PROFESSOR ABBAS BAHRI EXCELLENCE FELLOWSHIP for GRADUATE and EARLY CAREER RESEARCH in MATHEMATICS

APPLICATIONS for the ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-2024 are now open  and  due April 30, 2023.

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The PROFESSOR ABBAS BAHRI EXCELLENCE FELLOWSHIP for GRADUATE and EARLY CAREER RESEARCH in MATHEMATICS is established to honor the memory of Professor Abbas Bahri and promote his legacy through support for graduate student research in advanced Mathematics.  

A citizen of the world, Professor Bahri was born in Tunis, received his early education in Tunisia before moving alone as a teenager to pursue his higher education degrees in Paris. Professor Bahri taught in Tunis, Paris, Chicago, New York, and taught at Rutgers for three decades. At Rutgers, Professor Bahri received the Board of Trustees Award for Excellence, the highest honor for outstanding research. Known for his teaching and research expertise, Professor Bahri shared his knowledge with colleagues and students at Rutgers and at many academies throughout the world. A strong believer that free rational thinking and scientific advancement transcend cultural differences and can bring peace, progress, democracy, and social justice in the world, and proud of his Arab heritage, Professor Bahri promoted international and cultural exchanges with several countries, and in particular with Tunisia and the Arab World.

CRITERIA for ELIGIBILITY - Awards are granted to Rutgers and/or international Ph.D students or early career research visitors in recognition of excellence in research and/or potential research impact of the proposed project. Preferences will be given to projects that promote international exchange among mathematicians, especially those that bring a positive impact to mathematical research in regions where funding for mathematical research is less available. Further preference should be given to Ph.D students or early career research visitors interested in Variational Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations, and in particular the ones Lacking Compactness. But applications from all areas of mathematics which are likely to result in and benefit from substantive mathematical interactions with our faculty will be seriously considered.

AVAILABLE FUNDS  - The source of funding for this fellowship derives from the Professor Abbas Bahri Endowment for Research in Mathematics, established by Diana Bahri-Nunziante, wife of Professor Abbas Bahri, under the auspices of the Rutgers Foundation, with contributions from family and friends of Professor Abbas Bahri.  Additional source of funding may come from separate annual gifts to the Math Department, see the How to Donate section below for details.

The annual distribution of the fellowship fund is made in accordance with the policy of the Rutgers Foundation, and is estimated about 4,300 USD based on current projections. The aforementioned distribution may be augmented if additional contributions are made to the endowed fund, or may be combined with potential, separate annual gifts of variable amounts, or other sources.

MODES of AWARD - The award can be made to one or multiple recipients. It is anticipated that an award could support the visit of an international awardee to the Mathematics Department of Rutgers University, New Brunswick for a period of one month during either the fall or the spring semester (possibly longer if additional funding is available), or support a Rutgers awardee to give presentations or lectures at a conference or workshop, or to engage in scientific collaboration; an award can also be given to a Rutgers student to carry out high quality dissertation work locally at Rutgers.

Each year, the number of awardees, and the type and the duration of the support provided will depend on the combined amounts of the actual annual distribution of the endowed fund and the potential separate annual gifts.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS - Applicants should submit the following documents by April 30, 2023.

  1. Brief Research Statement (2-3 pages on the status and objectives of your research project(s)).
  2. CV.
  3. Application Form
  4. Visiting international applicants should arrange to send in two letters of recommendation from mathematicians who are in a good position to comment on their research projects and potential.
  5. In order for an international visiting awardee to have a productive research exchange during the visit, we request that external applicants identify one or more of our graduate faculty member(s) as a potential mentor during the visit. We request that external applicants describe potential mentors in their research statement, and we encourage them to directly contact one or more of our graduate faculty member(s) about the mentorship relation.

Applications and Letters of Recommendations should be submitted to the Awards Committee, Professor Abbas Bahri Excellence Fellowship for Graduate Research in Mathematics via email to  grad-sec@math.rutgers.edu with subject Abbas Bahri Fellowship or regular mail to

Department of Mathematics
110 Frelinghuysen Road, Hill Center
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019
USA

Information for international applicants: The cost for visiting Rutgers varies depending on the type of accommodation one can arrange, which may also depend on the duration of the visit. Some international visiting students have managed with about $2,500 per month to cover their rental and food. We will provide some information on possible local accommodation, and may be able to provide some help in identifying and setting up accommodation. Health insurance is expected, and its cost also varies. The U.S. Consulate may have additional fund requirements for the visa application.

LIST OF PAST RECIPIENTS of the ABBAS BAHRI EXCELLENCE FELLOWSHIP

  • INAUGURAL AWARDS 2019 - 2020:
    • Dr. Habib Fourti (Faculty of Science of Monastir, Tunisia).
    • Dr. Ignace Aristide Minlend (African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Senegal – now Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics at The University of Douala, Cameroon, and on a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers for 2021-2022).
  • AWARDS 2022 - 2023:
    • Dr. Ahmed Attar (University Abou Bekr Belkaid Tlemcen, Algeria).
    • Dr. Pierre Aime Feulefack (African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Senegal).

HOW TO DONATE

Donations to increase the annual award amount of the Abbas Bahri Excellence Fellowship are of two types:

  1. Separate annual gifts to the Math Department;
  2. Donation to The Professor Abbas Bahri Endowment for Research in Mathematics.

Donations of the first type are 100% used to augment the fellowship award, while donations of the second type become part of the perpetual endowed fund and only the earnings portion is distributed annually for the fellowship awards.

  1. Separate annual gifts to the Math Department can be made in two ways:
  2. Donations to the Professor Abbas Bahri Endowment for Research in Mathematics can be made following the instructions detailed in This Document.