Karen Uhlenbeck, PhD, is an American mathematician and one of the founders of modern geometric analysis. She earned her PhD in 1968 from Brandeis University in Massachusetts. She is currently a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin. Uhlenbeck is best known for her research on geometric partial differential equations, the calculus of variations, and gauge theory. In 1990 she was only the second woman ever to give a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians. In 2019, she became the first women to win the Abel Prize, the mathematics equivalent of a Nobel Prize. She donated half of the prize money to organizations which promote more engagement of women in research mathematics. Uhlenbeck remains a staunch advocate for greater gender diversity in mathematics and in science.
