Maura B. Mast is an Irish-American mathematician, mathematics educator, and academic administrator, specializing in

differential geometry Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...

and quantitative reasoning. With Ethan D. Bolker, she is the author of the textbook ''Common Sense Mathematics''. Mast is dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, part of

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

Early life and education

Mast is the daughter of Cecil B. Mast (1927–2008), a mathematics professor at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

. Her mother was Irish, and Mast has dual Irish and American citizenship. She grew up in South Bend and did her undergraduate studies at Notre Dame, with a double major in mathematics and anthropology. She completed her doctorate in mathematics in 1992 at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. Her dissertation, ''Closed Geodesics in 2-step Nilmanifolds'', concerned the

geodesic In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the locally shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a conn ...

s on curved surfaces, and was supervised by Pat Eberlein.

Career

Mast became a faculty member at the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. UNI offers more than 90 majors across five colleges. The fall 2024 total enrollment was 9,283 students. The university was initially founded in 1 ...

in 1992. After visiting professorships at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

and

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

, she moved to the

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Ma ...

in 1998. There, in 2009, she became associate vice provost for undergraduate studies. In 2015 she came to

as the first female dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. In 2022 she earned and was promoted to rank of full Professor at Fordham University.

Activism

Mast has been an active member of the Clavius Group, a group of

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and lay mathematicians, and is a strong supporter of the Jesuit vision of

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

spirituality. She has also been a passionate advocate for the advancement of women in mathematics and science, which she writes is "crucial for the future of the country and for women". She has participated in the governance of 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 ...

as Clerk and Executive Committee member of the association. Mast was chair of the Special Interest Group on Quantitative Literacy of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary edu ...

for 2006–2007.

Books

*''Common Sense Mathematics'' (with Ethan D. Bolker, Mathematical Association of America, 2016) *''Women in Mathematics: Celebrating the Centennial of the Mathematical Association of America'' (edited with Janet Beery, Sarah J. Greenwald, and Jacqueline Jensen-Vallin, Springer, 2017)

Recognition

In 2017 Mast was given the Association for Women in Mathematics Service Award. The

has included Mast in the 2020 class of AWM Fellows for "her sustained and deep contributions to promoting and encouraging the participation of women in the mathematical sciences through AWM, the Joint Committee on Women, the MAA, and through leadership in academia".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mast, Maura Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Irish mathematicians People from South Bend, Indiana University of Notre Dame alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni University of Northern Iowa faculty Wellesley College faculty University of Massachusetts Boston faculty Fordham University faculty Fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American women mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians