Dr. Jamie Mulholland to receive the 2026 Adrien Pouliot Award

Ottawa, ON – The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is pleased to announce that Dr. Jamie Mulholland (Simon Fraser University) has been named the recipient of the 2026 Adrien Pouliot Award for his outstanding contributions to mathematics education in Canada.

Dr. Mulholland is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at Simon Fraser University, where he has taught since 2006. He earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of British Columbia in 2006 and also holds an M.Sc. in Mathematics from UBC and a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Simon Fraser University. After completing his doctorate, he joined SFU as a Lecturer and became a Senior Lecturer in 2012. He has also served as Faculty Teaching Fellow for the Faculty of Science and as a Dewey Fellow at SFU’s Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines.

At SFU, Dr. Mulholland is known for his clear and engaging teaching, his thoughtful use of technology and his commitment to helping students succeed. He has taught thousands of students in first-year and upper-year math courses, while also playing a long-standing role in SFU’s Calculus/Algebra Workshop Open Lab, a support program that serves hundreds of students each semester. Since 2006, he has supervised more than 200 teaching assistants through this program, offering mentorship that has shaped not only undergraduate learning but also the development of future educators.

A strength of Dr. Mulholland’s teaching is his ability to make mathematics accessible without losing its depth or beauty. He was an early leader in the use of flipped classrooms for first-year calculus at SFU, creating carefully designed instructional videos and active-learning materials to help students engage with mathematics before, during and after class. This work led to published scholarship on teaching and learning in large calculus courses and has been shared with math educators across Canada.

“Jamie’s videos are of a different kind. They are technically carefully planned and orchestrated, with an emphasis on pace and conceptual development.”

Dr. Mulholland has also created a wide range of open educational resources for students and instructors. These include course notes with interactive applets, Python-based materials for applied linear algebra, and resources connecting mathematics to biology, computing and permutation puzzles. His materials reflect a practical and generous approach to teaching: when students need better tools, he builds them; when instructors need shareable resources, he makes them available.

His commitment to mathematics education extends well beyond the university classroom. Since 2007, Dr. Mulholland has been deeply involved in the SFU-CMS-PIMS Burnaby Math Camp, a five-day summer program for Grade 9 and 10 students from across British Columbia. He co-organized the camp for many years and has served as lead organizer since 2023. Through topics such as cryptography, groups, graphs and games, he has helped young students experience mathematics as creative, exploratory and fun. Across the broader SFU Math Camps program, this outreach has reached more than 1,000 students.

“His work has touched the mathematical lives of students from Grade 9 to graduate school, of teachers across BC, and of fellow educators nationally.”

Dr. Mulholland has also played an important role in building community among mathematics educators. He has supported the SFU Math Camp for Teachers, contributed to the PIMS Changing the Culture conference and participated in PIMS Education Circles. Since 2023, he has served as PIMS Education Coordinator at SFU, helping connect school teachers, university instructors, graduate students and others who care deeply about math education. Within the CMS, he has served as Associate Editor for the A Taste of Mathematics booklet series, as Chair of the CMS Committee on Education Materials, and as a Member of the Excellence in Teaching Award Selection Committee.

His work has been recognized with several major honours, including the 2019 PIMS Education Prize, the 2015 CMS Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2011 Simon Fraser University Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2011 Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award at SFU.

Through his teaching, mentorship, outreach and service, Dr. Mulholland has helped countless students and educators see mathematics as something meaningful, useful and inspiring. His sustained dedication to math education reflects the spirit of the 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)
The Canadian Mathematical Society (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 meetings, research publications, and the promotion of excellence in mathematics competitions that recognize outstanding student achievements. The CMS is a registered non-profit, charitable organization and depends on grants, funding, and generous donations from sponsors, benefactors and community members to be able to carry out its activities.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Andie Burazin (University of Toronto Mississauga) Chair, Adrien Pouliot Award Selection Committee Canadian Mathematical Society a.burazin@utoronto.ca

or

Dr. Termeh Kousha Executive Director Canadian Mathematical Society tkousha@cms.math.ca