Harvard College Class of 2000: The Podcast
Lauren talks to Dara about her journey from studying math at Harvard to becoming the math department’s only female professor where she studies algebra and combinatorics. She recently won the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant [https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2025/lauren-k-williams]. Lauren talks pulling all-nighters in college and Helen Vendler’s mathematical way about talking about poetry. Lauren is a runner, which she started doing with her college roommate, Jenny Hoffman, who is ALSO a Harvard professor! Lauren also tells us the behind the scenes story of PfoHo stealing the Adams’ House gong which started the PfoHo-Adams House war of 1999 [https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/6/7/pfoho-adams-dhall-war-reunion/]. * Harvard Gazette [https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/10/lauren-williams-awarded-macarthur-genius-grant/] article on Lauren * NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/science/mathematics-ai-proof-hairer.html] article on First Proof * Lauren’s Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/laurenkwilliams42/] Lauren lived in Pennypacker and Pforzheimer and concentrated in math. She is from Southern California and now lives in Cambridge.
87 episodes
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