Maria M. Klawe

Maria Klawe joined Math for America as president in late 2023 after a 17-year term as Harvey Mudd College’s (HMC) fifth president. In this role, she leads programs for more than 1,000 STEM teachers in New York City who hold Math for America fellowships, which provide multi-year stipends and opportunities to expand teaching strategies. Klawe is known internationally for her advocacy for diversity in STEM fields, and during her tenure at HMC, the number of women in the student body reached 50% and women represented 40% of the faculty.

Prior to joining HMC, she served as dean of engineering and professor of computer science at Princeton University. Klawe joined Princeton from the University of British Columbia (UBC) where she served in various roles from 1988 to 2002. Before her time at UBC, Klawe spent eight years with IBM Research in California and two years at the University of Toronto.

She received her PhD and Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Alberta. Klawe is a member of the boards of Phenome Health and the nonprofits, Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), and the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics. She has also served as a founding advisory board member of Parity.org, a fellow for the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and is a trustee for the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute. Klawe was ranked 17th on Fortune’s 2014 list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders and named to Forbes' 50 Over 50: Innovation list in 2024.