The Wendell H. Fleming Probability PhD Thesis Award is given for an outstanding dissertation in any area of probability, including foundational mathematical work and applications, including interdisciplinary applications of probability in other fields. This prize has been established to encourage creative and impactful research and high-quality exposition by junior members of the community, and to highlight their contributions.
Award Format
The Award consists of:
- A certificate or plaque with citation
- A cash honorarium
- Recipients will be recognized at the IMS Presidential Awards Ceremony.
- The student winner may be given an opportunity to present their work at an invited session at an IMS Sponsored or Co-sponsored meeting, if they choose to attend these [the IMS will not cover registration or travel to that conference].
Eligibility
Submissions must satisfy the following conditions.
1. The applicant must have completed their PhD in the year of application or in the year immediately preceding the year of application.
2. This work must not have been selected as a finalist in a previous IMS PhD thesis or other IMS research paper competition, excluding travel awards.
3. All applicants must be IMS members.
Submission Process
The submission package includes:
1. An abstract of the dissertation (which should neither exceed 6,000 words nor 15 pages single-spaced) with name, affiliation, and institution redacted.
2. The full dissertation, with the name, affiliation, and institution redacted.
3. A brief list of the career trajectory of the applicant stating the following timelines [only timelines, and no institutions should be named to keep things anonymous]: i) the years spent as a Bachelors student, and in what subject; ii) the years spent doing a Masters (with an indication of whether or not that included research) and iii) the years spent in the PhD program, iv) in all the above, any breaks due to non-academic events may be included if the applicant so chooses.
4. A letter from the dissertation advisor [which does not reveal the name of the advisor] affirming that this work constitutes the applicant’s thesis and explaining the percentage and nature of the applicant’s contribution to the thesis. This letter should not include any comments on the quality of the work.
5. A recommendation letter from someone other than the applicant’s dissertation advisor, which addresses the applicant’s achievement and the potential impact on the scholarship or research of their field, and a draft of a citation.
Submission deadline: July 1st
Decision deadline: October 1st
About Wendell H. Fleming
Wendell H. Fleming (1928-2023), who was the University Professor of Applied Mathematics and Mathematics at Brown University, was an eminent probabilist and mathematician who made fundamental contributions to multiple fields, including stochastic processes, stochastic control, differential games, the calculus of variations and geometric measure theory. He was an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a speaker at the 1982 International Congress of Mathematicians. He was an author of several books, including “Deterministic and Stochastic Optimal Control” (with R.W. Rishel) and “Controlled Markov Processes and Viscosity Solutions” (with M. Soner), and edited several other volumes. He was instrumental (with M. Viot) in introducing a probability measure-valued Markov process, now referred to as the Fleming-Viot process, which played an important role in the development of a mathematical basis for theories of allele drift in population genetics. He was also a recipient of Idalia Reid Prize from SIAM. He was also a founder, with H. Federer, of the field of geometric analysis. He was known for his exposition and was a recipient (with H. Federer) of the Leroy Steele Prize for Exposition from the American Mathematical Society. Wendell was not only an illustrious researcher, but also an educator, administrator and national leader in policy matters affecting mathematics. He served as Department Chair both at the Division of Applied Mathematics and the Mathematics Department at Brown University. He supervised 20 PhD students, and was known for his tireless support of mathematicians, especially young researchers. The IMS Wendell H. Fleming Ph.D. Thesis Award in Probability hopes to encourage young students to aspire to reach the high standards set by Wendell Fleming as a citizen of the world.