AMS Updates

Maddock Named AMS Interim Executive Director

Lucy Maddock was appointed interim executive director of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) as of July 1, 2023. Maddock is chief financial officer (CFO) and associate executive director for finance and administration at the AMS.

“We’re delighted that Lucy Maddock has agreed to serve as interim executive director of the American Mathematical Society, continuing her outstanding business decision-making leadership for the past three years at the AMS,” said Bryna Kra, AMS president.

Maddock began her term as interim executive director serving alongside Executive Director Catherine Roberts, who transitioned into an advisory role before leaving the AMS at the end of August 2023. Upon the installation of a new AMS executive director, Maddock will resume her role of CFO.

“Lucy has served as a senior leader in organizations for more than two decades,” said Joseph Silverman, chair of the AMS board of trustees. “We will look to this extensive experience to inform and guide the AMS through the transitions of the coming months.”

A key member of the AMS senior leadership team, Maddock has been responsible for maintaining the organization’s overall fiscal health, helping to establish financial targets and assessing the results. As the AMS’s primary financial advisor, she has managed the processes and procedures to ensure an audit-ready position and has overseen contract creation, management, and compliance. Maddock’s duties include supervising the fiscal department and the directors of human resources and of facilities and purchasing at the AMS.

“I am honored to be appointed interim executive director,” Maddock said. “I look forward to continuing the work of the AMS to serve the entire mathematical community. Catherine Roberts positioned the AMS for a thriving future in many ways.”

—AMS Communications

Call Issued for 2025 MRC Organizer Proposals

The Mathematics Research Communities (MRC) program of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) is accepting organizer proposals for the 2025 summer conferences. We seek proposals focusing in any area of pure, applied, or interdisciplinary mathematics, as well as proposals focused on problems of relevance in the business, entrepreneurship, government, industry, and nonprofit (BEGIN) arenas.

The MRC program is aimed at jumpstarting collaborative groups of early-career researchers in new, rapidly evolving areas of mathematics and its applications. Central to the program are four summer conferences organized by teams of investigators who can engage early-career individuals in hands-on research and guide them in developing as professionals. We are looking for creative proposals that involve groups of 20 or 40 early-career mathematicians for an intensive week of collaborative problem-solving, research, and professional development.

Full proposals are due November 30, 2023. For more information, please refer to the document called “How to Develop a Proposal” at http://www.ams.org/programs/research-communities/mrc-proposals-25.

—AMS Programs

Math Matters in Supreme Court Case

Mathematics, gerrymandering, and voting rights were at the heart of a June 2023 decision by the US Supreme Court that the Alabama legislature drew congressional maps that minimized Black voting power in the state.

“In considering redistricting in Alabama, the Supreme Court received several amici briefs and examined alternate maps submitted by mathematical scientists,” said Karen Saxe, AMS associate executive director and director of government relations. In the trial, a crucial brief submitted by three computational redistricting experts explained that the number of possible Alabama districting maps is at minimum in the “trillion trillions.”

The 112-page decision regularly cited Moon Duchin, a Tufts University geometer, and Kosuke Imai, a Harvard University professor with joint appointments in the departments of government and statistics. Duchin’s name was mentioned 46 times, in such contexts as this footnote: “After all, as Duchin explained, any map produced in a deliberately race-predominant manner would necessarily emerge at some point in a random, race-neutral process.”

Duchin and Imai helped write the 2018 AMS Policy Statement on Drawing Voting Districts and Partisan Gerrymandering, which the AMS coauthored with the American Statistical Association. Read the full policy statement at https://www.ams.org/about-us/governance/policy-statements/gerrymandering.

“That statement notes that modern mathematical, statistical, and computing methods can be used to identify district plans that give one of the parties an unfair advantage in elections,” Saxe said. “It is very good to see these methods being presented in court cases, and—specifically and currently--being referred to in the SCOTUS June ruling that Alabama maps likely diluted Black votes.”

To read more about how mathematicians are working to end gerrymandering, download a 2022 article from Notices of the AMS at https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202204/rnoti-p616.pdf.

—AMS Communications

Deaths of AMS Members

Robert D. Bechtel, of Denver, Colorado, died on May 13, 2018. Born on April 2, 1931, he was a member of the Society for 57 years.

Richard Body, of Canada, died on April 5, 2022. Born on August 2, 1946, he was a member of the Society for 1 year.

Mary V. Connolly, of South Bend, Indiana, died on June 15, 2023. Born on November 1, 1939, she was a member of the Society for 54 years.

Carl C. Ganser, of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, died on April 15, 2021. Born on August 7, 1934, he was a member of the Society for 59 years.

Jay R. Goldman, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, died on August 13, 2022. Born on August 2, 1940, he was a member of the Society for 60 years.

Patricia Clark Kenschaft, of Montclair, New Jersey, died on November 20, 2022. Born on March 25, 1940, she was a member of the Society for 58 years.

Ronald M. Mathsen, of Wausau, Wisconsin, died on August 10, 2022. Born on October 6, 1938, he was a member of the Society for 58 years.

Bengt C. H. Nagel, of Sweden, died on September 21, 2016. Born on January 17, 1927, he was a member of the Society for 34 years.

L. Raphael Patton, of Moraga, California, died on December 6, 2021. Born on January 14, 1942, he was a member of the Society for 48 years.

Alan H. Schoen, of Carbondale, Illinois, died on July 26, 2023. Born on December 11, 1924, he was a member of the Society for 42 years.

Herbert A. Steinberg, of Armonk, New York, died on July 28, 2023. Born on September 19, 1929, he was a member of the Society for 71 years.

Michael Voichick, of Madison, Wisconsin, died on July 1, 2021. Born on May 28, 1934, he was a member of the Society for 60 years.

D. Wales, of Pasadena, California, died on July 17, 2023. Born on July 31, 1939, he was a member of the Society for 61 years.

Kenneth G. Whyburn, of Atherton, California, died on June 19, 2022. Born on September 3, 1944, he was a member of the Society for 57 years.

Dorothy W. Wolfe, of Haverford, Pennsylvania, died on April 5, 2023. Born on August 20, 1920, she was a member of the Society for 60 years.