Tanya Leise

Tanya L. Leise (died January 18, 2023)^[1] was an American biomathematician specializing in the mathematical modeling of circadian rhythms^[2] and related phenomena such as jet lag^[3][4][5] and hibernation.^[6] She was a professor of mathematics at Amherst College.^[7]

Education and career

Leise was a 1993 graduate of Stanford University. She went to Texas A&M University for graduate study, completing a Ph.D. there in 1998.^[7][8] Her dissertation, An Analog to the Dirichlet-to-Nuemann Map and Its Application to Dynamic Elastic Fracture, was supervised by Jay R. Walton.^[9]

After working as a visiting lecturer at Indiana University, she joined the faculty of the Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology in 1999. She moved to Amherst as a visiting assistant professor in 2004, obtained a regular-rank faculty position in 2007, and was promoted to full professor in 2018.^[8]

She died of cancer on January 18, 2023.^[1]

Service

Leise was co-chair of the Joint Committee on Women in the Mathematical Sciences, sponsored by a group of seven major mathematical societies, from 2011 to 2014.^[8]

She has also chaired the Amherst Ranked-Choice Voting Commission.^[10]

Recognition

Leise was a winner of the 2008 Lester R. Ford Award of the Mathematical Association of America for her paper with her husband, psychologist Andrew Cohen, "Nonlinear oscillators at our fingertips".^[11]