Abigail Thompson
{{short description|American mathematician}}
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Abigail A. Thompson (born 1958 in Norwalk, Connecticut) is an American mathematician. She works as a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Davis, where she specializes in knot theory and low-dimensional topology.[https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/research/profiles/?fac_id=thompson Faculty profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927082255/https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/research/profiles/?fac_id=thompson |date=2018-09-27 }}, UC Davis, retrieved 2014-12-25.
Education and career
Thompson graduated from Wellesley College in 1979, and earned her Ph.D. in 1986 from Rutgers University under the joint supervision of Martin Scharlemann and Julius L. Shaneson.{{mathgenealogy|id=6024}} After visiting positions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of California, Berkeley, she joined the University of California Davis faculty in 1988. Thompson had a postdoctoral fellowship with the National Science Foundation from 1988 to 1991 and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship from 1991 to 1993.{{Cite web|url=https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/thompson.htm|title=Abigail Thompson|website=www.agnesscott.edu|access-date=2018-10-06}} She was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in 1990–1991, 2000–2001, and 2015–2016.{{Cite web|title=Abigail Thompson|url=https://www.ias.edu/scholars/abigail-thompson|website=Institute for Advanced Study|date=December 9, 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}} She became the Chair of the Department of Mathematics at UC Davis in 2017.{{Cite web|title=Biographical Sketch|url=https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~thompson/CV5-15-19.pdf|last=Thompson|first=Abigail|date=May 15, 2019|website=Mathematics Department at UC Davis|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927041118/https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~thompson/CV5-15-19.pdf|archive-date=September 27, 2019|access-date=May 18, 2020}} She was one of the vice presidents of the American Mathematical Society; her term ran from February 1, 2019 to January 31, 2022.{{Cite web|title=Officers of the American Mathematical Society|url=https://www.ams.org/about-us/governance/officers/officers|website=American Mathematical Society|language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}
Research
Education reform
Thompson has also been an activist for reform of primary and secondary school mathematics education. She has publicly attacked the Mathland-based curriculum in use in the mid-1990s when the oldest of her three children began studying mathematics in school, claiming that it provided an inadequate foundation in basic mathematical skills, left no opportunity for independent work, and was based on poorly written materials. As an alternative, she founded a program at UC Davis to improve teacher knowledge of mathematics, and became the director of the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, a month-long summer mathematics camp for high school students.{{MacTutor|id=Thompson_Abigail|title=Abigail A Thompson}}
Recognition
Thompson won the 2003 Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics for her research on thin position and Heegard splittings. In 2013, she became one of the inaugural fellows of the American Mathematical Society.[https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society], retrieved 2014-12-25.
In February 2020, Thompson was recognized by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) as a "Hero of Intellectual Freedom".{{Cite web|title=Award for Math Professor Abigail Thompson|url=https://lettersandscience.ucdavis.edu/blog/award-math-professor-abigail-thompson|last=Oskin|first=Becky|date=2020-03-11|website=UC Davis College of Letters and Science|language=en|access-date=2020-05-19}}{{Cite web|title=UC–Davis Professor, Abigail Thompson, Recognized as 2020 Hero of Intellectual Freedom by ACTA|url=https://www.goacta.org/news/ucdavis-professor-abigail-thompson-recognized-as-2020-hero-of-intellectual-freedom-by-acta|website=www.goacta.org|date=February 26, 2020 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-19}} The award is due to an op-ed Thompson published in The Wall Street Journal on December 19, 2019, denouncing the use of mandatory diversity statements in faculty hiring practices in the University of California system.{{Cite news|last=Thompson|first=Abigail|date=2019-12-19|title=Opinion {{!}} The University's New Loyalty Oath|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-universitys-new-loyalty-oath-11576799749|access-date=2020-05-19|issn=0099-9660}} Thompson delivered the keynote address at ACTA's ATHENA Roundtable Conference on November 13, 2020. In December 2019, she published a similar opinion piece under the heading "A word from... Abigail Thompson" in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society,{{Cite journal|last=Thompson|first=Abigail|date=December 2019|title=A word from... Abigail Thompson|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201911/rnoti-p1778.pdf|journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society|volume=66|issue=11|pages=1778–1779}} of which she was one of the Vice Presidents at the time. Both opinion pieces generated a lot of discussion within the mathematics community{{Cite web|title=Letters to the Editor. Responses to "A Word from... Abigail Thompson"|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202001/rnoti-o1.pdf|website=Notices of the American Mathematical Society (Online Only)|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108093940/https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202001/rnoti-o1.pdf|archive-date=January 8, 2020|access-date=May 21, 2020}} and the academy in general,{{Cite web|title=Mathematician comes out against mandatory diversity statements, while others say they continue to be useful -- with some caveats|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/19/mathematician-comes-out-against-mandatory-diversity-statements-while-others-say-they|last=Flaherty|first=Colleen|date=November 19, 2019|website=Inside Higher Ed|language=en|access-date=2020-05-21}}{{Cite web|title=Mathematicians divided over faculty hiring practices that require proof of efforts to promote diversity|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/mathematicians-divided-over-faculty-hiring-practices-require-proof-efforts-promote|last=Price|first=Michael |date=2020-01-14|website=Science {{!