About the Editors

 

Emille Davie Lawrence (editor-in-chief) is a Term Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of San Francisco. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Spelman College and her doctoral degree from the University of Georgia and has held academic appointments at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Cal Poly Pomona. Emille is an active advocate for increasing diversity in the mathematical sciences through her work with organizations including the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education program, the National Association of Mathematicians, and as a member of the MAA Congress. One of her greatest passions is speaking to a variety of audiences not only to showcase how mathematics can be used to illuminate the answer to a practical problem, but also to highlight the joyful side of mathematics. Amongst her many outreach talks, Lawrence has given invited lectures at the National Math Festival, a playful talk about her favorite theorem for a Scientific American podcast, and has been featured in a children’s coloring book, Super Cool Scientists #2. She finds herself most happy when surrounded by her young daughter and son and hopes that one day they will always say “please” and “thank you.”

 

Amanda Ruiz is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of San Diego. She completed her undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley, where she created her own major focused on Social Movements. After some experience working in secondary education, and a realization that mathematics is a social justice issue, Amanda went back to school to pursue a degree in mathematics. Throughout her educational and professional journey, community has always been important to her. She  received a Master’s degree in Mathematics from San Francisco State University, where she started the student group Mathematistas, which created a network of female graduate students in mathematics.  She then received her PhD in mathematics from Binghamton University. While in her second year at Binghamton University, Amanda had her first child.  She became involved in rebuilding the membership of the Binghamton University Parents' Collective, supporting graduate students with children, and helped start the Graduate Women's Association. In 2013 graduated with her PhD and she and her family returned to California for a teaching and research postdoc at Harvey Mudd College. A year later she accepted an Assistant Professor position at University of San Diego, where she joined an interdisciplinary cohort of 8 women in STEM.

 

Rachelle DeCoste is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Wheaton College in MA.  She earned her PhD from UNC, Chapel Hill.  Prior to that she was an undergraduate at Connecticut College where she was inspired to become a professor at a small liberal arts college.  The opportunity to join Wheaton College, which is 45-minutes from her childhood home, arose while she was teaching at the United States Military Academy.  Rachelle studies geometric properties of nilmanifolds arising from Lie groups.  She is committed to increasing diversity in Math, and more broadly, STEM.  To this end she founded the Career Mentoring Workshop (CaMeW) for women who are about to complete their PhDs in mathematics, co-founded the Wheaton College Summit for Women in STEM, and is the director of the MAA/Tensor Women and Mathematics Grants program.  Rachelle is the mother of a son and a daughter, both born while she was on the tenure-track at Wheaton.  She enjoys baking and traveling with her family and hopes that her children grow up to be kind human beings.