Karen Uhlenbeck Karen Uhlenbeck is one of the world's foremost researchers on non-linear differential equations and their geometric properties. She is professor of mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin and since 1988 has held the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents' Chair in Mathematics. She is widely acclaimed as a talented and creative mathematician, as well as someone who has made a serious commitment to young women mathematicians. Significant accomplishments in this area are her roles as a founder of the Park City Mathematics Institute and as organizer of the Women's Program, a mentoring program for women associated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, Professor Uhlenbeck continued her studies at the Courant Institute in New York. She then entered Brandeis University and was awarded an M.A. and a Ph.D. in 1966 and 1968, respectively. Before going to the University of Texas, she taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; the University of Illinois, Chicago; and the University of Chicago. She also served as visiting professor at many other universities. During her career, Professor Uhlenbeck has made pioneering contributions to global analysis and gauge theory that resulted in advances in mathematical physics and the theory of partial differential equations. She has been called variously a differential geometer and differential topologist and a non-linear analyst; her work has made contact with modern high energy physics, in particular with string theory. She is also interested in the ways complex mathematical concepts find uses in research in other areas of science, such as ecology, molecular biology and the structure of materials. In recognition of her outstanding contributions to mathematics, Professor Uhlenbeck has been the recipient of numerous and prestigious honors and awards. In 1982 she received a MacArthur Fellowship, and in 1985 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1986, she became one of the first women mathematicians to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1990 she became the second woman to give a Plenary Lecture at the International Congress of Mathematics. In 1995 she received the CommonWealth Award for Science and Technology, and in 2000 she received a National Medal of Science for "special recognition by reason of [her] outstanding contributions to knowledge" in mathematics. She has also served on the editorial boards of many journals. For her contributions to mathematical analysis and gauge theory leading to major advances in mathematical physics and the theory of partial differential equations, and for her commitment to the education and encouragement of women mathematicians, the University of Michigan has chosen to present Karen Uhlenbeck with the honorary degree Doctor of Science.