Professor Mary Gray Receives Presidential Award

Professor Mary Gray is one of the recipients of the sixth annual Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Ten individuals and ten institutions are receiving the award for promoting participation among women, minorities and persons with disabilities in scientific and engineering careers. The awards were presented Dec. 12, 2001 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Mary Gray, a professor of mathematics and statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences, is international treasurer of Amnesty International USA. She is responsible for the finances of the 1.2-million-member worldwide organization, in which she has been involved for 25 years. As a lawyer and statistician, she furthers her commitment to human rights, including civil rights and women's rights, in researching issues such as affirmative action, discrimination, and single-sex education. She also has expertise in the areas of math education, computer science, and law. Gray is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was a Fulbright scholar in Germany. She has authored more than 80 articles and has given countless presentations on her areas of specialty, including testifying before Congress on income tax reform, affirmative action, pay equity, and women in science. A member of the American Bar Association, Gray is writing a book about computer law.

Chief among Dr. Gray's accomplishments leading to this award is her responsibility to graduate students, including eight African-American and nearly twenty female mathematics/statistics PhDs.She also ran a program on grant money received from the KarimRida Said Foundation (in London), which produced 42 Palestinian and Syrian master's students at AU in computer science and statistics, 16 of whom went on to PhD programs. She notes that supervising PhD students is an important part of the research efforts of faculty.

Adapted from an AmericanUniversity press release, 12/5/2001

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