Laura Wells Murray, Ph.D. ’14
Assistant professor of mathematics
EDUCATION: Ph.D., mathematics, University of Notre Dame; bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and humanities, Providence College. She achieved the highest academic rank in both majors and was one of two top scholars in the Class of 2014 with a perfect 4.0 GPA.
BEGAN TEACHING AT PC: Spring 2021
EXPERTISE: Algebraic topology, topological quantum field theories, higher symmetries, and category theory
NEWSWORTHY: Murray received a grant through the National Science Foundation program called Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences for her project, Quantum Field Theories and Elliptic Cohomology. It is the first NSF grant awarded to the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Murray’s grant supports undergraduate research assistants, giving students the opportunity to work on projects that introduce them to topics in topology and category theory. The grant also will fund a conference on topology and mathematical physics at PC in November 2024.
CURRENT PROJECTS: Together with international collaborators, Murray is working on a project to describe higher symmetries present in quantum field theories in terms of computational data that can be compared to classical structures in topology. The research is part of a program to unify geometric and algebraic views of field theories, with a view toward applications in quantum physics.
QUOTABLE: “Mathematics is a creative realm. There is a whole world to discover and explore. You build new ideas and see, over time, the surprising ways that different ideas can come together to spark new insights. Most people associate math with rules and formulas — I enjoy the opportunity to show students the joy of playful discovery at the heart of mathematics.”
ORIGINALLY FROM: Madison, Wisconsin
HOBBIES: Setting up and cleaning up princess-themed tea parties for her two toddlers.
— Martha Young
