In memory of Agnes Szanto
16 June 1966 - 21 March 2022
Agnes was a Professor in the Mathematics Department at North Carolina State University where she was an active member of the Symbolic Computation group and a devoted teacher and mentor.
During her long research career at North Carolina State University, we can highlight her many seminal contributions on the description and certification of the solutions of polynomial systems of equations, which she treated from a purely symbolic point of view or by hybrid symbolic-numeric methods by applying a range of different tools, such as subresultants and elimination matrices, Smale alpha theory, multiplicity analysis and deflation techniques.
Agnes was a passionate and creative mathematician and a great collaborator. She always had brilliant ideas to address problems and to find elegant solutions, and her work was always guided by her will to build solid and well-founded mathematics. Working with her was extremely enlightening, always based on friendly and constructive exchanges.
Agnes also enthusiastically committed to our community and became an inspiring model of leadership. Her skilled, spirited yet gentle nature allowed her to play a strong role in the professional societies she graced with her friendly, humble, exceptional self. In particular, she served for 4 terms as SIGSAM Treasurer, from 2009 through 2017; she was the Program Committee Chair at ISSAC'14 and Tutorial Chair at ISSAC'12, she gave an Invited Tutorial session at ISSAC'11, and served on many Program Committees for these conferences. In addition, she was Chair of the SIAM Activity Group on Algebraic Geometry in 2016-2017 and of the Foundations of Computational Mathematics Society in 2017-2020, and served for many years on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Symbolic Computation.
Agnes was an exceptional human being, generous, open-minded, both serious and with a strong sense of humor, and a lot of perspective and strength in her vision of life.
To our much missed Agnes.
In Memory of Agnes Szanto at North Carolina State University
In Memory of Agnes Szanto at SIGSAM