program Description

The Executive Committee of the Association for Women in Mathematics established the Mary and Alfie Gray Award for Social Justice to reward the vigorous and imaginative application of the mathematical sciences to advancing the cause of social justice, defined as promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity. Social justice exists when all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources.

Mary Gray, Founder and Past President of AWM, has lived her life fighting for social justice and human rights, and Alfred Gray was devoted to working with mathematicians from around the world, and with students from underrepresented groups within the United States. Both Mary and Alfred were always concerned about securing human rights and equitable treatment in the profession and by governments.

For more information about the award, nomination procedure, award parameters, and eligibility, please visit: https://awm-math.org/awards/gray-award/

The 2027 Gray Award will be presented at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Chicago, IL, January 2027.

Any person can be a nominator! People of any gender can be a nominator, self-nominations are allowed, and you do not need to be an AWM member to nominate someone for this award; however, at least one supporting letter must come from an AWM member. The nomination packet should include:

A one- to three-page letter of nomination highlighting the candidate(s)’s vigorous and imaginative application of mathematical sciences to social justice that includes a description the specific community impacted by this work; the name, position, institution, address, phone, and e-mail address of the nominee and the nominator should be included in the cover letter;
One additional supporting letter from a colleague that explain the application of mathematics to social justice in the candidate's work;
A citation of up to 100 words summarizing the nominee’s contribution and a brief bio of the nominee(s).

Deadline for nominations is May 15, 2026.