James Crowley Fund for Student Support
 

James Crowley Fund for Student Support


To honor the 2020 retirement marking the distinguished 25-year career of Dr. James Crowley as SIAM Executive Director, the SIAM Board has established this fund to raise support for applied mathematics students.

About the Fund

September 2020 marked the close of the incredible 25+ year career of SIAM Executive Director James (Jim) Crowley. In honor of Jim’s immense service and impact on SIAM and the larger applied mathematics community, the SIAM Board of Trustees (led by Board Chair Margot Gerritsen, Stanford University) and Council (led by SIAM President Lisa Fauci, Tulane University) have established the James Crowley Fund for Student Support. This new fund benefits students around the globe by supporting SIAM Student Chapters, SIAM career fairs, student prizes, scholarship opportunities, new student programming, and more.

Jim served as SIAM’s second executive director since 1995. With him at the helm, SIAM’s various programs and publications experienced impressive growth. When Jim first took office, SIAM had 8,684 members - a figure which has now risen to 14,346. SIAM also launched seven new journals since 1995, bringing the total current number of journals to 18. Since Jim’s arrival, SIAM published 455 books and added 11 new book series.

SIAM also founded its esteemed Fellows Program under Jim’s domain. The program, which commenced in 2009, has recognized a total of 535 members as SIAM Fellows. Of exceptional note is the exponential growth of SIAM Student Chapters—from nine to 195—in the last 20 years.

“The establishment of this fund is a wonderful and fitting way to celebrate and honor the many contributions that Jim made while leading SIAM,” said Margot Gerritsen. “Jim cares deeply about education and providing a community and support for the future generation of applied mathematicians and industrial leaders, and through this fund, SIAM will be able to continue leading efforts in this area in his honor.”

Under Jim’s 25+ year leadership, SIAM increased its focus on student awareness and success in STEM-related careers by igniting interest in these fields and offering students a platform to share their research and work. SIAM has donated $420,000+ to student chapters since 2012, and now provides $250,000+ in student travel awards annually to enable students to attend SIAM Conferences, where they can participate in panels, poster sessions, and more. Support from the community has helped SIAM create special programs, like the Gene Golub SIAM Summer School, created in 2010 by an individual endowment and funding an annual school for graduate students in mathematical sciences. With a focus on the education pipeline, SIAM has invested in educational math modeling resources for K-12 educators, and organizes the MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge, a high school modeling competition supported by MathWorks. We are very excited to continue building upon these important initiates through the newly established Crowley Fund.

“It is tremendously touching to have this student fund designated in my name,” said Jim. “SIAM has been an immense part of my life for more than 30 years. I have spent the better part of my career dedicated to growing the membership and critical programs of the organization, and more widely working to grow interest and awareness of applied mathematics and computational science to policymakers and the general public. Students are at the core of SIAM. This fund is truly an honor.”

Please consider honoring Jim’s remarkable career by donating to the James Crowley Fund for Student Support.

On behalf of Jim, the SIAM Board of Trustees, and our entire membership, thank you for your support and continued association.