Joyce McLaughlin is the Ford Foundation Professor of Mathematics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is presently the Director of the interdisciplinary center, IPRPI, Inverse Problems center at RPI, where problems include medical, radar and earthquake dynamics imaging and diagnostics. Center participants are mathematical scientists, geoscientists and civil, mechanical and electrical and computing systems engineers. McLaughlin is also a member of the NRC Board of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (BMSA), and a member of the Scientific Board for AIM, American Institute of Mathematics.

McLaughlin’s work on inverse problems in vibrating systems was recognized by a mid-1990’s invited lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians and culminated with the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences Lecture Series in 2001. Now she leads a large, interdisciplinary research group of applied mathematicians, engineers, postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students. There the goal is to image tissue shear stiffness to create a new medical diagnostic tool. A second research group focuses on geophysical fault identification.

McLaughlin is on the International Advisory Board for the journal Inverse Problems, and is a Survey Editor for the European Journal of Applied Mathematics.