Ruth Jeannette Williams is an Australian-born American mathematician at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is ...

where she holds the Charles Lee Powell Chair as a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics. Her research concerns

probability theory Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set ...

and

stochastic process In probability theory and related fields, a stochastic () or random process is a mathematical object usually defined as a family of random variables. Stochastic processes are widely used as mathematical models of systems and phenomena that ap ...

es.

Early life and education

Williams was born in Australia and moved to the United States in 1978. Williams graduated from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

with a Bachelor of Sciences, with honors, in 1976 and a Master of Science in Mathematics in 1978. Williams went on to earn her Ph.D. from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

in 1983, under the supervision of Chung Kai-lai.

Recognition

Williams was president of the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts o ...

from 2011 to 2012. Williams is a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

and a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meeting ...

, the

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is an international society for practitioners in the fields of operations research (O.R.), management science, and analytics. It was established in 1995 with the merger o ...

, and the

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is a professional society dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science through research, publications, and community. SIAM is the world's largest scientific soci ...

. In 1998 she was an Invited Speaker of the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rena ...

in Berlin. Williams was an

(AMS) Council member at large. Her other awards and honors include: * Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1988) * Guggenheim Fellow (2001) * Best Publication Award of the INFORMS Applied Probability Society (2007), jointly with Amber L. Puha and H. Christian Gromoll *

John von Neumann Theory Prize The John von Neumann Theory Prize of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is awarded annually to an individual (or sometimes a group) who has made fundamental and sustained contributions to theory in operat ...

(2016), jointly with Martin I. Reiman for "seminal research contributions over the past several decades, to the theory and applications of stochastic networks/systems and their heavy traffic approximations". *Honorary Doctorate from the University of Melbourne (2018) * Award for the Advancement of Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences (2017), annual INFORMS meeting * Honorary Doctor of Science degree from La Trobe University in Australia * National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ruth J. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians American statisticians Women statisticians Stanford University alumni University of California, San Diego faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences John von Neumann Theory Prize winners 20th-century women mathematicians 21st-century women mathematicians Probability theorists 20th-century American women 21st-century American women