Holly Marisa Gardner, a graduating physics senior from New Orleans, was awarded the prestigious presidential scholarship from George Mason University. Gardner minored in mathematics and computational science and this scholarship includes tuition remission, stipend, and health insurance to pursue a doctoral degree in computational science and informatics.

Gardner will also participate in the 2011 Program for Women in Mathematics at Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Studies in its School of Mathematics. Since 1994, the institute, with the support of the National Science Foundation and Princeton, has hosted an intensive 11-day mentoring program for undergraduate and graduate women in mathematics. The program is designed to address issues of gender imbalance in mathematics.