Dusa McDuff, the Joan Lyttle Birman ’48 Professor of Mathematics at Barnard College in New York City, has received the 2025 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the American Mathematical Society. She was honored for her influential research contributions to the field of symplectic geometry and topology and her leadership within the broader field of mathematics.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Dr. McDuff began her career in the United States during the 1980s as an assistant professor at Stony Brook University in New York. She rose through the academic ranks, ultimately becoming a distinguished professor in 1998. By 2007, she transitioned to the faculty at Barnard College, a women’s undergraduate college affiliated with Columbia University.
In addition to her pioneering research on symplectic topology, Dr. McDuff has dedicated her career to supporting women in mathematics. She currently serves as a program organizer and committee member for the Women+ and Mathematics program at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
Dr. McDuff holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in England.