Distinguished Math Professor’s Road to Success Takes her Full Circle
The headaches of heavy traffic may be universal, but University of California San Diego’s Ruth Williams works to ease the pain. The Department of Mathematics professor analyzes traffic congestion within the field of stochastic networks. This area of math describes real-world systems running at near-maximum capacity. It applies to things like the Internet when congested, assembly line glitches, customer service queues and freeways at rush hour. For this work, and for her many contributions to probability theory and collaborative research, Williams has been selected as a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Science. The U.K.’s Professor Richard Ellis joins her as a new academy member.