}} AAAS|language=en|access-date=2020-05-21}}{{Cite journal|title='Diversity statements' divide mathematicians|url=https://www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagazine/17_january_2020/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1554019|last=Price|first=Michael|date=January 17, 2020|journal=Science|volume = 367|issue = 6475|page = 239|doi = 10.1126/science.367.6475.239|pmid = 31949062| bibcode=2020Sci...367..239P | s2cid=210700515 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-21}}{{Cite web|title=How Diversity Screening At The University Of California Could Degrade Faculty Quality|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpoliakoff/2020/01/21/how-diversity-screening-at-the-university-of-california-could-degrade-faculty-quality/|last=Poliakoff|first=Michael|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2020-05-21}} with official responses from the Association for Women in Mathematics,{{Cite web|title=Response to Dr. Thompson's Letter in the AMS Notices|url=https://awm-math.org/policy-advocacy/endorsements/#4482994efa9f7dabd|website=Association for Women in Mathematics|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511124937/https://awm-math.org/policy-advocacy/endorsements/|archive-date=May 11, 2020|access-date=May 22, 2020}} and the UC Davis Chancellor and Vice Chancellor{{Cite web|title=May and Tull Defend Diversity-Contribution Statements|url=https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/may-tull-defend-diversity-contribution-statements|date=2019-12-26|website=UC Davis|language=EN|access-date=2020-05-21}}{{Cite news|date=2019-12-26|title=Opinion {{!}} UC Davis Defends Its 'Diversity Statements'|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/uc-davis-defends-its-diversity-statements-11577392382|access-date=2020-05-21|issn=0099-9660}} among others.
Selected publications
;Research papers
- {{citation
| last1 = Scharlemann | first1 = Martin
| last2 = Thompson | first2 = Abigail
| contribution = Thin position for 3-manifolds
| doi = 10.1090/conm/164/01596
| mr = 1282766
| pages = 231–238
| publisher = Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI
| series = Contemp. Math.
| title = Geometric topology (Haifa, 1992)
| volume = 164
| year = 1994| isbn = 978-0-8218-5182-1
}}.
- {{citation
| last1 = Scharlemann | first1 = Martin
| last2 = Thompson | first2 = Abigail
| issue = 2
| journal = Journal of Differential Geometry
| mr = 1267894
| pages = 343–357
| title = Thin position and Heegaard splittings of the 3-sphere
| url = http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.jdg/1214454875
| volume = 39
| year = 1994| doi = 10.4310/jdg/1214454875
| doi-access = free
}}.
- {{citation
| last = Thompson | first = Abigail
| doi = 10.4310/MRL.1994.v1.n5.a9
| issue = 5
| journal = Mathematical Research Letters
| mr = 1295555
| pages = 613–630
| title = Thin position and the recognition problem for S3
| volume = 1
| year = 1994| doi-access = free
}}.
- {{citation
| last = Thompson | first = Abigail
| doi = 10.1016/0040-9383(96)00010-9
| issue = 2
| journal = Topology
| mr = 1415602
| pages = 505–507
| title = Thin position and bridge number for knots in the 3-sphere
| volume = 36
| year = 1997| doi-access = free
}}.
;Books
- {{citation
| last1 = Adams
| first1 = Colin
| author1-link = Colin Adams (mathematician)
| last2 = Hass
| first2 = Joel
| author2-link = Joel Hass
| last3 = Thompson
| first3 = Abigail
| isbn = 0-7167-3160-6
| location = New York
| publisher = W.H. Freeman and Company
| title = How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide
| year = 1998
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/howtoacecalculus0000adam
}}.{{citation|url=http://www.maa.org/publications/maa-reviews/how-to-ace-calculus-the-streetwise-guide|title=Review of How to Ace Calculus|first=Steve|last=Benson|date=December 12, 1998|publisher=Mathematical Association of America|work=MAA Reviews}}
- {{citation
| last1 = Adams | first1 = Colin | author1-link = Colin Adams (mathematician)
| last2 = Hass | first2 = Joel | author2-link = Joel Hass
| last3 = Thompson | first3 = Abigail
| isbn = 0-7167-4174-1
| location = New York
| publisher = W.H. Freeman and Company
| title = How to Ace the Rest of Calculus: The Streetwise Guide
| year = 2001}}.{{citation|url=http://www.maa.org/publications/maa-reviews/how-to-ace-the-rest-of-calculus-a-streetwise-guide|title=Review of How to Ace the Rest of Calculus|first=Kevin|last= Anderson |date=December 12, 2002|publisher=Mathematical Association of America|work=MAA Reviews}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~thompson/ Home page]
{{Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics recipients}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Abigail A.}}
Category:20th-century American mathematicians
Category:20th-century American women mathematicians
Category:21st-century American mathematicians
Category:21st-century American women mathematicians
Category:Wellesley College alumni
Category:Rutgers University alumni
Category:University of California, Davis faculty
Category:Fellows of the American Mathematical Society