Your Support at Work in 2025

As we approach the end of another year of incredible support from the SIAM community, I’m excited to share some updates and recent accomplishments from the Development and Corporate Relations team. I’m continually grateful for the wonderful people that surround me at this impactful organization, and for the myriad ways that their philanthropy and encouragement make a lasting difference.

In 2025, SIAM received many notable gifts from new and returning donors. Marty Golubitsky and Barbara Keyfitz marked their fourth consecutive year of philanthropy for the SIAM Postdoctoral Support Program, which brings together postdoctoral researchers and mentors from different institutions to collaborate on a project that relates to their mutual research interests. The Life Sciences and Dynamical Systems Travel Fund, which was established in 2023, also received increased funding from founding donor Simone Bianco, who will now provide full support for six students and early-career SIAM members to attend the SIAM Conference on the Life Sciences and SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems.

SIAM members Fariba Fahroo, Lisa Fauci, Suzanne Lenhart, Deborah Lockhart, and Rosemary Renaut came together to lead a fundraising effort in memory of SIAM member Mary Ann Horn, who passed away in February 2024. Thanks to both their work and the generosity of Mary Ann’s friends and family, the Mary Ann Horn Memorial Fund will help two student and early-career SIAM members travel to the SIAM Conference on the Life Sciences in perpetuity.

SIAM also established the Nicholas J. Higham Prize for Research Impacting Scientific Software, which is named in memory of former SIAM President Nicholas Higham, who passed away in 2024. The initial funds to support this prize were generously donated by MathWorks, maker of MATLAB and Simulink, and nAG, creators of the nAG Library. SIAM is incredibly grateful for these substantial gifts and looks forward to recognizing and celebrating the important work of researchers in our community through this prize. We are also thankful to Desmond Higham and Françoise Tisseur for their assistance in fundraising for the prize’s endowment.

Another important 2025 milestone in prize funding was the full endowment of the John von Neumann Prize, which honors John von Neumann — a founder of modern computing. SIAM awards the prize annually for distinguished contributions to applied mathematics and the effective communication of these ideas to the community. This endowment was made possible due to the generous gifts of Robert V. Kohn, Samuel Gubins, and Eleanor Gubins. We are so appreciative of their support for this prestigious lecture.

This past summer, the Development and Corporate Relations team hosted the second annual Donor Appreciation Reception during the Third Joint SIAM/CAIMS Annual Meetings, which took place in Montreal, Québec, Canada. It was a pleasure to see so many donors and supporters in one room, and we look forward to hosting another reception next year at the 2026 SIAM Annual Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 2025, SIAM continued to collaborate with many outstanding organizations through our conference sponsorship and exhibits program. This year, we were proud to partner with industry leaders like ExxonMobil, IBM, Google, and Jane Street, as well as government laboratories, tech startups, and academic institutions that helped to make our SIAM conferences the best they can be! Conference sponsorship enables these organizations to connect with our amazing SIAM community and receive benefits such as public recognition, complimentary conference registration, and exhibit space. At the same time, their support allows us keep registration costs down for our valued conference attendees.

In July, External Relations Officer Erica Lipton celebrated her one-year anniversary with SIAM. She is excited to continue to build long-term relationships with SIAM’s corporate partners and work collaboratively with SIAM membership to grow these essential societal relationships. If you think that your organization—or an organization with which you are connected—would benefit from increased visibility and engagement within the applied mathematics and computational science community, we encourage you to contact us about a potential SIAM sponsorship.

Due to this relationship-building work, SIAM has received a $20,000 grant from the Hilda & Preston Davis Foundation to support the MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge by fully funding the SPARK Awards for the next two years. These awards celebrate the accomplishments of high-performing teams from Title I eligible schools in the U.S., providing scholarships for students and stipends for teachers to spend on additional educational resources.

I hope that this small sample of the Development and Corporate Relations team’s work has been inspiring. We are only able to continue our efforts through the support of the SIAM community and dedicated members like you. If we haven’t had the chance to catch up this year, I look forward to connecting soon.

If you’re considering a philanthropic donation to SIAM in 2025 but haven’t yet made your gift, there’s still time! Gifts of all sizes have tremendous impact, and you can direct your contribution to your preferred area of support. To make a gift, visit SIAM’s online giving page or send a check payable to SIAM to the following address:

SIAM Development 
c/o Abby Addy 
3600 Market Street, 6th Floor  
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at (267)-648-3529 or aaddy@siam.org with any questions or comments, for assistance with your contribution, or just to chat. Wishing you and your family a holiday season filled with joy!