Suzanne Lenhart, whose research applications range from improving CPR to modeling rabies in raccoons, has been named a Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) fellow.
Lenhart, a UT Knoxville professor of mathematics and faculty adviser for the SIAM student chapter at UT Knoxville, is being recognized for her research in optimal control with biological and physical applications and her significant contributions to advance undergraduate research. In addition to optimal control, she studies partial differential equations and disease, population, environmental and natural resource models.
Lenhart said she felt “quite pleased” when SIAM gave her the good news.
In addition to her efforts in the academic realm, Lenhart has spent many years encouraging women and underrepresented minorities to pursue mathematics and related fields. Lenhart served as the national president of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) 2001-2003, and won the UT College of Arts and Science Diversity Leadership Award in 2009.
“I have worked hard for many years and continue to work for diversity in science opportunities,” Lenhart said. “Many of my outreach activities have been focused on encouraging female students at all levels to appreciate mathematics and to consider scientific careers.”
Lenhart was awarded the AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lectureship at SIAM’s annual meeting last year in acknowledgment of her contributions. She is a past member of the SIAM Board of Trustees and serves on the education committees of AWM and SIAM.
SIAM named 34 academics and professionals to its 2011 Class of Fellows for their outstanding contributions to applied mathematics and computational science through research in the field and service to the larger community. This distinguished group of individuals from wide-ranging areas was nominated by the SIAM community and will be recognized in July at the seventh International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics in Vancouver, British Columbia.