DR. EDWARD DOOLITTLE NAMED THE 2023 ADRIEN POULIOT AWARD RECIPIENT

Ottawa, ON – The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is pleased to announce that Dr. Edward Doolittle is the recipient of the 2023 Adrien Pouliot Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to mathematics education. He will be presented with his award at the 2023 CMS Winter Meeting.

Dr. Doolittle is Kanyen’kehake, a member of the Lower Mohawk band of Six Nations. He earned a PhD in pure mathematics from the University of Toronto in 1997 with his thesis on partial differential equations. Since 2001, he has been first a faculty member at First Nations University of Canada (formerly the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College). His duties there include teaching, research, working with Elders, and service to the university and service to Indigenous communities.

Dr. Doolittle is an internationally recognized leader on Indigenous mathematics and related concepts like Indigenizing mathematics, traditional mathematics, and ethnomathematics. For two decades he has worked tirelessly to introduce us to insights around the ways in which mathematics as a field of study intersects with Indigenous knowledge systems, and the educational possibilities afforded by those different views of mathematics. Dr. Doolittle has done this through such things as his leadership of working groups at the CMS Mathematics Education Forum in 2005, a plenary address at the 2006 Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG) Annual meeting, leadership of a working group at the 2010 CMESG Annual meeting, by playing a key role in a series of BIRS workshops dedicated to First Nations Mathematics, through his research projects with educational researchers, his publications in educational journals and books, and his extensive community outreach.

A quiet but passionate voice for change, Dr. Doolittle’s service at the national, provincial, and local levels also includes serving as member of Revisioning, Reclaiming, Reconciling School Mathematics, a group of academics, educators, and administrators developing Indigenous math curriculum and policy proposals for the next round of K-12 math curriculum revision in Saskatchewan, 2015-2018; as a member of the Academic Restructuring Committee at First Nations University, 2016-2018, and as Secretary/Treasurer of the Native Heritage Foundation of Canada, 2015-2017.

Dr. Doolittle currently serves as a member of the Board of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Banff International Research Station and as a founding member of the Canadian Mathematical Society’s Committee on Reconciliation in Mathematics. In addition, he makes regular invited visits to educational institutions across Canada where he shares freely his experiences and his wisdom on matters related to Indigenous knowledge and Indigenizing education.

Dr. Doolittle’s exceptional contributions to mathematics education make him a most deserving recipient of the 2023 Adrien Pouliot Award.

About the Adrien Pouliot Award

The Adrien Pouliot Award was inaugurated to recognize individuals who have made significant and sustained contributions to mathematics education in Canada. The award, the first of which was presented in 1995, is named after the second president of the CMS, Adrien Pouliot. Pouliot was a Professor at Laval University and was described as a world-class ambassador for science and mathematics and a great educator.

About the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS)

Founded in 1945, the CMS is the main national organization whose goal is to promote and advance the discovery, learning and application of mathematics. The Society’s activities cover the whole spectrum of mathematics including scientific meetings, publications, grants, math camps and national and international mathematics competitions, as well as awards and prizes that recognize outstanding achievements.

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