2021 Violet Haas Memorial Fellowship Honoree

03-17-2021

Theresa C. Anderson is a mathematician and advocate, whose work in both areas centers around building new bridges.

She currently is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Purdue University. Her mathematics lies at the interface of harmonic analysis and analytic number theory, and is funded by a National Science Foundation grant jointly in the two (seemingly) separate areas of Analysis and Algebra, Number Theory and Combinatorics. In one instance, she uncovers number theoretic structure in analysis related to a broad range of applications, such as X-rays and musical scales, but the dialogue between these fields goes both ways and in many directions.

Her advocacy centers around underrepresented minorities, particularly people of color and women. Theresa is the 2006 Presidential Scholar from Wisconsin and a recipient of a variety of honors and awards related to advocacy, her expertise in Spanish and Chemistry, and Mathematics.

She holds Bachelors degrees in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in pure Mathematics from Brown University.

The award is named for Violet Haas, an electrical engineering professor from 1962 to 1986, who was instrumental in the early development of the Purdue chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. The fellowship is to support the science and engineering careers of junior female faculty with children.

Jay Akridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity, presented the award along with co-host Mangala Subramaniam, director of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence and professor of sociology virtually on March 9, 2021.