Elizabeth Meckes

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Elizabeth Samantha Meckes (1980–2020)[1] was an American mathematician specializing in probability theory. Her research included work on Stein's method for bounding the distance between probability distributions and on random matrices. She was a professor of mathematics, applied mathematics, and statistics at Case Western Reserve University.[2] She died in December 2020 after a brief battle with cancer.[3]

Education and career[edit]

Meckes went to Case Western Reserve University as an undergraduate, and graduated summa cum laude in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a minor in German. She remained at Case for a master's degree, which she completed in 2002. Her master's thesis, Harmonic Maps Between Graphs, was supervised by E. Jerome Benveniste.[4]

Next, Meckes became a doctoral student of Persi Diaconis at Stanford University. She completed her Ph.D. there in 2006; her dissertation was An Infinitesimal Version of Stein’s Method.[4][5]

After postdoctoral research at Cornell University and the American Institute of Mathematics, Meckes returned to Case as a faculty member in 2007. She was tenured in 2013 and promoted to full professor in 2018.[4]

Books[edit]

With Mark W. Meckes, Elizabeth Meckes wrote the textbook Linear Algebra (Cambridge University Press, 2018).[6] She is also the author of The Random Matrix Theory of the Classical Compact Groups (Cambridge University Press, 2019).[7]

Recognition[edit]

In 2019, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) recognized Meckes as an IMS Fellow, "for contributions to Stein’s method and to random matrix theory".[8] She was twice named a Simons Fellow in Mathematics, in 2013 and 2020. She was a Fellow of the American Institute of Mathematics, 2006–2011.

In 2023, Case Western Reserve University began hosting an annual seminar series in her honor.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Birth year from Czech National Library, retrieved 2019-09-02
  2. ^ Elizabeth Meckes, Professor, Case Western Reserve University, retrieved 2019-09-02
  3. ^ "Remembering Professor of Mathematics Elizabeth Meckes", The Daily, Case Western Reserve University, December 18, 2020, retrieved 2022-01-18
  4. ^ a b c Curriculum vitae (PDF), retrieved 2019-09-02
  5. ^ Elizabeth Meckes at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  6. ^ Hunacek, Mark (October 2018), "Review of Linear Algebra", MAA Reviews
  7. ^ Reviews of The Random Matrix Theory of the Classical Compact Groups:
  8. ^ 2019 IMS Fellows Announced, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, May 14, 2019
  9. ^ The Annual Elizabeth S. Meckes Memorial Lecture, retrieved 2024-04-02

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]