Jane M. Hawkins

Jane Margaret Hawkins is an American mathematician known for her research in dynamical systems and complex dynamics, including cellular automata and Julia sets. She is a professor of mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. More recent research has included work on cellular automata models for the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and Ebola.

Education and career Hawkins was raised in Schenectady, New York. Her father was a chemical engineer.

She taught at the State University of New York, Stony Brook from 1980 to 1987, before moving to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her book Ergodic Dynamics was published by Springer in 2021. Her book The Mathematics of Cellular Automata was published by AMS in 2024. And her third book, Mathematics for Artificial Intelligence, was published in 2026.

Service In 2004, Hawkins presented testimony to a subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations in support of grants to mathematical research, and again in 2012. She served as Treasurer of the American Mathematical Society, chair of the AMS Investment Committee, and Board of Trustees Member from 2011 until February 1, 2021. She is also a former AMS Council member at large. Hawkins has done a lot of outreach for women in mathematics, most notably participating in the George Washington University's Summer Program for Women in Math (SPWM) as a faculty member, guest lecturer, and panel moderator between 1999 and its final year in 2013.

Recognition Hawkins was the first female valedictorian at the College of the Holy Cross. In 2012, Hawkins became an inaugural fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

Personal Hawkins is married to mathematician Michael E. Taylor, whom she credits with encouraging her with continuing in research.