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University Communications

Sophomore math-computer science major wins Luce Scholarship; award pays tuition, room, board for female math-computer science-physics major

April 30, 2008

Erin Brady, a sophomore from Kennett Square, Pa., double-majoring in math and computer science, has been named the University of Richmond's 2008 Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship winner.

The scholarship covers two years' tuition, room and board, plus funding of a summer undergraduate research experience.

Richmond received funding last year from the Henry Luce Foundation to award a Luce scholarship annually from 2007-09. Eligible students must be female American citizens majoring in math, computer science or physics and interested in pursuing a graduate degree in the sciences. The program's goal is to promote the advancement of American women in higher education.

Brady will spend the coming summer participating in Richmond's Long-term Undergraduate Research Experience (LURE), in which students spend two summers performing all steps in a research project, from background reading through professional presentation of results. She will work on a computer program that solves logic problems using the same techniques as humans, under the direction of math-computer science professor Art Charlesworth. LURE is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

A committee of five female professors of math, computer science or physics chose Brady, a graduate of Unionville High School in Kennett Square and the daughter of Carolyn and Ed Brady.

The foundation previously selected Richmond to award a series of Luce scholarships in the 1990s. Sarah Spence Adams, a math major who graduated in 1997, received one and went on to earn a Ph.D. in the same subject from Cornell University. She is an assistant professor at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and will return to Richmond as a visiting professor next fall.

The scholarship program is named for Clare Boothe Luce, the late playwright, journalist, American ambassador to Italy and first woman elected to Congress from Connecticut.