2019 Winner: Suzanne Weekes

Citation:

The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is pleased to present the ninth annual M. Gweneth Humphreys Award to Suzanne Weekes, Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Weekes is a prominent applied mathematician at WPI whose research areas are dynamic materials, numerical methods, and computational fluid dynamics.

Weekes has served on the WPI faculty since 1998, where she has supervised many individual undergraduate and graduate research projects, as well as developed or led initiatives to bring students into research. Weekes was invited to serve as Director of the WPI Center for Industrial Mathematics and Statistics and was a Director of the WPI REU Program in Industrial Mathematics and Statistics, the first REU program that specifically focuses mathematics students’ summers on working on research problems that come directly from industry. Weekes is also a founding co-director of the deeply impactful MSRI-UP program, devoted to “cultivating heretofore untapped mathematical talent” with a focus on communities traditionally underrepresented in mathematics. During her tenure at MSRI-UP, over 85 women, including more than 70 women from underrepresented groups, have participated and have been mentored through the program, with the majority continuing to graduate programs after college.

Weekes’ current and former students had a range of moving tributes to offer: “Being randomly assigned to Professor Weekes as my academic adviser was most likely the best thing that could have ever happened to me here at WPI. Through her guidance and encouragement, I have discovered SIAM, traveled to my first mathematics conference, received a research grant, and will be presenting said research on an international scale. Because of her enthusiasm and belief in me, she has helped me achieve things I never thought were imaginable during my undergraduate career.” One student who writes of her struggles with self-doubt continues, “Although I had support and encouragement from various professors, none quite gave me the confidence and honest feedback like Prof. Weekes.” Another student, musing on the importance of role models, notes: “I didn’t even know that it mattered that I had no female mentors, until I really knew Suzy.” Finally, one student put it simply and powerfully: “Prof. Weekes was our champion.”

Suzanne Weekes exemplifies the tradition of Gweneth Humphreys, and the AWM is proud to pay tribute to her exceptional track record of support, guidance, unvarnished feedback, and inspiration.

This award is named for M. Gweneth Humphreys (1911–2006). Professor Humphreys earned her master’s degree from Smith College and her PhD at age 23 from the University of Chicago in 1935. She taught mathematics to women for her entire career, at Mount St. Scholastica College, Sophie Newcomb College, and finally for over thirty years at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. This award, funded by contributions from her former students and colleagues at Randolph- Macon Woman’s College, recognizes her commitment to and her profound influence on undergraduate students of mathematics.

Response:

I am humbled and thrilled to receive the 2019 Humphreys Award from the AWM. Thank you to my colleague, Sarah Olson, who nominated me for the award and to my colleagues and students who wrote in support of my nomination. I am fortunate to have spent the majority of my faculty career at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a university where undergraduate research projects and undergraduate advising are a central part of its academic plan. Also, through my work in our summer REU program and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Undergraduate Program (MSRI-UP), I have been able to work with students beyond my home institution. It is a joy to do work with our young women and to help make sure that our community is a rich, welcoming, and healthy place for those who dwell with us and for those who are passing through. It is a privilege to help our students work toward their own professional goals, to give them work and life advice (solicited and unsolicited), and to see them go off on their own amazing journeys. Thank you to all of my students who have given me the honor of learning from you, growing with you, and walking part of the way with you.