Nancy Kopell

In recent years there have been many strides in equality among the sexes and this new trend has lead to some well deserved recognition and opportunities for some of our more prominent female mathematicians. Mathematics has traditionally been a male dominated field of study and it has taken the work of several brilliant and strong willed women over the past several decades to demonstrate that women deserve a place in this area of study as well as the men. These women have been tireless in their efforts and they have provided like-minded females with role models that they can connect with and try to emulate. One such female mathematician that has had an interesting and successful career is Nancy Kopell. She has proven over the years that she deserves her place as one of the world's most knowledgeable and renowned female mathematicians.

One of the things that make her such a good role model for young women is the fact that she herself comes from a humble background. She was born and raised on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx and she was the youngest daughter in a family of four. Her parents and older sibling were all well educated with her father working as a accountant and her mother and older sister having majored in mathematics while in school. Perhaps this is the reason why she herself chose to pursue mathematics as a career choice (The Poster Project Biographies). Having made up her mind to study mathematics the next step that she was forced to take was choosing a college to attend. This was difficult because at the time there were very few women mathematicians that she could look at as examples and try to emulate.

The college that she initially decided upon was Cornell University. I t was there that she received her B.S. in mathematics. She then decided to go to graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. During this point in her studies she became painfully aware of the scarcity of fellow female graduate students and faculty. This resulted in her questioning her decision to become a mathematician and doubting her own abilities. She had the good fortune to have a friend, Stephen Smale, as her thesis advisor and he convinced her not to drop out of school. She then went on to receive her Ph.