Ruth Charney, the Berenson Professor of Mathematics, will become the President of the American Mathematical Society on February 1.  The Notices of the American Mathematical Society recently published an interview with Charney. In the interview, Charney was asked about COVID’s impact on her own teaching, AMS’s response to COVID and the impact of the crisis on job prospects for new PhDs and postdocs.

Charney, whose research focus is geometric group theory, discussed how she first became involved with AMS and AWM (Association for Women in Mathematics) at a time when there were very few women in the field. One of Charney’s priorities as AMS president will be to increase diversity and inclusion into the study of mathematics.

Charney finished the interview by discussing the importance of professional societies like AMS to the mathematics community.