Schlumberger fellowship goes to Rice grad student

Schlumberger fellowship goes to Rice grad student

BY LIA UNRAU
Rice News Staff

In recognition
of her abilities both as a researcher and a teacher, mathematics
graduate student Katherine Crowley received the Schlumberger
Foundation Fellowship for the 2000-2001 academic year.

The Schlumberger
Foundation Fellowship supports a student in the Wiess School
of Natural Sciences in mathematics, geology and geophysics,
chemistry or physics. A grant is provided by Schlumberger
Foundation Inc.

Crowley, a doctoral
candidate in the Department of Mathematics, is investigating
the relationship between the fields of geometry and combinatorial,
or discrete, mathematics.

In general terms,
Crowley is studying ways of turning problems in continuous
mathematics into problems in combinatorial mathematics,
in which a space can only be described using a finite set
of data. In particular, she studies the topology of continuous
geometric shapes, such as a torus, or a donut-shaped object,
and ways to create a combinatorial object that shares the
fundamental properties of the original shape.

An advantage
of working with discrete mathematics is that computers can
do this type of math. Because of this, Crowley’s work
opens up new ways of using computers to study continuous
mathematics, said Robin Forman, professor and chair of mathematics
and Crowley’s research adviser.

Crowley also
is working on general methods to prove that combinatorial
spaces have the desired properties and is classifying three-dimensional
spaces, one of the biggest open problems in mathematics
today.

“Rather
than avoiding examples, she thrives on them and has a rare
talent for them,” Forman wrote in a letter recommending
Crowley for the fellowship. “Week after week, she has
surprised me by presenting examples of spaces with interesting
properties, clarifying the path that her research should
follow.”

In addition
to her research, Crowley, who is admired for her lecturing
abilities, teaches a section of Mathematics 211.

Crowley received
her undergraduate degree in mathematics from St. Olaf College
in Northfield, Minn. She expects to receive her doctorate
in May 2001.