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[email protected] August 3, 2015 Karen E. Smith named 2016 Noether Lecturer The Association for Women in Mathematics Michigan for her outstanding work in (AWM) and the American Mathematical Society commutative algebra, which has established her (AMS) are pleased to announce that Karen E. as a world leader in the study of tight closure, an Smith will deliver the Noether important tool in the subject Lecture at the 2016 Joint introduced by Hochster and Huneke. Mathematics Meetings. Dr. Smith is It is also awarded for her more recent the Keeler Professor of Mathematics work which builds new bridges at the University of Michigan. She between commutative algebra and has been selected as the 2016 algebraic geometry via the concept of Noether Lecturer for her outstanding tight closure.” work in commutative algebra and its interface with algebraic geometry. In addition to the Satter Prize, Smith is the recipient of a Sloan Research Smith received a bachelor’s degree in Award, a Fulbright award, and mathematics in 1987 from Princeton research grants from the National University. After a year of teaching Science Foundation and the Clay high school, she went to the University of Foundation. She has twice (in 2002–2003 and Michigan and received a PhD in mathematics in 2012 – 2013) helped organize a Special Year in 1993 under the direction of Melvin Hochster. Commutative Algebra at the Mathematical Immediately after receiving her doctorate Smith Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley spent a year at Purdue University as an NSF CA.