introduction | Mathematical Association of America". www.maa.org. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
- "I Spoke Up Against My Harasser — and Paid a Steep Price". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
- Biography of Commissioner Stephanie Singer, Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, archived from the original on 2015-04-15, retrieved 2015-12-10.
- "Meet the data scientist who took on corrupt elections in Philly". NationBuilder. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
- "Defend Democracy! • A podcast on Anchor". Anchor. Retrieved 2019-01-16.