Neudauer Honored For Distinguished Service To Mathematics

Pacific University Professor of Mathematics Nancy Ann Neudauer is being honored for a lifetime of service, passion, mentorship, and building research communities.

Neudauer is the 2026 recipient of the Yueh-Gin Gung and Charles Y. Hu Award for Distinguished Service to Mathematics from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). Considered one of the organization’s most distinguished honors, the Gung & Hu Award honors individuals who have made extraordinary contributions and significantly influenced the field of mathematics on a national scale.

Neudauer said that while she is honored to receive the award, she feels like there is so much more to do.

“The tremendous impact of teaching geographically isolated mathematics has recently guided my professional work, where opportunities to create new networks have been coupled with research, teaching, and outreach possibilities,” Neudauer said. “The stories I hear from mathematicians in the Global South drive me to extend this work. Motivated by a desire to make a difference, I now know that the most profound impact has been on me. I find myself ensconced and embraced by robust networks and communities.”

A member of the Pacific faculty since 2001, Neudauer has had a profound impact on mathematics research both nationally and worldwide, with a focused passion for developing opportunities for women. She has received multiple grant awards to advance mathematics and mathematics education, including a $1.6 million National Science Foundation grant in 2023 to create research opportunities for two-year and four-year college faculty through the Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics.

Internationally, Neudauer has received four Fulbright Awards and a Fulbright Global Scholar Award for projects to advance math education in Africa, South America and New Zealand. Her most recent award came in 2023 to research projects in South Africa and New Zealand and create research opportunities for women in mathematics. That trip included presenting a plenary talk at the annual South African Mathematical Society Congress. 

Neudauer is also on the roster of Fulbright Specialists, a select group of highly-qualified American academics and professionals deployed to share their expertise and strengthen institutions overseas.

At Pacific, Neudauer is a past Thomas and Joyce Holce Professor of Science and a recipient of the Pacific University Faculty Achievement Award.

Neudauer’s service to the MAA includes 19 years as associate director of Project NExT, where she also serves on the board of directors and as the visiting mathematician to the project’s national offices. She also served as section chair of MAA’s Pacific Northwest Section. 

Neudauer is also credited with resurrecting the Cascadia Combinatorial Feast, an annual conference for those interested in combinatorics, an area of mathematics concerned with counting and networks as a means to obtain results in complicated applications now essential in many high-tech fields.

Neudauer received her Bachelor of Business Administration in actuarial science and risk management and insurance in 1989, her master’s in mathematics in 1994, and her PhD in mathematics in 1998, all from the University of Wisconsin.