Guest Speakers Visit IMD’s High School Summer Research Program
Students in IMD’s 2025 high school summer research cohort are spending five weeks working with faculty mentors to investigate topics in math and democracy. In order to put the students’ research into perspective, the students will host two guest speakers, IMD affiliate Dr. Karen Saxe and Rachel Hutchinson, who both have a wealth of experience in turning mathematical analysis into political action.
Dr. Karen Saxe is Associate Executive Director of the American Mathematical Society and Director of their Office of Government Relations. She represents the 30,000 members of the AMS in science policy discussions at the federal level and connects the math community to decision-makers in Washington, DC. She is also Professor Emerita at Macalester College, where she taught for almost 30 years.
Rachel Hutchinson is Senior Policy Analyst at FairVote, an organization working toward better elections and a more representative democracy. Alongside her work at FairVote in ranked choice voting (RCV) and proportional representation, her areas of research include primary elections, voter behavior, and political polarization.
We would like to express our gratitude to these speakers for sharing their expertise and invaluable insights into math and policy with our high school researchers.
