The 2024-2025 Joan and Joseph Birman Fellowship for Women Scholars

The Joan and Joseph Birman Fellowship for Women Scholars is a mid-career research fellowship specially designed to fit the unique needs of women. This fellowship program is made possible by a generous gift from Joan and Joseph Birman.

The fellowship seeks to address the paucity of women at the highest levels of research in mathematics by giving exceptionally talented women extra research support during their mid-career years.

The most likely awardee will be a mid-career woman, based at a U.S. institution, whose achievements demonstrate significant potential for further contributions to mathematics. A requirement of this fellowship is that the awardee must be a member of the AMS at the time of application.

Candidates must have a statement regarding the applicant's overall program of research, past and planned, that is meaningful to mathematicians who are not specialists. The statement should be no more than three pages, including bibliographical references. Special circumstances (such as time taken off for care of children or other family members) may be taken into consideration in making the award. Awardees may use the fellowship in any way that most effectively enables their research - for instance, for release time, participation in special research programs, travel support, childcare, etc. The award is issued through the recipient's institution, and no part of it may be utilized for indirect costs.

The award for the 2024-2025 academic year is expected to be in the amount of \$50,000.

AMS :: Joan and Joseph Birman Fellowship for Women Scholars

Most Recent Fellowship: 2023

Jennifer Balakrishnan, the Clare Boothe Luce Associate Professor of Mathematics at Boston University, has been awarded the 2023-2024 AMS Joan and Joseph Birman Fellowship for Women Scholars. Balakrishnan's research is motivated by various aspects of the classical and p-adic Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjectures, as well as the problem of algorithmically finding rational points on curves.

Fellowship announcement as seen in the news release.

See previous winners

Read a feature story in Notices of the AMS about past Birman Fellows (PDF).

How to apply

The application form requires the following information:

Research Statement: a statement regarding the applicant's overall program of research, past and planned, that is meaningful to mathematicians who are not specialists. The statement should be no more than three pages, including bibliographical references.
Research Plan: a detailed research plan for the fellowship period that is contextualized by the research statement. The plan should include a description of how the fellowship will support the applicant's success. It should be no more than one page.
Key Professional Accomplishments: a list of up to ten publications or other professional activities that demonstrate the applicant's contributions to the mathematics profession. This list should be no more than one page.
Current and Pending Support: a list of current and pending research awards. For each, indicate the support status (current or pending), project/proposal title, source of support, total award amount, award period (start and end dates), location of project, and person-months per year committed to the project (calendar year, academic year, or summer)
Positions and Fellowships since PhD: a list of all fellowships and comparable research appointments, such as a term at one of the mathematical institutes. Do not attach a vita.
References: a list of three reference writers who can address the applicant’s accomplishments and research potential. Use the email links on the coversheet to send a password and instructions directly to the writers.
2-3 page NSF-style Biographical Sketch

Applications will be accepted on MathPrograms.org from August 15 through November 8, 2023 (11:59 pm EDT).

For questions pertaining to the Birman fellowship, please email the AMS Programs staff.

Please use this inquiry form for questions pertaining to the Birman fellowship only.