The Agnes Szanto Medal

Agnes Szanto was a Professor in the Mathematics Department at North Carolina State University. She was a passionate and creative researcher concerned with the development and analysis of symbolic and numerical algorithms for problems in algebra, and a devoted teacher and mentor.

Agnes held various leadership roles in mathematical associations: in the SIAM Activity Group on Algebraic Geometry, in the ACM Special Interest Group in Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation, and also more particularly in the Foundations of Computational Mathematics society, where she served as chair from 2017 to 2020, and as treasurer and member of the board for long periods before that. She was also the main organizer of the unforgettable FoCM 2011 Conference in Budapest. Agnes graced these roles with outstanding social and organisational skills, communicating with clarity and insight.

The Agnes Szanto Medal was instituted in 2023 by the society Foundation of Computational Mathematics in memory of her outstanding research in symbolic computation and her tireless commitment to the scientific community. The Medal recognizes and acknowledges the contributions of a mid-career scientist with excellent contributions to computational mathematics who has demonstrated continued service and leadership within the international scientific community. It will be awarded at each conference of the society, approximately every three years, starting in 2026.

Nominees for the Szanto Medal should

• Have between 10 and 30 years (full-time equivalent) of involvement in the mathematical sciences at the post-doctoral level, or equivalent, in the year of the award, allowing for breaks in continuity, or be at an equivalent stage.
• Have a record of significant, key, or leading contributions to research outputs which are original and innovative, and fall within the topics of interest for the FoCM community.
• Have made significant contributions to the mathematical sciences community at large.

The selection committee for the prize will be proposed to the Board of Directors by the chair of the society. It should consist of between 5 and 8 persons representing, as well as possible, the variety of subjects covered in the area of Foundations of Computational Mathematics. At least a third of the committee members should not have served as such in previous awards of the prize and no person can serve as a member more than thrice.

Nominations of candidates should be sent by email to the chair of FoCM society nine months before the 1st day of the corresponding FoCM meeting. A nominee will not be considered for both the Smale Prize and the Szanto Medal in the same round of awards. For the 2026 conference the deadline for nominations is at midnight (GMT) of October 7, 2025.

The nomination letter should contain evidence both of the scientific contributions and of the activities and service to the community of the nominee, and include a nominee’s CV and at least 2 recommendation letters. Self-nominations are excluded.

The Szanto Medal will be awarded to the person selected by the committee at a ceremony during the conference, where the awardee is expected to participate