Author Archives: Karen Saxe

About Karen Saxe

Karen Saxe is Director of the AMS Office of Government Relations which works to connect the mathematics community with Washington decision-makers who affect mathematics research and education. Over many years she has contributed much time to the AMS, MAA, and AWM, including service as vice president of the MAA and in policy and advocacy work with all three. She was the 2013-2014 AMS Congressional Fellow, working for Senator Al Franken on education issues, with focus on higher education and STEM education. In Minnesota she has served on the Citizens Redistricting Commission following the 2010 census and serves on the Common Cause Minnesota Redistricting Leadership Circle. She has three children and, when not at work especially enjoys being with them and reading, hiking and sharing good food and wine and beer with family and friends.

NSF and other funding of research grants and student loans during the COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Karen Saxe

  I hope you are all healthy, both physically and emotionally, and coping as you can. The AMS is working to support the community through this pandemic period. If you have a current or pending federal grant, or are planning … Continue reading →

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Colleges and universities across the country go to online teaching: tips for math instructors

Posted on March 16, 2020 by Karen Saxe

As you may know, the AMS Department of Education is now physically located in DC. This helps us keep up to date with policies affecting higher education. Many state governments are curtailing in-person classes at their public universities, and many … Continue reading →

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President Trump’s proposed NSF budget for 2021: what’s in it for the mathematical sciences?

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Karen Saxe

  President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 includes significant cuts to the NSF. Together we can urge Congress to reject proposed cuts and instead increase the budgets for federal science agencies. Tell Congress to prioritize science funding by … Continue reading →

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NSF released Science & Engineering Indicators

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Karen Saxe

At the end of the summer, I wrote a piece about the history of the NSF. I wrote “Another cool thing the agency does is to collect reams of data and publish the Science & Engineering Indicators. These reports give interesting statistics … Continue reading →

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Hidden Figures Honored in Congress

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Karen Saxe

Editor’s note: Andrea R. Williams works at the American Mathematical Society as an Assistant to the Associate Executive Director in the Office of Government Relations. New to the field of mathematics and all that it encompasses, Andrea is a citizen … Continue reading →

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AMS Education and Science Policy Activities at the Joint Mathematics Meetings

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Karen Saxe

Each year at the JMM, the AMS Office of Government Relations organizes four events. I look forward to greeting you at all of them. We host the Congressional Fellowship Session on Friday, January 17, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm in the Colorado CC, … Continue reading →

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AMS President Jill Pipher to Congress: “No Longer Secure: Cryptography in the Quantum Era”

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Karen Saxe

On Thursday, December 5, AMS President Jill Pipher spoke to Congressional representatives and told her attentive audience about the long history—from Caesar to present—of cybersecurity; the deep theoretical mathematics involved, and the state-of-play regarding both the potential and perils of … Continue reading →

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After a slow start, the Trump White House is ramping up its science policy activities

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Karen Saxe

President Trump waited a long time before nominating a Director for the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Indeed, OSTP lacked a director for over 700 days, the longest vacancy since the office was created in 1976. … Continue reading →

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Census 2020

Posted on November 6, 2019 by Karen Saxe

On October 9, I was interviewed by Macalester College President Brian Rosenberg about the Census. This was paired with a talk that Moon Duchin and I gave on campus two days earlier titled “Mathematical Interventions in Fair Voting,” and with … Continue reading →

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Meet the AMS Committee on Education

Posted on October 17, 2019 by Karen Saxe

The AMS has five “policy” committees, which were established in 1993 to correspond to the five major areas in which the mission of the AMS is concentrated: Education, Meetings and Conferences, the Profession, Publications, and Science Policy. Each policy committee … Continue reading →

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