Mary McCammon

Mary Lister McCammon (circa 1928 – April 11, 2008)[2] was a British mathematician and Professor at Pennsylvania State University. She was the first woman to complete a doctoral degree in mathematics at Imperial College London in 1953.[1]

Mary Lister McCammon
Born
Mary Lister
Alma materUniversity of London (BSc, MSc)
Imperial College London (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsPennsylvania State University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ThesisThe relaxation method applied to the solution of problems of viscous flow (1953)
Doctoral advisorD. N. de G. Allen[1]

Early life and education

McCammon studied mathematics at the University of London, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1949 and a master's in 1950.[3] She was the first woman to earn a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College London[4] gaining her doctorate in 1953[1] for her work on mathematical models of viscous flow supervised by D. N. de G. Allen.[1][4][5]

Career and research

She joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology for postdoctoral research.[3] McCammon joined Pennsylvania State University in 1954.[3] She introduced classes in numerical analysis, calculus and computer programming.[6] She served as director for undergraduate studies twice, first between 1963 and 1975, and again from 1988 to 1998.[3] McCammon was promoted to Professor in 1992.[3] She created the first mathematics placement test, which were given to all freshmen.[7][8]

Awards and honours
  • 1982 Christian Mary Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching[9]
  • 1984 Teresa Cohen Service Award[10]
  • 1991 Eberly College of Science Distinguished Service Award[11]
  • 1998 C.I. Knoll Award for Excellence in Teaching[7][12]

In 2000, Pennsylvania State University announced the Mary Lister McCammon Award, a scholarship for undergraduate studies, as well as the McCammon Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching named in her honour.[13][14] In 2019, Imperial College London announced the Mary Lister McCammon Summer Research Fellowship for undergraduate women mathematicians.[4]

References
  1. Lister, Mary (1953). The relaxation method applied to the solution of problems of viscous flow. imperial.ac.uk (PhD thesis). Imperial College London. hdl:10044/1/12362. OCLC 1006072068. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.587179.
  2. "Faculty and Staff News of Record: Obituaries May 8, 2008". Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
  3. S H K (1999). "Mathematics Professor is Recognized by the Mathematical Association of America". science.psu.edu. Eberly College of Science. Archived from the original on 2018-11-03. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  4. Anon (2019). "The Mary Lister McCammon Summer Research Fellowship: for women in mathematics and statistics". imperial.ac.uk. Imperial College London. Archived from the original on 2019-03-10. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  5. Mary McCammon at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  6. "NSF Award Search: Award#8813779 - Revitalization of Calculus". nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  7. "McCammon Receives C.I. Noll Award for Teaching". science.psu.edu. Eberly College of Science. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  8. "Newsletter of the MAA" (PDF). maa.org. Mathematical Association of America. 1989. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  9. "Milton S. Eisenhower Award (Lindback Award from 1958 to 1991)". Schreyer Institute. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  10. "Teresa Cohen Mathematical Service Award". math.psu.edu. Department of Mathematics. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  11. "Eberly College of Science Distinguished Service Award". Eberly College of Science. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  12. "Former Winners of the C. I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching — Eberly College of Science". science.psu.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  13. "Mary Lister McCammon Award". math.psu.edu. Department of Mathematics. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  14. "Personal Photos - James A. Sellers". personal.psu.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
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