Female math professor “shocked” to receive $800,000 prize

(Dan Tri) - Mathematics professor Lauren K. Williams (USA) was extremely "shocked" when she received a call from the MacArthur Foundation announcing that she had won a prize worth 800,000 USD.

Professor Lauren K. Williams (Photo: Jason J. Cheng).

Mathematics professor Lauren K. Williams, a Harvard alumna from the class of 2000, has been announced as one of 22 recipients of the 2025 MacArthur Award.

The MacArthur Award is the most prestigious academic award in the United States, with an unrestricted grant of $800,000 (VND21 billion) for five years. The criteria for the award are creativity, the applicability of the research, and the potential use of the award.

At the age of 47, Professor Williams received this honor for his research combining theoretical mathematics and physics.

Professor Williams said she was "shocked" and questioned whether she was really sober when she received the call from the MacArthur Foundation informing her of the prize.

Having difficulty due to a freeze in research funding at Harvard University, Professor Williams said that this scholarship was truly a lifesaver, helping her to continue her research with peace of mind.

Williams said her teachers encouraged her to learn mathematics in elementary school, after winning a local math competition. She majored in mathematics at Harvard and later received a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

After teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, she returned to Harvard in 2018 and became the second woman in the history of the Mathematics Department to be awarded the title of permanent professor.

Trinh Hang

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nu-giao-su-toan-hoc-soc-khi-nhan-giai-800000-usd-20251014064551379.htm