1. What was her role as a mathematician?
As well as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), Georgia Benkart was a Professor Emerita of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
She explored Lie theory, representation theory, combinatorics, and noncommutative algebra.
2. What was her journey like studying mathematics?
Benkart earned her degree in Mathematics from The Ohio State University and her MPhil and PhD degrees from Yale University.
3. What did she get involved with?
She would get involved in collaborations with more than 90 coauthors, specifically supporting the early-career researchers in the journey ahead. She later continued to mentor, advise and make it possible for them to achieve much more than they ever expected of themselves.
4. Her Legacy
Benkart received the George Polya Lecturer of the Mathematical Association of America from 2000 to 2002 and she has received the University of Wisconsin’s highest award for distinguished teaching. In addition to this, she has been an active member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) and the Board of Trustees of MSRI. Under her teaching, there have been 21 students that have completed their degrees.
Additionally, she ran as the President of the Association for the Women in Mathematics from 2009 to 2011 and was one of the five US delegates to the 2014 International Mathematical Union General Assembly.
5. She has stated:
“Have we found them all?”
References:
Halverson, T. and Ram, A., Gems from the Work of Georgia Benkart. NOTICES OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY, 69(3).