# Jennifer Key

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{{Short description|South African mathematician}}
{{Use dmy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=May 2024}}
{{Use list-defined references|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Jennifer Key
| image             = Jennifer Key.jpg
| caption           = 
| birth_name        = Jennifer Denise Hicks
| birth_date        = 1941
| birth_place       = South Africa
| fields            = Mathematics
| workplaces        = Clemson University; Aberystwyth University; University of KwaZulu-Natal; University of the Western Cape
| alma_mater        = University of the Witwatersrand; University of London
| thesis_title      = ''Some Topics in Finite Permutation Groups''
| thesis_year       = 1969
| doctoral_advisor  = Ascher Wagner
| known_for         = Group theory; finite geometry; combinatorial designs; coding theory
| notable_works     = ''Designs and Their Codes'' (with Edward F. Assmus Jr., Cambridge University Press, 1992)
}}

'''Jennifer Denise Key''' (née Hicks) is a retired South African mathematician whose research has concerned the interconnections between [group theory](/source/group_theory), [finite geometry](/source/finite_geometry), [combinatorial design](/source/combinatorial_design)s, and [coding theory](/source/coding_theory).{{r|mt}} She is a professor emeritus at [Clemson University](/source/Clemson_University) in the US,{{r|clemson}} and an honorary professor at [Aberystwyth University](/source/Aberystwyth_University) in the UK,{{r|aber}} and the [University of KwaZulu-Natal](/source/University_of_KwaZulu-Natal) and [University of the Western Cape](/source/University_of_the_Western_Cape) in South Africa.{{r|mt}}

==Education and career==
Key graduated with honours from the [University of the Witwatersrand](/source/University_of_the_Witwatersrand) in 1963, and went to the [University of London](/source/University_of_London) for graduate study in mathematics, earning a master's degree in 1967 and completing her Ph.D. in 1969.{{r|clemson}} Her dissertation, ''Some Topics in Finite Permutation Groups'', was supervised by [Ascher Wagner](/source/Ascher_Wagner).{{r|mg}}

She worked as an academic in England, at the [University of Surrey](/source/University_of_Surrey), [University of Reading](/source/University_of_Reading), [University of Manchester](/source/University_of_Manchester), and [University of Birmingham](/source/University_of_Birmingham), before moving to the US in 1990 to take a faculty position at [Clemson University](/source/Clemson_University). She retired as professor emeritus in 2007.{{r|mt}}

Between 1997 and 2024 she was one of the three editors-in-chief of the journal ''Designs, Codes and Cryptography''.

==Book==
Key is the author, with Edward F. Assmus Jr., of the book ''Designs and Their Codes'' (Cambridge University Press, 1992).{{r|d+c}}

==References==
<references>

<ref name=aber>{{citation|url=https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/maths/staff-profiles/listing/profile/jek/|title=Prof Jennifer D. Key|work=Department of Mathematics Staff Profiles|publisher=Aberystwyth University|access-date=2024-05-20}}</ref>

<ref name=clemson>{{citation|url=https://www.clemson.edu/science/academics/departments/mathstat/about/profiles/keyj|title=Jennifer Key|work=Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Emeritus Faculty|publisher=Clemson University|access-date=2024-05-20}}</ref>

<ref name=d+c>Reviews of ''Designs and Their Codes'':
*[N. L. Biggs](/source/Norman_L._Biggs), ''Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society'', {{doi|10.1112/blms/25.6.613}}
*[Vera Pless](/source/Vera_Pless), {{MR|1192126}}
*V. D. Tonchev, {{zbl|0762.05001}}
*M. A. Wertheimer, ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'', {{doi|10.1090/S0273-0979-1994-00485-9}}
</ref>

<ref name=mg>{{mathgenealogy|44030}}</ref>

<ref name=mt>{{citation|url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/African_women_1/|title=African women with a doctorate in mathematics 1|work=MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive|access-date=2024-05-20}}</ref>

</references>

==External links==
*[http://www.math.clemson.edu/~keyj/ Home page]

{{Authority control|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Jennifer}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Living people
Category:South African mathematicians
Category:South African women scientists
Category:South African women mathematicians
Category:Coding theorists
Category:Combinatorialists
Category:Group theorists
Category:University of Johannesburg alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of London
Category:Academics of the University of Surrey
Category:Academics of the University of Reading
Category:Academics of the University of Manchester
Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham
Category:Clemson University faculty

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jennifer Key](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Key) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Key?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.