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Delbert Ray Fulkerson Prize (AMS-MOS)

Photo courtesy of Leslie Trotter, Jr.
The Fulkerson Prize is awarded for outstanding papers in the area of discrete mathematics. The term "discrete mathematics" is interpreted broadly and is intended to include graph theory, networks, mathematical programming, applied combinatorics, applications of discrete mathematics to computer science, and related subjects.

About this Prize

Originally, the prizes were paid out of a memorial fund administered by the AMS that was established by friends of the late Delbert Ray Fulkerson (1924-1976) to encourage mathematical excellence in the fields of research exemplified by his work. The prizes are now funded by an endowment administered by the Mathematical Optimization Society.

This award is sponsored jointly by the Mathematical Optimization Society (formerly the Mathematical Programming Society)  and the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Up to three awards of US$1500 are presented at each (triennial) International Symposium on Mathematical Programming. Eligible papers should represent the final publication of the main result(s) and should have been published in a recognized journal or in a comparable, well-refereed volume intended to publish final publications only, during the six calendar years preceding the year of the Symposium (thus, from January 2018 through December 2023). The prizes will be given for single papers, not series of papers or books, and in the event of joint authorship the prize will be divided.

The term "discrete mathematics" is interpreted broadly and is intended to include graph theory, networks, mathematical programming, applied combinatorics, applications of discrete mathematics to computer science, and related subjects. While research work in these areas is usually not far removed from practical applications, the judging of papers will be based only on their mathematical quality and significance.

Most Recent Prize: 2021

Béla Csaba, Daniela Kühn, Allan Lo, Deryk Osthus, and Andrew Treglown receive the 2021 Fulkerson Prize for "Proof of the 1-factorization and Hamilton decomposition conjectures", Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 244, no. 1154, 2016.

Jin-Yi Cai and Xi Chen receive the 2021 Fulkerson Prize for "Complexity of Counting CSP with Complex Weights", Journal of the ACM, vol. 64, no. 3, 2017.

Ken-Ichi Kawarabayashi and Mikkel Thorup receive the 2021 Fulkerson Prize for, "Deterministic Edge Connectivity in Near-Linear Time", Journal of the ACM, vol. 66, no. 1, 2018.

Prize announcement as seen in the news release.

See previous winners

Next Prize:  July 2024

Nomination Deadline:  15 February 2027

Nomination Procedure: 

To nominate a candidate, submit a letter of nomination (including reference to the nominated article and an evaluation of the work) to the chair of the committee.

Professor Daniel Spielman

Email: daniel.spielman@yale.edu