Mh, if I am contrarian: Optimization of linear algebra is an established important subset of numerical computer science, because you can reduce many important problems to sets of linear equations. I studied that for a semester in many details. Many simulations, fluid, weather or mechanical were at least initially implemented as sets of linear equations because linear equation solvers were well-researched and optimized. Because they were fast and had a predictable range of error.
So yes, LinAlg makes other research go fast.
> A person with these qualifications has absolutely zero business heading a government fund. At minimum I would want this person to either have a technical degree or some industry/FOSS experience. I don't think it is unlikely, that this women has not written a single line of code in her life. > > The reason is that only such a person can adequately understand why these projects need funding and what the consequences of not funding them are.
Though her job could easily be to be the competent at politics and communication, not code. She may fail at the level you are looking at, but many techies at $work with more chops fail in the other direction much, much harder and don't get anything besides frustration.