Smale Institute

A Conference in Honor of Professor Lenore Blum

Colleagues and friends of Lenore Blum will celebrate her 80th birthday with series of talks

Professor Lenore Blum was born December 18, 1942 in New York City. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968. She is a Professor-in-Residence in EECS at UC Berkeley. She is also the Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science, Emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University, and Founding Director of Project Olympus. Throughout her career, Blum has been an active member of the professional societies, including as President of the Association for Women in Mathematics, Vice President of the American Mathematical Society, and member of the MIT Mathematics Visiting Committee.

Lenore’s research, from her early work in model theory and differential fields (logic and algebra) to her more recent work in developing a theory of computation and complexity over the real numbers (mathematics and computer science), has focused on merging seemingly unrelated areas. The latter work, founding a theory of computation and complexity over continuous domains (with Felipe Cucker, Mike Shub and Steve Smale), forms a theoretical basis for scientific computation.

Lenore is internationally recognized for her work in increasing the participation of girls and women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. She was a founder of the Association for Women in Mathematics, and founding Co-Director of the Math/Science Network and its Expanding Your Horizons conferences for high school girls. At CMU, she has been faculty advisor to the Women@SCS and a member of the President's Diversity Advisory Council.

Recently, Lenore and her collaborators are focusing on the research of Conscious Turing Machine. This research has demonstrated how Theoretical Computer Science perspective and insights can improve the understanding of consciousness and related concepts, such as free will.

Lenore Blum is not only known for her pioneering contributions to the theories of real number computation, Conscious Turing Machine, cryptography, and pseudorandom number generation, but also for her efforts to increase diversity in mathematics and computer science.

EVENT INFORMATION

DATE：December 18, 2022 – 4:00pm to 7:00pm EST

LOCATION：Virtual Conference

We will celebrate the LenoreFest. We will mostly touch on her mathematics, her influence on the profession and her warm personality. Speakers will include (in probable order of appearance):

4:00pmJulie Conger - Alameda County Superior Court Judge, retired
4:10pmCarol Wood - Van Vleck Professor Emerita, Wesleyan University
4:30pmMike Singer - Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University
4:45pmFelipe Cucker - Professor City University of Hong Kong
5:15pmSteve Smale - Distinguished University Professor, City University of Hong Kong, and Professor Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley
5:25pmBreak
5:40pmJohannes Kleiner - Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy and the Munich Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences
5:45pmManuel Blum - University Professor Emeritus, Carnegie Mellon University, Professor Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley, and Visiting Chair Professor, Peking University
6:10pmMor Harchol- Balter - Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
6:25pmJudy Roitman - Professor Emerita, University of Kansas
6:35pmAvrim Blum - Professor and Chief Academic Officer, TTIC
Shelley Davidoff - Lenore's cousin
6:50pmLenore Blum - Distinguished Career Professor Emerita of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, Distinguished Professor-in-Residence of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, and Visiting Chair Professor at Peking U.

We hope that you will join us. Registration

Organizing Committee:

Avrim Blum,

Michael Shub,

Carol Wood,

Michael Xuan