Karen Uhlenbeck

Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck, whose affiliation with the Institute for Advanced Study spans four decades, became the first woman to receive the Abel Prize, cited “for her pioneering achievements in geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrable systems, and for the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics.” Professor Emerita of Mathematics and Sid W. Richardson Regents Chair at the University of Texas at Austin, Uhlenbeck is a founder of the Institute’s Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI), a summer program that brings together mathematicians and math teachers to study and exchange ideas, providing immersive educational and professional development opportunities. Uhlenbeck also cofounded the IAS Women and Mathematics program (WAM) with fellow IAS Member Chuu-Lian Terng in 1993 to address gender imbalance and success rates among women in the mathematics field.