Second-year math and computer science student Erin Brady receives Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship

The University of Richmond has awarded second-year student, Erin Brady, a Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship, which will cover the cost of the student’s tuition, room and board for the remainder of her Richmond education.

The Henry Luce Foundation offers financial support to colleges and universities that in turn award the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship to female students majoring in computer science, mathematics or physics. The program is the single most significant source of private support for women in science, engineering and mathematics and is designed to promote the advancement of American women through higher education.

The scholarship is named for the widow of Henry R. Luce, Clare Boothe Luce, a playwright, journalist, U.S. Ambassador to Italy and the first woman elected to Congress from Connecticut.

Richmond will make a total of three Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship awards over the course of three years. Brady’s is the second in the series; the first was awarded in 2007 and the third will be awarded in 2009. The University was selected by the Henry W. Luce Foundation to bestow a series of the same scholarships in the 1990s; one went to mathematics major Sarah Spence Adams, ’97, who earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell University. Adams is now an assistant professor of mathematics at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and will be a visiting professor at the University of Richmond this fall.

To be eligible for the award, students must be female United States citizens majoring in computer science, mathematics or physics and have an interest in pursuing a graduate degree in the sciences, mathematics or computer science. A committee of five female professors in physics, mathematics, computer science and chemistry reviews applications. In addition to receiving tuition, room and board for two academic years, students also receive funding to participate in a summer undergraduate research experience on campus.

Erin Brady, a double major in mathematics and computer science and graduate of Unionville High School in Kennett Square, Pa., will spend the summer participating in the LURE program, a long-term undergraduate research experience for math and computer science majors at Richmond, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

She will work under math and computer science professor Art Charlesworth, on a computer program that will attempt to solve logic problems using the same techniques humans use when approaching such problems. Charlesworth and his team of students eventually hope to adapt such a program to generate logic problems that are challenging but not too difficult for humans to solve.

Brady is the daughter of Carolyn and Ed Brady of Kennett Square, Pa.

Posted April 29, 2008