Raegan Higgins
{{short description|American mathematician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{infobox scientist
| name = Raegan J. Higgins
| image =
| birth_date = Baton Rouge, LA
| birth_place =
| nationality =
| fields =
| workplaces =
| alma_mater =
| doctoral_advisor = Allan Clemens Peterson and Lynn Erbe
| known_for = Work with the EDGE program
}}
Raegan J. Higgins is an American mathematician and co-director of the EDGE program for Women. She is also one of the co-founders of the website Mathematically Gifted & Black, which highlights the accomplishments of Black mathematicians.{{Cite web|title=About Us|url=https://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/about-us/|website=Mathematically Gifted & Black}}
Research
Education
Higgins went to Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana. She attended University of Nebraska-Lincoln for her graduate studies studying under the advisement of Lynn Erbe and Allan Clemens Peterson.{{Cite web|title=Raegan Higgins – The Mathematics Genealogy Project|url=https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=122842|access-date=June 10, 2020|website=genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu}} She graduated in 2008 and was one of the first two African-American women to earn a doctoral degree in Mathematics from University of Nebraska-Lincoln.{{Cite web|title=Raegan Higgins|url=https://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/honorees/raegan-higgins/|access-date=June 10, 2020|website=Mathematically Gifted & Black|language=en-US}} Higgins's doctoral dissertation is Oscillation theory of dynamic equations on time scales.{{Cite journal |last=Higgins |first=Raegan J |date=2008 |title=Oscillation theory of dynamic equations on time scales |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3297856/ |journal=Doctoral Dissertation |pages= |via=ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln}}
Career
Higgins, along with Ami Radunskaya, is co-director of the EDGE program which supports women who are pursuing graduate degrees and ultimately careers in the mathematical sciences. She participated in the EDGE program in 2002 as a graduate student. She was also a workshop facilitator from 2014 to 2017.{{Cite web|title=EDGE for Women Past Programs|url=https://www.edgeforwomen.org/past-programs/|access-date=June 10, 2020}} Professor Higgins became Co-Director of the program in 2017.{{Cite web|title=EDGE for Women Directors|url=https://www.edgeforwomen.org/edge-directors/|access-date=June 10, 2020}}
In 2008, Higgins joined the faculty at Texas Tech University in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics.{{Cite web|title=Texas Tech Faculty Page|url=https://www.depts.ttu.edu/math/raeganhiggins/index.php|access-date=June 10, 2020}} She earned tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor, becoming the first African American to receive Tenure and Promotion in the Mathematics & Statistics Department at Texas Tech.
Higgins's published work reflects her research on time scales{{Cite journal |last=Higgins |first=Raegan |date=2016 |editor-last=Letzter |editor-first=Gail |editor2-last=Lauter |editor2-first=Kristin |editor3-last=Chambers |editor3-first=Erin |editor4-last=Flournoy |editor4-first=Nancy |editor5-last=Grigsby |editor5-first=Julia Elisenda |editor6-last=Martin |editor6-first=Carla |editor7-last=Ryan |editor7-first=Kathleen |editor8-last=Trivisa |editor8-first=Konstantina |title=Asymptotic and Oscillatory Behavior of Dynamic Equations on Time Scales |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-34139-2_16 |journal=Advances in the Mathematical Sciences |language=en |location=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |pages=341–355 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-34139-2_16 |isbn=978-3-319-34139-2|url-access=subscription }} and the biological application of that research.{{Cite journal |last=Higgins |first=Raegan |last2=Mills |first2=Casey J. |last3=Peace |first3=Angela |date=2020-11-07 |title=A Time Scales Approach for Modeling Intermittent Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11538-020-00821-z |journal=Bulletin of Mathematical Biology |language=en |volume=82 |issue=11 |pages=145 |doi=10.1007/s11538-020-00821-z |issn=1522-9602|url-access=subscription }}
Honors and Grant Awards
In 2020, Higgins received the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) service award.{{Cite web|title=AWM Service Awards 2020|url=https://awm-math.org/awards/awm-service-award/awm-service-award-2020/|access-date=June 10, 2020}} She has won several National Science Foundation grants for various programs in mathematical education.{{Cite web|title=NSF Award Search: Award#1852944 – Leveraging Learning Assistantships, Mentoring, and Scholarships to Develop Self-Determined Mathematics Teachers for West Texas|url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1852944&HistoricalAwards=false|access-date=June 10, 2020|website=nsf.gov}}{{Cite web|title=NSF Award Search: Award#0831420 – The West Texas Middle School Math Partnership|url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0831420&HistoricalAwards=false|access-date=June 10, 2020|website=nsf.gov}}{{Cite web|title=NSF Award Search: Award#1356604 – South Plains Mathematics Fellows|url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1356604&HistoricalAwards=false|access-date=June 10, 2020|website=nsf.gov}}{{Cite web|title=NSF Award Search: Award#1701664 – Pre-Alliance Planning: The Bridges Across Texas Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation|url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1701664&HistoricalAwards=false|access-date=June 10, 2020|website=nsf.gov}} She also earned the 2021 AWM Gweneth Humphreys Award.{{Cite news|date=Jan–Feb 2021|title=Raegan Higgins Wins the Humphreys Award|work=AWM Newsletter|url=https://awm-math.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AWM-News-JanFeb-2021-WEB.pdf}} She co-delivered an invited plenary address at the 2021 National Math Festival.{{Cite web|date=November 18, 2020|title=2021 Festival Online|url=http://www.nationalmathfestival.org/join/2021-festival-online|access-date=June 7, 2021|website=National Math Festival|language=en}}
Higgins' accomplishments earned her recognition by Mathematically Gifted & Black as a Black History Month 2018 Honoree.{{Cite web|title=Raegan Higgins|url=https://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/honorees/raegan-higgins/|website=Mathematically Gifted & Black}}
References
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External links
- [https://www.depts.ttu.edu/math/raeganhiggins/index.php Home page]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmvAzNWjJAI Video interview] at Meet a Mathematician!
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Category:21st-century American mathematicians
Category:African-American mathematicians
Category:African-American women mathematicians
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century African-American women
Category:21st-century African-American people
Category:21st-century American women mathematicians
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