"She is an excellent and caring teacher with both a national and international reputation for her research" is how one nominator described Lifetime Achievement Award winner Judith Sowder.
Sowder has promoted the use of research to improve mathematics education in her roles as chair of NCTM's Research Advisory Committee and as the editor of the prestigious
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education.
In addition to her work in the area of educational research, Sowder has taught middle school and high school mathematics as well as university-level courses for prospective mathematics teachers. She has served on many NCTM committees, including as chair of the Standards Coordinating Committee, which helped organize efforts to publicize the 1989 NCTM
Curriculum and Evaluation Standards.
At the time of this writing she is a professor of mathematical and computer sciences at San Diego State University, and she was recently elected to serve on NCTM's Board of Directors.
The scope of her contributions is summed up by one nominator, who wrote, "Her work as an astute researcher, caring teacher educator, supporting colleague, and politically active and influential speaker has had a lasting effect on the decisions and thoughts of many of us concerned with issues of mathematics educational reform."