Jennifer Austin
- Professor of Instruction
- Undergraduate Mathematics Faculty Advisor
- Mathematics
Mathematics Undergraduate Studies Executive Committee Chair
Math Club Advisor and Association for Women in Mathematics - UT Chapter Advisor
Contact Information
Biography
Jennifer K. Mann Austin, Ph.D., is a Professor of Instruction and Undergraduate Mathematics Faculty Advisor at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Austin chairs the Mathematics Undergraduate Studies Committee and the Mathematics College Readiness Committee and serves on various departmental, college, and university committees focused on undergraduate education. She helped establish and is now the faculty sponsor for the UT Austin Student Chapter of the Association of Women in Mathematics. Additionally, she serves as the faculty sponsor for the UT Math Club. Fulfilling her passion for outreach, Dr. Austin co-organizes the Mathematics Teachers' Circle of Austin, volunteers for CNS Admissions events, CNS Family Day, and Explore UT, leads Girl Scout Troop 11235, and serves as a VBC Science Leader. Dr. Austin's passion for knots began during her childhood when she tied and untied macroscopic, practical knots on a farm in rural West Tennessee and at Girl Scout Camp Hazlewood.
As a biomedical mathematics doctoral student, Dr. Austin was jointly advised by Professor De Witt L. Sumners at The Florida State University and Professor E. Lynn Zechiedrich at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
Research
Dr. Austin’s interests include undergraduate mathematics education, mathematical outreach, inquiry-based learning, geometry, topology, knot theory, biomedical applications of mathematics, DNA topology, and protein-DNA interactions.
Information for Math Majors
To schedule an advising appointment with Dr. Austin, please email the Math, Physics, and Astronomy Advising Center at mpaadv@austin.utexas.edu.
Education
- Certificate in Effective College Instruction, The Association of College and University Educators and the American Council on Education (ACUE)
- Ph.D. in Mathematics under De Witt L. Sumners, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, co-mentored by E. Lynn Zechiedrich, DNA Knotting: Occurrences, Consequences, & Resolution
- M.S. in Biomedical Mathematics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
- M.S. in Mathematics, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL
- B.S. in Mathematics, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN
Publications
UT Math Major Newsletters (once each long semester), The University of Texas at Austin.
Austin, Jennifer. “Puzzles, Bands, and Knots,” In S. Bowen (Ed.), Math Circle Activity Database. 2022. American Institute of Mathematics.
Austin, Z. H. and Austin, J. K. "Math Girl Solves the Pattern," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 11 Issue 2 (July 2021), pages 298-300.
“Requesting Letters of Recommendation.” e-Mentoring Network in the Mathematical Sciences, American Mathematical Society, 27 Sept. 2018, Jennifer Austin, https://blogs.ams.org/mathmentoringnetwork/2018/09/27/requesting-letters-of-recommendation/.
Topological Information Embodied in Local Juxtaposition Geometry Provides a Statistical Mechanical Basis for Unknotting by Type-2 DNA Topoisomerases, Zhirong Liu, Jennifer K. Mann, E. Lynn Zechiedrich and Hue Sun Chan, (2006) J Mol Biol 361, 268-285.
Hin-Mediated DNA Knotting and Recombination Promote Replicon Dysfunction and Mutation, Richard W. Deibler*, Jennifer K. Mann*, De Witt L. Sumners and E. Lynn Zechiedrich. (2007) BMC Mol Biol 8:44 (25 May 2007). (*The first two authors contributed equally to this work.)
Awards
- William David Blunk Memorial Professorship, 2025-2026
- Dean’s Teaching Fellow, Office of STEM Education Excellence (STEMx), The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2023-2025
- President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2024
- Center for Teaching & Learning, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2022-2023 Colleague Connections
- CNS' Visualizing Science 2022: Illuminating the Intrinsic Beauty in Academic Research, Facebook Favorite, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2022
- Transformational Online Instruction Contributions (TONIC) Award, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2021
- John R. Durbin Teaching Excellence Award, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2020
- College of Natural Sciences Faculty Advisor Award, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2016
- Great Ideas in Mathematics Course Development Grant, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2015
- College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2013
- Research Training Grant Postdoctoral Fellowship in Topology, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2007-2010
- Program in Mathematics and Molecular Biology Predoctoral Fellowship, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Interfaces Program, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 1999-2007