CCNY Senior Receives $100,000 Math Fellowship

Jian Liu, a graduating senior at The City College of New York, has won a Math for America Fellowship (MfA). The highly selective five-year program, for talented students committed to teaching math in public schools, provides a $100,000 stipend. Math for America is a nonprofit organization that aims to improve mathematics education in U.S. public secondary schools by recruiting, training and retaining outstanding mathematics teachers.
    
"This is an incredible honor," said Mr. Liu, who will receive a BA in pure mathematics from CCNY on June 3, with minors in secondary math education and physics. "It's an extremely competitive program and a major boost to my plans to become a math teacher."

A Chinese immigrant who arrived in New York six years ago with only basic knowledge of English, he will attend either Bard College or New York University this summer. MfA will pay his master's degree tuition in full. 

In year one of the fellowship, the Bensonhurst resident will receive $30,000 of his stipend and gain teaching experience. In years two through five, he will teach in a public secondary school in the New York City area, receive mentoring, support and professional development support and participate in MƒA activities. His $70,000 stipend for that period will be on top of his teaching salary.

The fellowship adds to Mr. Liu's list of academic and community honors. He is a 2010 fellow of the CUNY Graduate Center's Pipeline Honors Program and a 2011 Ellen Knowles Harcourt Scholar at the CUNY Teacher Academy at CCNY. Other accolades include the 2011 Zitrin Scholarship and 2009 Eber Scholarship from CCNY's Student Support Services Program and membership in the Chi Alpha Epsilon national honor society's Beta Theta chapter since 2010.

For his volunteerism in the American-Asian community, where he has tutored fellow immigrants, Mr. Liu received the 2007 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Leadership Award from former New York City Council Member John C. Liu. In 2008, he was named a fellow of the Civic Leaders of Tomorrow Public Policy and Advocacy Program sponsored by Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer.

While at CCNY, Mr. Liu has worked as an "aspiring teacher" at: Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change; City College Academy of the Arts; Mott Hall School, and A. Philip Randolph Campus High School.  This has been under the aegis of the Teacher Academy Program, of which he's been a member since 2007.

About Math for America
Math for America was founded in New York City in 2004 with a mission to improve mathematics education in U.S. public secondary schools by recruiting, training and retaining outstanding mathematics teachers. The MƒA NY Fellowships were the congressional model for legislation creating the National Science Foundation Teaching and Master Teacher Fellowships through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program in the America COMPETES Act.