Karen Saxe

 Professor and Chair
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Macalester College

651-696-6041
saxe@macalester.edu
Office Hours Fall 2007:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:15-2:25
Monday, Wednesday 3:30-4:30
Tuesday 11-12
Other times by appointment.		 (Me and Isaac Newton,
thinking about refraction)

Research and Other Professional Activity

My research is in spectral theory of linear operators on Banach spaces, complex interpolation of linear operators, and Banach algebra theory. I have written a book, Beginning Functional Analysis (Springer-Verlag), and papers on these topics.

Other interests include the history of mathematics, national and international mathematics education, and applications of math to the social sciences.

I currently serve on the editorial board of the MAA's Math Horizons. I am a North American Regional Representative to The Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program. I am honored to be the recipient of the 2007 MAA-NCS 2007 Distinguished Teaching Award.

Teaching

Fall 2007:
Applied Calculus (Math 135-02) meets MWF 2:20--3:20 in Olin-Rice 241. Once the semester starts, all information can be found at the course Moodle site. If you want to buy ahead, the text for the course is Applied Calculus (3rd ed.) by Hughes-Hallett, Gleason, Lock, Flath, et al (Wiley 2006).

I will be on sabbatical in the spring of 2008, at the University of California at Berkeley.

Personal

I am an east-coaster, went to Bard College and then moved all the way west to do my Ph.D. at the University of Oregon. I am married to Peter Webb, also a mathematician, and we have three children: Julian, and twins Alexander and Zoë. Here is a picture of the kids taken Thanksgiving 2005 in Arizona. We love to travel, and recent trips include England, Peru, Bolivia, France, Turkey, Netherlands, and Italy. We lived in Préverenges, Switzerland from January 2005 until July 2005. When not totally taken up with work or family, I choose to read, bike, cook, garden, or cross-country ski.
Study Abroad

There are many study abroad programs available to Macalester students. Two that focus on math are  The Budapest Semester in Mathematics and Math in Moscow. Feel free to come and talk with me if you are interested in spending a semester abroad.		 Women in Math

There are also many opportunities for women in math. The Association for Women in Mathematics site serves as a good starting place. 

For summer research programs and other opportunities for students, please come see me. There are summer math programs all over the country; you can start by looking at the NSF-REU programs.

Finally, there are many good websites related to math, its applications, its history, and the profession and related professions. Here are the first three you should look at: