Panel Discussion: "Imagining Mathematics in the Future: Hopes and Challenges"
Mathematics is undergoing profound transformations shaped by new technologies, evolving educational practices, changing institutions, and expanding connections with society. Bringing together voices from academia, education, and emerging technological initiatives, this panel will reflect on the future of mathematics, the challenges we face, the opportunities ahead, and the role mathematicians can play in shaping a more inclusive, creative, and impactful discipline.
This conversation invites researchers, educators, students, and the broader public to imagine together the future directions of mathematics and its role in addressing the intellectual and societal challenges of the coming decades.
Panelists
Maria Klawe
Math for America
Maria Klawe is President of Math for America and former President of Harvey Mudd College. She previously served as dean of engineering and professor of computer science at Princeton University, and held academic and research positions at the University of British Columbia, IBM Research, and the University of Toronto. Trained as a mathematician, she has held leadership roles in numerous scientific and educational organizations. Klawe was ranked 17 on Fortune’s 2014 list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.
Jaqueline Mesquita
Unicamp/UMALCA
Jaqueline Mesquita is a Full Professor at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. She serves as President of the Brazilian Mathematical Society and of the Mathematical Union of Latin America and the Caribbean (UMALCA). Her research focuses on functional differential equations and their applications to mathematical biology.
Talitha Washington
Howard University
Talitha Washington is Executive Director of the Center for Applied Data Science & Analytics at Howard University, where she serves as the Sean McCleese Endowed Chair, Professor of Mathematics, and co-Chair of the President’s AI Advisory Council. She is also Principal Investigator of the U.S. NSF-funded Research Coordination Network on AI Jobs, Skills, and Credentials, focused on the evolving AI workforce, and Fellow of the AMS, AWM, and AAAS. She is a former NSF program director and Past President of the AWM.
Laurens Williams
Harvard University/First Proof
Lauren K. Williams is the Dwight Parker Robinson Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. Her research is in algebraic combinatorics. She is also involved with First Proof, which studies AI’s ability to generate mathematical proofs. She was an invited speaker at the ICM 2022, and has received numerous honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Sloan Fellowship, and NSF CAREER Award.