UAH Karen Ames Memorial Lecture Series features presentation by Mary Horn of NSF and Vanderbilt University

Mary Ann Horn, a program director at The National Science Foundation and a professor of Mathematical Sciences at Vanderbilt University.

Mary Ann Horn, a program director at The National Science Foundation and a professor of Mathematical Sciences at Vanderbilt University, will be the keynote speaker for The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Dr. Karen Ames Memorial Lecture Series on Friday, Oct. 31.

Dr. Horn will give the presentation "Challenges Arising in the Study of the Development and Spread of Antibiotic Bacteria," at 2:30 p.m., in the Shelby Center for Science and Technology (room 218). Her visit to the UAH campus is sponsored by the College of Science and the Department of Mathematical Sciences. The talk is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at 2:30 p.m., in the Shelby Center for Science and Technology (room 201) suite landing.

A mathematician with experience in both academia and government, Dr. Horn specializes in applied mathematics, with a strong theoretical basis and with particular emphasis on biological applications. She has served for 10 years as a program director in the Division of Mathematical Sciences within the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Horn moved to the NSF after receiving tenure at Vanderbilt University (VU) and still holds a position as an adjoint (non-resident) professor of Mathematics at VU.

Dr. Horn has directed programs in mathematical biology and applied mathematics, as well as worked across disciplines, in particular, through collaborations with programs in the Directorate of Biological Sciences, the Directorate of Engineering, and the Directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, as well as with other agencies such as the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests include nonlinear dynamical systems, infectious disease, cellular signaling, and control theory, all areas in which she has authored papers.

Dr. Horn serves on the Board of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and is a director of the Society for Mathematical Biology. She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the National Science Foundation Award for Program Management Excellence and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship. She received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from Penn State University, and earned master's and PhD degrees in applied mathematics from The University of Virginia.

Dr. Karen Ames was a highly respected professor of Mathematical Sciences at UAH from 1990 to 2006. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, and earned a PhD in mathematics from Cornell University. Dr. Ames died Sept. 28, 2006. Shortly after her death, the Dr. Karen Ames Fellowship for Women in Mathematics and the Dr. Karen Ames Lecture Series on Applied Mathematics were formed. Persons wishing to contribute to either of these funds may do so by contacting: The UAH Foundation, Office of University Development, Shelbie King Hall, Suite 300, Huntsville, AL 35899.