Math is not usually associated with emotion, but mathematicians and computer scientists in this country are facing “math wars,” says Margaret H. Wright, who will give this year’s Harry and Joan Stonecipher Lecture on Science and Society.

Wright, Silver Professor of the Computer Science and Mathematics Department in the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, will speak at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 10, in Derryberry Auditorium. Her topic, "Math Wars and Offshoring: Hype, Politics, Public Opinion, Mathematics, and Computer Science," will address the emotion associated with math and computer science issues in the United States.

"Everyone agrees that research and education in mathematics and computer science are important — many would say crucial — to the future prosperity, health, and security of the United States,” says Wright. “Because both math and computer science are ‘hard science,’ it might seem that discussions about related policies would focus on facts, careful studies, and a rational assessment of alternatives.

“On the contrary, polarizing 'math wars' about math education have led to bitter personal confrontations in many states, and overheated news stories about 'offshoring'— the migration overseas of U.S. jobs in computer science — assert completely opposite realities,” she says.

Wright will shed light on the current status of those issues and explain why the public should care and be informed about them.

“There are several questions to address. What are the issues in the 'math wars'? Why is there so much emotion about math education? Is there or is there not a serious problem with offshoring? Should U.S. students abandon computer science in favor of fields in which their future employment is more secure?”

Wright served at the Computing Sciences Research Center at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories), was named a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and a Bell Labs Fellow and was head of the Scientific Computing Research Department. She has also been a research staff member in the Systems Optimization Laboratory Department of Operations Research at Stanford University.

Co-author of two books on optimization, Wright has published numerous scientific papers and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1997 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.

The Stonecipher Lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Harry Stonecipher and his wife, Joan, to fund the appearance of leading scientists like Wright to speak about the interrelationship between science and contemporary society.

Stonecipher, a 1960 Tennessee Tech physics graduate, worked for major industrial firms including General Motors, General Electric, Sundstrand and McDonnell Douglas before becoming president and chief operating officer of The Boeing Co.

For more information, call the College of Arts and Sciences at 3119.