Moon Duchin | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Alma mater |
Harvard University (BA Mathematics and Women's Studies 1998)
[1] University of Chicago (MS Mathematics 1999, PhD Mathematics 2005) [1] |
Known for | Research in geometric group theory and the mathematics of gerrymandering |
Awards | Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, Guggenheim Fellowship |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Institutions | Tufts University |
Thesis | Thin triangles and a multiplicative ergodic theorem for Teichmüller geometry (2005) |
Doctoral advisor | Alex Eskin |
Moon Duchin is an American mathematician who works as a professor at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Her mathematical research concerns geometric topology, geometric group theory, and Teichmüller theory. [2] She has done significant research on the mathematics of redistricting and gerrymandering, and founded a research group, MGGG Redistricting Lab, to advance these mathematical studies and their nonpartisan application in the real world of US politics. [3] She is also interested in the cultural studies, philosophy, and history of science. [2] Duchin is one of the core faculty members and serves as director of the Science, Technology, and Society program at Tufts. [1] [2]
Duchin was given her first name, Moon, by parents "on the science-y fringes of the hippie classification". [4] She grew up knowing from a young age that she wanted to become a mathematician. [4] As a student at Stamford High School in Connecticut, she completed the regular high school mathematics curriculum in her sophomore year, and continued to learn mathematics through independent study. [4] She was active in math and science camps and competitions, and did a summer research project in the geometry of numbers with Noam Elkies. [4]
Duchin studied at Harvard University as an undergraduate, where she was also active in queer organizing, [5] and finished a double major in mathematics and women's studies in 1998. [4] [6] At the time, she was unsure how to combine the two majors into a single thesis, so she decided to write two separate ones. [7]
As a graduate student in mathematics at the University of Chicago, she continued feminist activism by teaching gender studies and pushing the university to add gender-neutral bathrooms, [4] [8] and was mentioned mockingly by name on the Rush Limbaugh show. [4] She completed her doctorate in 2005, under the supervision of Alex Eskin. [9] She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Davis, and the University of Michigan, before joining the Tufts faculty in 2011. [4] [6]
Duchin's mathematical research has focused on geometric topology, geometric group theory, and Teichmüller theory. [2] For example, one of her results is that, for a broad class of locally flat surfaces, the geometry of the surface is entirely determined by the shortest length in each homotopy class of simple closed curves. [10] In 2022 Duchin appeared in the Netflix documentary A Trip to Infinity, [11] discussing the mathematical implications of infinity.
Duchin's expertise in geometry has led her to conduct research on the mathematics of gerrymandering. A key aspect of this research is the geometric notion of the compactness of a given political district, a numerical measure that attempts to quantify how extensively gerrymandered it is. [12] “What courts have been looking for is one definition of compactness that they can understand, that we can compute, and that they can use as a kind of go-to standard”, she said in an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education. [13]
To help tackle the challenge of finding an agreed-upon standard, Duchin has developed a long-term, wide-ranging project on the mathematics of gerrymandering. [13] As a part of this project, she founded a summer program to train mathematicians to become expert witnesses in related legal cases. [14] [15] In 2016, she founded the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (MGGG) which is a nonpartisan research group that coordinates and publicizes research on geometry, computing, and their application to the redistricting process in the US. [16] [7]
In 2018-2019 she took a leave of absence from Tufts, and was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Her research focus was "Political Geometry: The Mathematics of Redistricting". [17] In 2018, Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Wolf enlisted Duchin to help him evaluate newly drawn redistricting maps for fairness. [18] This happened as a consequence of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decision which declared the state's 2011 US congressional districting map to be unconstitutional. [19] Duchin prepared a report published on February 15, 2018. [20] [21]
As of 2021 [update], Duchin has returned to her position at Tufts, and continues her work with MGGG.
