Martin Shubik leaves a clever legacy for women who love math

Oct 6, 2022

Noha ElGarem smiles happily, sitting outdoors in a U of T quadrangle. — *Noha ElGarem says the Martin Shubik Graduate Award in Mathematics lifted a weight off her shoulders.*

Your legacy gifts to the University of Toronto add up to opportunity. Noha ElGarem (MSc 2022) knows it. She earned her degree in mathematics during the pandemic, all while funding daycare for her kids and having to move twice. “What was supposed to be a watertight financial plan collapsed,” she says. “The support of the Martin Shubik Graduate Award in Mathematics lifted a weight off my shoulders and I succeeded in getting straight A’s in all of my courses.”

U of T mathematics grad Martin Shubik (BA 1947 UC, MA 1949) enjoyed a long career at Yale University, conducting what one colleague described as “Nobel Prize-quality research” in game theory and economics. He left a bequest for scholarships to support five graduate students per year in mathematics—specifying that the awards should all be given to women until female enrolment in the program exceeds 25 per cent.

It was a clever way to help tackle the underrepresentation of women in the field, and its recipients plan to carry on the efforts once they graduate. Virginia Pedreira, a fourth-year PhD student, says, “As a Latin-American female mathematician, I hope that I can help broaden the perceptions that we have of mathematicians—and that I can encourage other girls to study math.”

I hope that I can help broaden the perceptions that we have of mathematicians.

“As a woman in STEM I hope to help in making academia a more equitable and accessible space free of systemic barriers,” adds Eva Politou, who is completing her PhD in mathematical physics. “I am the first in my family to go to college and do not have a financial support system. These awards have been crucial for me to be able to study in Toronto and looking forward, I hope to use my education to contribute back to the scientific world and strengthen the field of general relativity.”

I hope that I can help broaden the perceptions that we have of mathematicians.

Overall, estate donors to the Defy Gravity campaign have designated more than half of their gifts to the area of student experience. Since the campaign launch, this generosity has enabled U of T to support more than 70 scholarships like the Martin Shubik Award. The positive impact on students can’t be counted.

When you include a bequest in your will to support the University of Toronto’s greatest needs, you give U of T the flexibility to open doors for students and empower innovative research.

Learn more about legacy giving