AMS Updates

Last Call for New Mentoring Award

Nominations will be accepted until May 31, 2025, for the inaugural Elias M. Stein Mentoring Award. This new award of $5,000 will honor mathematicians who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to the training and advancement of future generations of mathematicians.

Named for Elias Menachem Stein (1931–2018), the award seeks to recognize mathematicians at any career stage who have positively impacted mathematicians of future generations, as Stein did, through sustained engagement in initiatives or mentoring practices toward undergraduate students, graduate students, or junior researchers.

This award was endowed in 2022 by Stein’s students, colleagues, and friends to honor his legacy. Stein is remembered for his prolific mentoring of graduate students, his inspiring series of undergraduate courses, and his many warm collaborations with junior researchers. His characteristic style was one of generosity, optimism, and care in helping students develop rewarding, lifelong research programs. Stein influenced generations of mathematicians and enhanced the experience of working in the surrounding research area. Stein began teaching in 1955 and subsequently influenced generations of mathematicians during his storied career.

The first Stein Mentoring Award will be presented in January 2026 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. For more information or to nominate, see https://www.ams.org/stein-mentoring.

—AMS Communications

Tomastik Prize Launched

New this year: the Edmond and Nancy Tomastik Prize in Differential Equations. Nominations will be accepted until June 30, 2025.

The Tomastik Prize celebrates notable work in differential equations published during the preceding six years. The work must be published in a recognized peer-reviewed venue. The prize will be awarded every three years, starting in January 2026 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. The inaugural prize is $5,000.

Ed Tomastik is associate professor emeritus in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Connecticut (UConn), where he has conducted research in differential equations. Tomastik has written several college textbooks, received grants for his work, and was instrumental in establishing the applied mathematics major at UConn. He earned his PhD in 1965 at Case Western Reserve University with the dissertation “Singular Quadratic Functionals of $n$ Dependent Variables.”

Nancy Tomastik earned her bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music in conjunction with Case Western Reserve and her master’s in music composition from UConn. She taught music for 40 years to students age 5 to 85 and directed an active chamber orchestra for many years.

For more information or to nominate a colleague, consult https://www.ams.org/tomastik-prize.

—AMS Communications

Deaths of AMS Members

J. A. Rod Blais, of Canada, died on June 27, 2019. Born on December 17, 1941, he was a member of the Society for 34 years.

Fazlollah Reza, of Canada, died on November 19, 2019. Born on January 1, 1915, he was a member of the Society for 63 years.

Gary R. Krumpholz, of Groton, Massachusetts, died on February 18, 2022. Born on April 11, 1947, he was a member of the Society for 39 years.

David Elliott, of Australia, died on August 28, 2024. Born on April 14, 1931, he was a member of the Society for 38 years.