WASHINGTON – Cheikh Birahim Ndiaye, Ph.D. has been named the American Mathematical Society 2025-2026 Claytor-Gilmer Fellow, an honor recognizing mid-career Black mathematicians based in the United States whose achievements demonstrate significant potential for further contributions to mathematics.
An associate professor in the University’s department of mathematics, Ndiaye joined Howard’s faculty in 2017 after an illustrious academic journey that included periods in Senegal, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Japan. His fellowship research will explore a Min-Max version of the Algebraic Topological argument of Bahri-Coron and Lojasiewicz’s inequalities at infinity for Yamabe type problems, with the goal of finding problem-solving methods that span various and disparate disciplines.
The fellowship, named in honor of pioneering Black mathematicians William Schieffelin Claytor, Ph.D. and Gloria Ford Gilmer, Ph.D., carries a monetary award of $50,000. It aims to foster greater participation of Black mathematicians in the field by providing recipients the flexibility to advance their research through release time, travel support, participation in research programs, or other means.
Ndiaye specializes in geometric analysis focusing on non-compact geometric variational problems. His contributions to mathematical research have garnered international recognition, including the National Science Foundation 2020 Excellence in Research Award and the Howard University College of Arts and Sciences 2023-2024 Outstanding Research Award. In 2024, Ndiaye also secured a research membership at the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath).
