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In 2022, Mandi Schaeffer Fry’s research��helped complete a problem that dates to 1955— mathematician Richard Brauer’s Height Zero Conjecture. Now, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics associate professor has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The CAREER Award is one of the NSF’s most prestigious awards given to early-career faculty who also have the potential to serve as academic role models and make advances in their field.��

“I’m really excited—it’s a huge honor, and I hope I can live up to it,” Schaeffer Fry says of receiving the award, which includes a five-year, $425,000 grant.

Schaeffer Fry, who was the first faculty member since the 1880s to be published in the��, plans to use the grant to continue her research on different mathematical problems, as well as to expand on opportunities to work closely with students.

She is currently the faculty mentor of��, which gives undergraduate students the chance to work on a math project of their choosing with a graduate student mentor.

“The idea is to get more students interested in doing undergraduate research and doing research-type activities in the department,” Schaeffer Fry says. “It’s getting a foot in the door without having to do a full-blown research project, so it’s a good indication that if you enjoyed this then you would probably enjoy conducting research.”

Even if they are not planning to attend graduate school, being part of the group is a good opportunity for undergraduate students to meet other students and learn something new, she adds.

Thanks to funding associated with the CAREER Award, Schaeffer Fry will be able to pay students who are involved in the Directed Reading program, which she hopes will help with recruitment.

She also plans to host workshops for mathematics graduate students around the state on various topics, like the job application process.