South County Times

February 1, 2023 marks the beginning of Bryna Kra’s term as president of the American Mathematical Society.

Kra, the Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Mathematics at Northwestern University, will hold this elected position for two years.

We caught up with Kra in January 2023 to hear about her leadership plans and her recent attendance at the 2023 Joint Mathematics Meetings, the first JMM held in person since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Q: What are the top three goals for your presidency?A: The AMS aims to serve the entire mathematical community, and I will work to reinforce our existing programs while finding new ways to expand our reach and broaden the constituencies we support. This work is underway, with the introduction of the new AMS-Simons grants for faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions, and I look forward to seeing the innovative research that will emerge with the rollout of this program. This is just a first step in providing greater research funding for a great number of researchers.

Promoting mathematical research goes beyond providing grants to the mathematicians who carry out this work. I would like to see the AMS establish mentoring programs, facilitating training for mentors and creating stronger connections among people at different institutions.

Finally I would like to continue re-examining the role of our meetings, looking for ways to make these experiences even more valuable for attendees and ensuring access for all who want to participate in our excellent programs.  These goals are captured by the AMS tagline “Advancing Research. Creating Connections,” which serves as a guideline for all our activities.Q: Could you reflect about JMM 2023?

A: Being able, at long last, to have so many mathematicians gather in one place made the JMM even more exciting than usual.  I couldn’t walk ten feet without running into an old friend, meeting people I’d only ever seen online, hearing news about a department, or having someone share a new mathematical result.

The new JMM is a work in progress, and we will develop more ways to combine research, service, teaching, mentoring, and outreach.  No other meeting combines all these distinct aspects of our profession and I’m looking forward to the next one.

Read more: The February 2023 issue of Notices of the AMS published an edited version of the June 2022 conversation between Kra and Notices contributing writer Scott Hershberger.

Original source can be found here.