Catherine Hobbs

Last updated

Catherine Hobbs
Catherine Hobbs mathematician.jpg
Born
Catherine Ann Hobbs

1968
Alma mater University of Warwick (BSc Mathematics)
University of Liverpool (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields Mathematics
Singularity theory
Thesis On Kinematic Singularities of Low Dimension [1]  (1993)
Doctoral advisor Dr Christopher Gibson
Website https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/persons/catherine-hobbs

Catherine Ann Hobbs FIMA CMath (born 1968) is a British mathematician and educator working as a professor and Academic Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing at Coventry University. [2] Her research focuses on applications of singularity theory to the physical sciences. She has a strong interest in science policy, particularly relating to encouraging and supporting women in STEM fields. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Hobbs was born in Bristol. She attended Queen Elizabeth's School in Crediton, Devon.[ citation needed ] Her father David Hobbs was an academic at the University of Exeter in mathematics education, [4] and contributed to writing a series of influential text books for school mathematics, [5] as part of the School Mathematics Project. These introduced many concepts of modern mathematics at school level for the first time. Her mother Rosalind Hobbs was a primary school teacher. She attended the University of Warwick 1986–1989 for her first degree, where her tutors Christopher Zeeman and Caroline Series both encouraged her to consider postgraduate study. She did a PhD 1989–1993 at the University of Liverpool supervised by Chris Gibson on applications of singularity theory in robotics. [6]

Career

Her first academic appointment was as a teaching fellow at the University of Nottingham, 1992–1994. From 1994 she was at Oxford Brookes University, first as a lecturer then senior lecturer in 1997, then head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences from 2004, and Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange from 2007. She spent a sabbatical year at the University of Auckland in 2001. In 2010 she became head of the Department of Engineering Design and Mathematics at the University of the West of England in Bristol. She is presently Academic Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing at Coventry University. [7]

From 2014–2017 Hobbs was Chair of the Committee of Heads of Departments of Mathematical Sciences in the UK (HoDoMS). [8]

Since 2017, Hobbs has served as vice president of the London Mathematical Society. [9] Hobbs is a member of the Executive Committee for the set-up phase of a new UK Academy of Mathematical Sciences. [10] In 2023 Hobbs became the Honorary Education Secretary of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. [11] In September 2023, Hobbs became the Chair of the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research, succeeding Geoffrey Grimmett. [12] Hobbs is currently on the Board of the Engineering Professors' Council. [13]

Research

Her research interests are in applications of pure mathematics to the physical sciences. She has worked in applications of geometry to robotics, numerical computation of highly oscillatory integrals and dynamical systems. [8]

Selected publications

Women in STEM

Having been the only girl in her Further Mathematics A-level class, in a minority on her undergraduate and postgraduate courses and finding that she encountered very few women in academic positions during her studies, she became active in encouraging and supporting women to go into STEM. [14] She has developed mentoring schemes, run outreach activities and organised conferences and lectures to provide examples of role models to younger women. From 1994 she was active in the organisation European Women in Mathematics, including being newsletter editor, editor of two proceedings of EWM conferences and a co-organiser for the 2007 EWM conference in Cambridge, UK. [15]

She was a Member of the Government Advisory Expert Group on Women in STEM, 2009-2011, member of the National Steering Committee for the WISE Campaign (Women into Science and Engineering), 1997–2000 and a member of the European Mathematical Society's Committee for Women in Mathematics, 2004–2010. [16] She was founding chair of the London Mathematical Society's Women in Mathematics Committee in 1999. [17] The committee was awarded the inaugural Royal Society Athena Prize for Diversity in STEM in 2016. [18]

Selected publications

Additional recognition

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References

  1. Hobbs, Catherine Ann, "On kinematic singularities of low dimension", EthOS: e-theses online service, British Library, retrieved 5 September 2018
  2. "Coventry University Staff Profile". 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  3. "Why an engineering revolution is brewing". The Independent. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  4. Relf, Simon; Hobbs, David (1999). "The recruitment and selection of new teachers of mathematics: the needs of secondary schools versus the teacher training agenda". Research Papers in Education. 14 (2): 165–180. doi:10.1080/0267152990140206.
  5. Bolt, Brian; Hobbs, David (29 June 1989). 101 Mathematical Projects. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521347594.
  6. "Mathematics Genealogy Project" . Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  7. "Coventry University Staff Profile". 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  8. 1 2 "Professor Catherine Hobbs - UWE Bristol". people.uwe.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  9. "Council | London Mathematical Society". www.lms.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  10. "Council for the Mathematical Sciences". 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  11. "IMA Higher Education Service Area". 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  12. "Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research | Professor Catherine Hobbs Appointed Chair of the Heilbronn Institute" . Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  13. "Board 2021/22". Engineering Professors Council. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  14. "STEM sells". Bristol 24/7. 27 March 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  15. "8th General Meeting of EWM" . Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  16. "Statistics on Women in Mathematics". The European Mathematical Society Committee Women and Mathematics. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  17. "Women in Mathematics Committee" . Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  18. "Royal Society Athena Prize | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  19. "Why an engineering revolution is brewing". The Independent. 23 June 2016.
  20. "The importance of women in STEM". Medium. 7 March 2017.
  21. "The Road to Equal Opportunities in Mathematics". The Royal Society. 12 October 2016.
  22. "Universities must equip students for new challenges". UK: The Engineer. 9 August 2016.
  23. "Advance HE National Teaching Fellow listings". 5 August 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2023.