ISSN 0002-9920 (print) ISSN 1088-9477 (online) of the American Mathematical Society October 2017 Volume 64, Number 9 The Rigidity of Frameworks: Theory and Applications page 973 Dido’s Problem and Its Impact on Modern Mathematics page 980 San Diego Meeting—JMM 2018 page 1067 A MERICAN M ATHEMATICAL S OCIETY To learn more about the ICS R ICS R ICS R AT ES AT ES AT ES American MathematicalM E Society’s M E M E E A E A E A H R H R H R T C T C T C H H H A M R A M R A M R M M MathematicsM C C C ResearchO C S O C S O C S M IE M IE M IE CommunitiesMUNIT MUNIT MUNIT and how they help early-career mathematicians develop cohorts for collaborative research projects: TICS R ICS R A ES AT ES M E M E Visit the MRCE Booth A(#324) E A H R H R C T T C H at the Joint Mathematics Meetings H A M R A M R M in Hall B of the San Diego Convention Center.M C C O C S O C S M IE M IE MUNIT MUNIT www.ams.org/mrc Notices of the American Mathematical Society October 2017 FEATURED 973684 980 26 995 The Rigidity of Dido’s Problem and Euphemia Lofton Haynes: Frameworks: Theory and Its Impact on Modern Bringing Education Closer to Applications Mathematics the “Goal of Perfection” by Jessica Sidman and Audrey St. John by Catherine Bandle by Susan E. Kelly, Carly Shinners, and Katherine Zoroufy Inspired by the cover image of San Diego, a favorite and the 2018 site of the Joint Mathematics Meetings, we indulge ourselves in the JMM Program (page 1067), read more about the AMS Short Course lecture topics (page 1016), make plans to attend, and make sure our memberships are up to date. We enjoy articles by Jessica Sidman and Audrey St. John on “The Rigidity of Frameworks” and by Catherine Bandle on “Dido's Problem.” We mull over opinion pieces, including a cautionary tale about a proposal to avoid election district ger- rymandering, which may come before the Supreme Court this month. We thank Susan Kelly, Carly Shinners, and Katherine Zoroufy for providing the story of Euphemia Lofton Haynes, the first African American woman to receive a PhD in mathematics. —Frank Morgan, Editor-in-Chief COMMENTARY GRADUATE STUDENT SECTION 986 Opinion: Ensuring that Mathematics is Relevant 1005 Evelyn Lamb Interview in a World of Data Science Alexander Diaz-Lopez Johanna S. Hardin and Nicholas J. Horton 1009 WHAT IS...Perimeter? 992 Opinion: Flexibility in the Mathematics Major Editors Would Benefit Students and Society William Yslas Vélez 1010 Gerrymandering, Sandwiches, and Topology Pablo Soberón 1020 Opinion: A Formula Goes to Court: Partisan Gerrymandering and the Efficiency Gap FROM THE AMS SECRETARY Mira Bernstein and Moon Duchin 994 Statistics on Women Mathematicians, 1043 Book Review: The Mathematician's Shiva Compiled by the AMS Dennis DeTurck 1004 2018 AMS Elections: Call for Suggestions 1026 Report of the AMS Treasurer—2016 TEXTBOOK TEXTBOOKS A MERICAN M ATHEMATICAL S OCIETY Notices FROM THE AMS of the American Mathematical Society Markov Chains 2018 JOINT MATHEMATICS MEETINGS and Mixing Times 1016 AMS Short Course in San Diego TEXTBOOK Second Edition 1041 Mathematical Sciences Employment Center David A. Levin, University of Oregon, Eugene, and in San Diego Yuval Peres, Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA 1067 Program Announcements Praise for the first edition: Markov Chains and Mixing Times is a magical book, 1096 San Diego City Map managing to be both friendly and deep. It gently intro- duces probabilistic techniques so that an outsider can 1113 Program Timetable follow. At the same time, it is the first book covering the geometric theory of Markov chains and has much that will be new to experts. It is certainly THE book that I will use 1126 San Diego Meeting Registration Forms to teach from. I recommend it to all comers, an amazing achievement. —Persi Diaconis, Mary V. Sunseri IN EVERY ISSUE Professor of Statistics and Mathematics, Stanford University 1033 Inside the AMS Featuring three new chapters (on monotone chains, the exclusion process, and stationary times), the NO NOT USE 1034 Mathematics People second edition of this introduction to the modern theory of Markov chains includes smaller additions 1038 Mathematics Opportunities and corrections throughout, with updated notes at the AVAILABLE IN EBOOK FORMAT end of each chapter informing the reader of recent 1046 BookShelf research developments. 2017; 464 pages; Hardcover; ISBN: 978-1-4704-2962-1; List US$84; 1047 The Back Page AMS members US$67.20; Order code MBK/107 AVAILABLE IN EBOOK FORMAT 1048 New Publications Offered by the AMS AVAILABLE IN EBOOK FORMAT 1057 Classified Advertising 1062 Mathematics Calendar 1063 Meetings and Conferences of the AMS Cover: “San Diego Harbor on a clear day,” by David Toussaint. Courtesy of Getty Images. 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Opinions expressed in signed Notices articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect opinions of the editors or policies of the American Mathematical Society. The Rigidity of Frameworks: Theory and Applications Jessica Sidman and Audrey St. John Communicated by Benjamin Braun icture a swarm of robots flying to move a piece of rubble from a disaster site, an engineer design- ing the roof of a stadium, or a protein docking an inhibiting drug. What these scenarios, pulled Pfrom robotics, computer-aided design (CAD), and structural biology, have in common is that each is gov- erned by a finite system of geometric constraints that can be analyzed using ideas from rigidity theory.