Stony Brook University Student Wins Chasman Scholarship

September 7, 2005

UPTON, NY - Ismat Mahmood, a student at Stony Brook University, has won the 2005 Renate W. Chasman Scholarship for Women. Brookhaven Women in Science, a not-for-profit organization at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, offers the scholarship to qualified candidates annually to encourage women to pursue careers in science, engineering or mathematics.

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Ismat Mahmood (second from left) accepts a plaque honoring her as the 2005 Renate W. Chasman Scholarship for Women recipient from Loralie Smart (second from right), co-coordinator of Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS) with Pat Williams (left). Joining them are BWIS board members Kathleen Barkigia (center) and Vinita Ghosh (right) who, with Smart and Williams, are in charge of BWIS scholarships. (Click image to download hi-res version.)

Named after the late Renate Chasman, a renowned physicist who worked at Brookhaven, the $2,000 scholarship is awarded each year to a re-entry woman - one whose college education was interrupted, but who has returned to pursue a degree on a half time or greater basis.

Mahmood was a full-time undergraduate student, majoring in mathematics and statistics at the University of Karachi, Pakistan, before she moved to the U.S. with her family in 1996. Since family funds were tight, Mahmood enrolled in only one course each semester at a community college in Fullerton, California, and she found work as a bank teller. She married in 1999, soon afterwards moved to New York, and, in 2002, gave birth to a son. While she stayed home to care for him, she yearned to return to academia. When Mahmood learned that Stony Brook University had a child-care center on campus and that she qualified for financial aid, she again became a full-time student, in the fall of 2004.

Currently, Mahmood is a senior at Stony Brook University, majoring in applied mathematics and statistics. During the fall 2004 semester, she also worked as a research assistant in Stony Brook's Department of Psychology. This summer, she was an intern at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she worked on a project in operations research under the guidance of scientists and engineers.

Mahmood wishes to obtain a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and statistics and become a university professor. "I cannot live without the challenge of a difficult, mathematically oriented problem from real life and the exciting process of trying out different approaches to solve it," she said. "So, during all the rocky and passionate years of courting my favorite subject, I knew I was headed towards a career in mathematical research."

Mahmood tutored elementary school children in mathematics and science while she was a high school student in Pakistan, so, reflecting on that experience, she continued, "Teaching also gives me a great sense of accomplishment and gratification. I would find no profession more rewarding than becoming a university professor and researcher, as it would allow me to quench my thirst for knowledge while at the same time make a positive difference in other people's lives."

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