The AMS Fellows Proposal — Frequently Asked Questions

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Q. How was the AMS Fellows program proposal developed?

A. Over the past decade various committees and subcommittees of the AMS have discussed the possibility of instituting an AMS Fellows Program, partly influenced by the existence of such programs in a number of other scientific societies. In 2003 an ad hoc committee on Fellows gave a report to the Council in which arguments were presented for and against the concept. Because it is hard to judge a program in the abstract, a smaller committee was appointed with the charge to formulate a specific proposal. This committee included the Council members, John Franks, Susan Friedlander (Chair) and Sheldon Katz. After months of analysis of earlier committee reports, discussions with many AMS members, comparative research into other Fellows programs, and deliberation of what kind of program might suit the AMS, the committee reported back to the Council in 2006 with a specific proposal.

The Council, after strenuous debate, voted to put the proposal on the 2006 AMS ballot. The members could vote for or against the proposal with the information that if two-thirds of the vote was in favor, the program would be implemented. The vote in 2006 was 63.2% in favor.

The proposal that is being brought to the membership in 2008 is a modified version of the 2006 proposal. It takes into account certain issues raised by members and also benefits from feedback between the AMS proposal and a proposal for SIAM Fellows that will be put on the SIAM ballot in 2008.

Q. Is excellence in research the only criterion for being a Fellow?

A. Research excellence is certainly one possible criterion, but it is not meant to be the only one. The Fellows program is also intended to recognize excellence in educational activities and other forms of excellence directly related to the goals of the AMS.

Q. What are the goals of the Fellows program?

A. The goals are:

• To create an enlarged class of mathematicians recognized by their peers as distinguished for their contributions to the profession.
• To honor not only the extraordinary but also the excellent.
• To lift the morale of the profession by providing an honor more accessible than those currently available.
• To make mathematicians more competitive for awards, promotion and honors when they are being compared with colleagues from other disciplines.
• To support the advancement of more mathematicians in leadership positions in their own institutions and in the broader society.

Q. What are arguments in favor of a Fellows program ?

A. Here are some of the arguments in favor:

1. There are too few opportunities to recognize achievement in mathematics, and a Fellows program will provide one more that will be available to a large number of people.
2. AMS Fellows and their departments may be more competitive for awards and other honors when competing with other disciplines for recognition.
3. Many other societies in other disciplines have fellows programs, and mathematicians sometimes must compete with their members for recognition.
4. Fellows may have more influence in the profession and in their own institutions.
5. Fellows may have a stronger connection with the AMS.

Q. What are arguments against a Fellows Program?

A. Here are some of the arguments against:

1. The AMS has a long tradition of being welcoming and egalitarian. Having a Fellows program may not be consistent with this tradition.
2. Fellows are likely to be those people who already have been recognized in other ways.
3. Selection as a fellow of the AMS will not be especially important to people or institutions outside mathematics.
4. The process of selecting Fellows will be political and may be divisive in various settings – in departments, in particular research groups, or in the Society itself.
5. Non-Fellows may have a weaker connection with the AMS (and there are many more of them).

Q. Where can I find more detailed discussions?

A. Pro and con articles concerning an AMS Fellows program appeared in the AMS Notices in advance of the 2006 vote (Vol 53, Aug 2006, pp 754-756, also found at http://www.ams.org/notices/200607/fea-fellows.pdf ).
 

Q. Do other societies in the mathematical sciences have fellows programs?

A. Yes. For example, the American Statistical Association, Association for Computing Machinery, and INFORMS all have Fellows programs. The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics will bring a proposal for establishing a Fellows Program to its members in its 2008 ballot. If 50% of the vote is in favor, SIAM will implement a program whose details can be found at http://Fellows.siam.org .

Q. How does the proposed AMS program compare to the size of the programs of other societies?

A. In its steady state the proposed AMS Fellowship would be approximately 5% of the total membership (i.e., about 1,500 Fellows out of about 30,000 members). In some other societies surveyed the Fellowship varies between about 5% and about 13%.

In its steady state it is expected that the number of new Fellows elected each year will be approximately 0.2 % of the membership.  Each year, the American Physical Society elects no more than 0.5 % of all members and the American Statistical Association elects no more than 0.33% of all members.

Q. How will the AMS Fellowship be started and how will new Fellows be elected?

A. This is spelled out in detail in the proposal itself.

Q. How many Fellows will there be in the "seed pool" and how will the steady state be achieved?

A. The seed process (see the proposal) is expected to generate approximately 1,000 Fellows. During the transition process, the proposal calls for 10-50 new Fellows each year. The expectation is that the number will be at the high end of this range, and therefore that the steady state of approximately 1,500 Fellows will be reached in roughly 10 years. Assuming a Fellow lives approximately 30 years after election on average, approximately 50 new Fellows will be elected each year to maintain the total at 1,500 (that is, approximately 5% of the total membership).The Council will revisit the target percentage at least once every 10 years.

Q. Why is there a start-up procedure?

A. There are several reasons for starting the program with a well defined set of criteria for selecting an initial set of Fellows.

• If the program is worth having then it should be up and running from the start with a substantial number of Fellows, so that it is a healthy program.
• Future Fellows will be elected by current Fellows, so a sizable and diverse collection of initial Fellows is required to jump start the election process.
• A well specified algorithm is required to avoid an otherwise massive task of individual evaluation of the initial set of Fellows. The algorithm should be clear in advance to avoid questions after the fact regarding who was selected and why.

Q. What is the start up algorithm?

A. The specifics of the algorithm for the "seed pool" are given in the proposal. The body of the seed pool will be AMS members who have previously been selected to give an invited AMS address. This is not claimed to be the perfect way to start the Fellowship. However, bearing in mind that a fairly large well defined group is desirable to seed the Fellowship, this choice is practical and reasonable. Every person in the group has been selected by one of a very large number of AMS committees. There are approximately six AMS selection committees in operation every year and half their membership changes every year. Hence in the past 50 years a very significant percentage of the membership has had input in selecting the invited speakers. Of course the speaker selection criteria are not identical to the criteria the election committee will use for future Fellows. However, there are a number of criteria in common, including excellence in mathematics. Furthermore, no other mechanism for creating the seed pool would immediately provide a group of about 1,000 Fellows whose selection involved many members of the AMS.

 The seed pool will be augmented by some additional people. This includes 50 Fellows to be selected by an appointed AMS committee charged with increasing the number of Fellows recognized for their contributions to education and service to the profession and to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities in the seed pool.

 The start up procedure is not designed to select all worthy recipients, but to provide a feasible, rational way to begin the Fellowship. It is to be stressed that future Fellows will be elected without being constrained by the start up algorithm.

Q. How will the Fellows program be changed in the future?

A. The current proposal for the Fellows program was created by the Council, and it can be modified by the Council in the future. The details of administering the program may be changed in the future to address practical needs, even as the program is initially implemented.

Q. How can I find out more about the Fellows program?

A. If there is updated information, it will be posted on this site.  You can also ask questions by filling out and submitting the following form. 

AMS Fellows Proposal Question