Robinson named AWM Fellow

Margaret Robinson, the Julia and Sarah Ann Adams Professor of Mathematics at Mount Holyoke College, has been chosen as a Fellow by the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM).

Robinson was chosen for this prestigious fellowship for her “support and empowerment of several generations of women in mathematics, for her mentoring within the Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference and the Carleton Summer Math Program, and for seeing the spark in each individual under her guidance and supporting them in the fulfillment of rewarding careers in mathematics.”

“I have been a member of the Association for Women in Mathematics all through my career. The AWM has greatly increased the presence and visibility of women in the community of mathematicians,” said Robinson. “The thing that comes to my mind at this time is that I have been so lucky to have been a part of the phenomenal mathematics and statistics department here at Mount Holyoke, where our wonderful students and faculty have inspired me throughout my career.”

"Mount Holyoke College is deeply proud of Margaret’s accomplishments and advocacy for her students and her field of study. I’m thrilled that she is being recognized both for her work on campus and for her work with the Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference and the Carleton Summer Math Program. She is very much deserving of this honor,” said Provost Lisa Sullivan.

Robinson has been recognized by AWM before; in 2020, she was conferred the Humphreys Award for mentoring.

“It is important for Mount Holyoke to have faculty representation in the mathematical community to highlight accomplishments of the women at the College,” said Derek Young, assistant professor of mathematics. “This award recognizes not only Margaret's accomplishments but those of all the women mathematicians at Mount Holyoke.”

Robinson is a number theorist whose work combines analysis, algebra and topology to understand number theoretic objects, in particular zeta functions. Questions about zeta functions and related L-functions lie at the very center of current mathematical research. Two of the Clay Mathematics Institute’s seven Millennium Prizes — often called the “Million Dollar Problems” after the prize money — are offered for solutions to questions about zeta and L-functions: the Riemann hypothesis and the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture.