Karen Ellen Smith is an American mathematician, specializing in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry.
Education
She completed her bachelor"s degree in mathematics at Princeton University before earning her Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics at the University of Michigan in 1993. Smith graduated in 1987 with a bachelor"s degree in mathematics from Princeton University, where she was influenced in her freshman year by Charles Fefferman. In 1988 she became a graduate student at the University of Michigan, where in 1993 she earned her Doctor of Philosophy with thesis Tight closure of parameter ideals and f-rationality under the supervision of Melvin Hochster.
Career
Currently she is the Keeler Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan. In addition to being a researcher in algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, Smith with others wrote the textbook An Invitation to Algebraic Geometry. She was a high school mathematics teacher in the academic year 1987/1988.
In the academic year 1993–1994 she was a postdoc at Purdue University working with Craig Huneke.
Since 1997 she has been a professor at the University of Michigan. The marriage produced three children, Sanelma and twins, Tapio and Helena.
Smith is regularly a visiting professor at the University of Jyväskylä.
Membership
In addition to the Satter Prize, Smith was the recipient of a 1997 Sloan Research Fellowship, a Fulbright award, and a University of Michigan Faculty Recognition Award for outstanding contributions as a teacher, scholar and member of the University community.