Suzanne Marie Lenhart (born November 19, 1954) is an American mathematician who works in

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which involves a multivariable function and one or more of its partial derivatives. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" that solves the equation, similar to ho ...

optimal control Optimal control theory is a branch of control theory that deals with finding a control for a dynamical system over a period of time such that an objective function is optimized. It has numerous applications in science, engineering and operations ...

and

mathematical biology Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development ...

. She is a Chancellor's Professor of mathematics at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

,2008-present Awards & Announcements, Department of Mathematics: Suzanne Lenhart Appointed Chancellor's Professor
Univ. of Tennessee Mathematics, retrieved 2015-06-07. See also "Suzanne Lenhart Elected AAAS Fellow", later on same page. an associate director for education and outreach at the

National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis is a research institute focused on the science of mathematics and biology, located on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus. Known by its acronym NIMBioS (pronounced NIM-bus ...

, and a part-time researcher at the

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1943, the laboratory is sponsored by the United Sta ...

Education and career

Lenhart grew up in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, and was educated in the Catholic school system there. She did her undergraduate studies at

Bellarmine College Bellarmine University ( ; BU) is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky, UNited States. It opened on October 3, 1950, as Bellarmine College, established by Archbishop John A. Floersh of the Archdiocese of Louisville and named af ...

in Louisville, where

Ralph Grimaldi Ralph Peter Grimaldi (born January 1943) is an American mathematician specializing in discrete mathematics who is a full professor at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He is known for his textbook ''Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics: An Ap ...

encouraged her to prepare for graduate studies in mathematics and gave her additional tutoring in

number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...

. She entered graduate school at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

not knowing what she would specialize in, but in her second year chose partial differential equations.. She completed her doctorate in 1981 under the supervision of Lawrence C. Evans, and immediately took a tenure-track faculty position at the University of Tennessee. She added a second part-time position at Oak Ridge in 1987.

Awards and honors

Lenhart was

AWM/MAA Falconer Lecturer The Etta Z. Falconer Lecture is an award and lecture series which honors "women who have made distinguished contributions to the mathematical sciences or mathematics education". It is sponsored by the Association for Women in Mathematics and the M ...

in 1997, president 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 ...

in 2001–2003, and AWM/

SIAM Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Sonia Kovalevsky Lecturer in 2010 "in recognition of her significant research in partial differential equations, ordinary differential equations, and optimal control". She was elected as a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

(AAAS) in 2010, and became a Chancellor's Professor and SIAM Fellow in 2011. In 2013, she was selected 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, ...

(AMS) in the inaugural class. In 2017, she was selected as a fellow of the

in the inaugural class. In 2022, Lenhart was invited as an AAAS-AMS address selection committee member.

Selected publications

;Textbooks *. *. ;Research papers *. *. *. *.

References

External links

Home page
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lenhart, Suzanne Marie 1954 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Bellarmine University alumni University of Kentucky alumni University of Tennessee faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics Mathematicians from Kentucky 20th-century American women mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians