Autumn Kent is an American mathematician specializing in

topology Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformat ...

and

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

. She is a professor of

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and Vilas Associate at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. She is a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman and a promoter of trans rights.

Education

Kent received her B.A. from the

University of North Carolina at Asheville The University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNC Asheville, UNCA, or simply Asheville) is a Public university, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts university in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. UNC Asheville ...

in 1999. Originally, she had planned to become a high-school English teacher, but she switched to mathematics, majoring in it and in literature. She earned her Ph.D. under the advising of Cameron McAllan Gordon at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 2006; her dissertation was entitled ''Geometry and Algebra of Hyperbolic 3-manifolds''. After a four-year position as the Tamarkin Assistant Professor of Mathematics at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, she joined the faculty of University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2010. She became associate professor in 2016, and a full professor in 2020.

Career

Kent has published over 20 papers in various journals, mostly regarding

low dimensional topology In mathematics, low-dimensional topology is the branch of topology that studies manifolds, or more generally topological spaces, of four or fewer dimensions. Representative topics are the theory of 3-manifolds and 4-manifolds, knot theory, and br ...

and

knot theory In topology, knot theory is the study of knot (mathematics), mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are joined so it cannot be und ...

. Many of these were published under her former name, or deadname, before she came out as transgender. Kent served on the Policy and Advocacy Committee for the

Association for Women in Mathematics The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is a professional society whose mission is to encourage women and girls to study and to have active careers in the mathematical sciences, and to promote equal opportunity for and the equal treatment o ...

from February 2019 through January 2022. In addition, she served on the

Panel Discussion Promoting Inclusion in

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

at the 2019

Joint Mathematics Meeting The Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) is a mathematics conference hosted annually in early January by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Frequently, several other national mathematics organizations also participate. From 1998 to 2020, the JMM ...

. With Harrison Bray, she organized the LG&TBQ+ conference at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

to foster collaboration between

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

mathematicians working in

, and

dynamical systems In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a Function (mathematics), function describes the time dependence of a Point (geometry), point in an ambient space, such as in a parametric curve. Examples include the mathematical models ...

with funding from Kent's

NSF Career Award The National Science Foundation CAREER award is the most prestigious award presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States Federal Government to support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through rese ...

. She gave the Spectra Lavender Lecture at the 2022 Joint Mathematics Meeting.

Recognition

In 1999, Kent won the Frank Gerth Dissertation Award. In 2014, she was awarded an

to study moduli of

Riemann surface In mathematics, particularly in complex analysis, a Riemann surface is a connected one-dimensional complex manifold. These surfaces were first studied by and are named after Bernhard Riemann. Riemann surfaces can be thought of as deformed vers ...

s. In 2015 and 2016, she was a von Neumann Fellow at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

. She was named as a Vilas Associate at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

for 2018 and 2019. In 2019, she received a Simons Fellowship. She was elected as a Fellow of 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, meetings, ...

in the 2024 class of fellows.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Autumn 21st-century American women mathematicians American LGBTQ scientists American transgender women Living people Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars American topologists Transgender rights activists University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni University of North Carolina at Asheville alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Transgender scientists LGBTQ mathematicians 21st-century American LGBTQ people Transgender history in the United States Fellows of the American Mathematical Society 21st-century American mathematicians