In 2022, a panel of judges threw out Alabama's soon-to-be-used congressional maps, citing the fact that the percentage of black people in the state had risen to about a quarter of the population. To draw some new, fairer maps, they turned to Duchin, who came up with 4 nearly-similar maps that would put the Black and Democratic-leaning cities of Mobile and Montgomery together, therefore complementing the one Black and blue-leaning district in the state with a second one. [22]
In 2016 Duchin was named as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society "for contributions to geometric group theory and Teichmüller theory, and for service to the mathematical community". [23] She was also a Mathematical Association of America Distinguished Lecturer for that year, speaking on the mathematics of voting systems. [24] In 2018 she was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. [25]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
Moon Duchin | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Alma mater |
Harvard University (BA Mathematics and Women's Studies 1998)
[1] University of Chicago (MS Mathematics 1999, PhD Mathematics 2005) [1] |
Known for | Research in geometric group theory and the mathematics of gerrymandering |
Awards | Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, Guggenheim Fellowship |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Institutions | Tufts University |
Thesis | Thin triangles and a multiplicative ergodic theorem for Teichmüller geometry (2005) |
Doctoral advisor | Alex Eskin |
Moon Duchin is an American mathematician who works as a professor at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Her mathematical research concerns geometric topology, geometric group theory, and Teichmüller theory. [2] She has done significant research on the mathematics of redistricting and gerrymandering, and founded a research group, MGGG Redistricting Lab, to advance these mathematical studies and their nonpartisan application in the real world of US politics. [3] She is also interested in the cultural studies, philosophy, and history of science. [2] Duchin is one of the core faculty members and serves as director of the Science, Technology, and Society program at Tufts. [1] [2]
Duchin was given her first name, Moon, by parents "on the science-y fringes of the hippie classification". [4] She grew up knowing from a young age that she wanted to become a mathematician. [4] As a student at Stamford High School in Connecticut, she completed the regular high school mathematics curriculum in her sophomore year, and continued to learn mathematics through independent study. [4] She was active in math and science camps and competitions, and did a summer research project in the geometry of numbers with Noam Elkies. [4]
Duchin studied at Harvard University as an undergraduate, where she was also active in queer organizing, [5] and finished a double major in mathematics and women's studies in 1998. [4] [6] At the time, she was unsure how to combine the two majors into a single thesis, so she decided to write two separate ones. [7]
As a graduate student in mathematics at the University of Chicago, she continued feminist activism by teaching gender studies and pushing the university to add gender-neutral bathrooms, [4] [8] and was mentioned mockingly by name on the Rush Limbaugh show. [4] She completed her doctorate in 2005, under the supervision of Alex Eskin. [9] She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Davis, and the University of Michigan, before joining the Tufts faculty in 2011. [4] [6]
Duchin's mathematical research has focused on geometric topology, geometric group theory, and Teichmüller theory. [2] For example, one of her results is that, for a broad class of locally flat surfaces, the geometry of the surface is entirely determined by the shortest length in each homotopy class of simple closed curves. [10] In 2022 Duchin appeared in the Netflix documentary A Trip to Infinity, [11] discussing the mathematical implications of infinity.
Duchin's expertise in geometry has led her to conduct research on the mathematics of gerrymandering. A key aspect of this research is the geometric notion of the compactness of a given political district, a numerical measure that attempts to quantify how extensively gerrymandered it is. [12] “What courts have been looking for is one definition of compactness that they can understand, that we can compute, and that they can use as a kind of go-to standard”, she said in an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education. [13]
To help tackle the challenge of finding an agreed-upon standard, Duchin has developed a long-term, wide-ranging project on the mathematics of gerrymandering. [13] As a part of this project, she founded a summer program to train mathematicians to become expert witnesses in related legal cases. [14] [15] In 2016, she founded the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (MGGG) which is a nonpartisan research group that coordinates and publicizes research on geometry, computing, and their application to the redistricting process in the US. [16] [7]
In 2018-2019 she took a leave of absence from Tufts, and was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Her research focus was "Political Geometry: The Mathematics of Redistricting". [17] In 2018, Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Wolf enlisted Duchin to help him evaluate newly drawn redistricting maps for fairness. [18] This happened as a consequence of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decision which declared the state's 2011 US congressional districting map to be unconstitutional. [19] Duchin prepared a report published on February 15, 2018. [20] [21]
As of 2021 [update], Duchin has returned to her position at Tufts, and continues her work with MGGG.
In 2022, a panel of judges threw out Alabama's soon-to-be-used congressional maps, citing the fact that the percentage of black people in the state had risen to about a quarter of the population. To draw some new, fairer maps, they turned to Duchin, who came up with 4 nearly-similar maps that would put the Black and Democratic-leaning cities of Mobile and Montgomery together, therefore complementing the one Black and blue-leaning district in the state with a second one. [22]
In 2016 Duchin was named as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society "for contributions to geometric group theory and Teichmüller theory, and for service to the mathematical community". [23] She was also a Mathematical Association of America Distinguished Lecturer for that year, speaking on the mathematics of voting systems. [24] In 2018 she was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. [25]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)