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Professor Ruth Corran (1989)

Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Computer Science, Mathematics and Environmental Science of the American University of Paris.

Ruth graduated in 1994 from the University of Sydney with First Class Honours and the University Medal in Mathematics. She subsequently won a scholarship to complete further studies at the University of Sydney and in 2000 she was awarded a PhD in Pure Mathematics. In that year she was also an Associate Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of NSW.

Remarkable achievements in Ruth’s career:

In 2001 Ruth was the recipient of an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant (UK) to work on ‘reflection groups’ at the University of Leicester, England.

The following year, in 2002, she was awarded a two-year European Union Marie Curie postdoctoral prize by the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris.

In 2004, Ruth took up a postdoctoral research and teaching position at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.

Ruth became an Assistant Professor at the American University of Paris (AUP) in 2005. Since joining AUP, Ruth has been promoted to Associate Professor in 2011, and then Full Professor (Mathematics) in 2017. In 2017, Ruth also took a sabbatical semester at the University of Sydney.

Since 2006, Ruth has Chaired the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Environmental Science at the AUP, during a period which has been very challenging for the department and the AUP.

Research Interests:

Ruth’s mathematical research interests are in group and semigroup theory, particularly in terms of presentations and decision problems. She studies reflection groups, braid groups, and Garside groups and monoids. Current projects include new presentations for complex reflection groups and root systems for complex reflection groups.

Publications, Collaborations and Conferences

Ruth has papers in high-ranked Mathematics journal Advances in Mathematics, and the Journal of Algebra, among others.

She has collaborated with world-renowned mathematicians, and has participated in research and conference events in many different parts of the world, including Australia, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Switzerland, and the USA.

Ruth is currently working on innovative data science curricula for the AUP, and playing clarinet with her hometown’s wind orchestra; an instrument she took up during the long Parisian covid lockdowns. Ruth says, despite its small size, her little town is world famous for clarinet and saxophone production, and has its own wind orchestra.

In 2022, the Professor Ruth Corran Prize for Mathematics will be awarded for the first time at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ School’s 137th annual Speech Night.

In May 2022, Ruth was the recipient of an Â鶹ÊÓƵ School Alumnae Award. Her parents accepted the Award on her behalf reading a letter from Ruth:

I am delighted and honoured to receive an Â鶹ÊÓƵ School Alumna award.

I am sure that my experiences at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School positively affected many of my later study and career choices. I was surrounded by a remarkable group of academically gifted and confident young women, inspiring me to aim for excellence. My teachers at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School were committed, generous and talented.

I know that my teaching today at the American University of Paris is influenced by their rigour, enthusiasm and simply their joy in teaching their subjects. The wider and extra-curricular opportunities afforded me at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School contributed to my life-long interests in music, sport and theatre.

Moreover, I’m sure that Â鶹ÊÓƵ School’s mission, “to educate and inspire young women to be fearless thinkers with moral courage and compassion, to be agents of change in their own lives and the lives of others,” explains my own commitment to and excitement about our very similar project at the American University of Paris, preparing our “global explorer” graduates to confront contemporary global realities; forming critical thinkers in the liberal arts heritage who are able to move fluidly across cultural and linguistic boundaries.

And I know that my formative years at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School gave me the confidence to believe that girls and women need to be part of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) disciplines, are just as able as their male counterparts and take as much enjoyment in pursuing their studies and careers in STEM. This confidence has allowed me and so many of my Â鶹ÊÓƵ School peers to succeed in STEM careers, and moves me to inspire the same confidence in my daughters and AUP students to enjoy and excel in math and science.

All of these experiences were possible because of my parents’ wisdom and investment in choosing Â鶹ÊÓƵ School for me, and I’d like to thank them most of all, for giving me the wonderful opportunity that was my Â鶹ÊÓƵ School education.