Awards and Honors

Numerous organizations have honored Mathematica for the work we do, our workplace experience, community engagement, and the innovations and contributions of individual team members.

DEI and workplace honors

Mathematica is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the cultivation of our employee-owners’ work experiences. Notable honors received in these areas include the following:

  • Economic Justice Advocate Award Winner (2023)
    CEO Connection Economic Justice Awards
    Mathematica received the CEO Connection 2023 Economic Justice Advocate Award. This award recognizes companies that are influencing change, innovation, and standards for excellence, while making equal opportunity in their companies and communities a way of life, not just a slogan. CEO Connection evaluated award-winning companies on board diversity, C-suite diversity, supply chain diversity, workforce diversity, and community engagement.
  • Achievement in Excellence in Procurement Award (2022)
    In receiving this national award, Mathematica's Procurement team was cited by the National Procurement Institute for its demonstration of "innovation, professionalism, productivity, e-procurement, and leadership attributes."
  • Top Places to Work (2021)
    Mathematica was cited by Ragan Communications as being among a group of workplaces that “champion their diverse workforce and provide resources and support to help employees grow and succeed in their careers.”
  • New York/New Jersey ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) of the Year (2021)
    Given by the National ESOP Association, this award honors an ESOP company that shows a strong commitment to employee ownership and to the association’s vision of endorsing employee participation, wealth creation, and individual dignity and worth.
  • Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion (2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020)
    DEI Index
    Mathematica has been named a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” by the Disability Equality Index® (DEI) four years in a row. The DEI measures a range of policies and practices that reflect how inclusive an organization is. Mathematica received top marks for having an accessible workplace, strong employment practices, a supportive culture and strong leadership, a disability-related employee resource group, and a diversity council to help guide internal and external company initiatives. 
  • Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning/queer) Equality (2021 and 2020)
    Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality, Corporate Equality Index
    Mathematica received a score of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, the nation’s premier benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ workplace equality. As one of 767 businesses receiving top marks ion 2021, Mathematica was recognized for the inclusive and supportive policies that inform our employment benefits, staff training, workplace culture, and corporate accountability practices.
  • New Jersey Smart Workplaces Program Platinum Award Winner (2018)
    The Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association recognized Mathematica as an employer that demonstrated leadership by providing and promoting quality commuter benefits to their employees, therefore reducing congestion and improving air quality.

Recognition of our work, experts, and innovations

Mathematica’s team members are widely recognized as experts and contributors to high-quality research and innovative methods. Across a range of disciplines, they are the recipients of several recent prestigious awards and honors.

  • AVA Digital Gold Award (2022)
    Mathematica received the 2022 AVA Digital Gold award for its Influence & Impact video, an internal communications project that tells the story of our work through the voices of our staff.
  • Women in Science Incentive Prize, The Story Exchange (2021)
    Mathematica data scientist Cindy Hu was one of five innovative female scientists and role models who received grants to continue their work on climate change and the water crisis.
  • Artificial Intelligence Health Outcomes Challenge Finalist (2020)
    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) selected Mathematica’s team as a finalist in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Outcomes Challenge. An initiative of the CMS Innovation Center, in collaboration with the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the AI Health Outcomes Challenge offers innovators an opportunity to develop and demonstrate AI and machine learning technologies—such as deep learning and neural networks—that can aid clinicians in predicting health outcomes and keeping patients healthy.
  • Visualization Resources of Community-Level Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) Challenge, Winner (2020)
    The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded Mathematica the grand prize of the Visualization Resources of Community-Level SDoH Challenge for the Community Connector data visualization tool. The tool provides resources and opportunities for communities to use SDoH data when identifying intervention opportunities.
  • Louis Brownlow Award (2019)
    Mathematica researcher Elizabeth Weigensberg and her coauthors were the 2019 recipients of the Louis Brownlow Award for an article published in Public Administration Review. The award is presented to the authors of the best article by a practitioner or for a practitioner audience for the volume year. The article, “State Agencies’ Use of Administrative Data for Improved Practice: Needs, Challenges, and Opportunities,” focuses on interviews with almost 100 staff from human services agencies and examines the realities of administrative data use.
  • AVA Digital Gold Award (2018)
    Mathematica won the 2018 AVA Digital Gold award for an introductory video produced for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory project. The award honors excellence in digital creativity, branding, and strategy.
  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Quality Conference (2016)
    Mathematica was recognized at the CMS Quality Conference for “diligent work, authentic collaboration with patients, clinicians and partners and unprecedented national impact on patient safety in all U.S. hospitals.” Sue Felt-Lisk, senior researcher, also received a personal recognition presented by Paul McGann, Jean Moody-Williams, and Dennis Wagner together with the Partnership for Public Service.
  • American Statistical Association Founders Award (2016)
    John Czajka, senior fellow, was named a 2016 recipient of the American Statistical Association Founders Award. The award recognizes members who have rendered distinguished service to the association. 
  • National Academy of Social Insurance Working Together Challenge Winner (2015)
    Our disability research staff won the 2015 National Academy of Social Insurance Working Together Challenge, which was launched to generate ideas for improving services and supports for working-age people with disabilities. 250 experts participated in the challenge.
  • Walton Family Foundation Award for Best Academic Paper on School Choice and Reform (2014)
    Our education researchers won the Walton Family Foundation Award for Best Academic Paper on School Choice and Reform 2014 for their article titled “Do KIPP Schools Boost Student Achievement?” published in Education Finance and Policy.
  • 4th Annual International Conference on School Choice & Reform, Best Paper (2014)
    Our education researchers won best paper at the 4th Annual International Conference on School Choice & Reform for “Charter High Schools’ Effects on Long-Term Attainment and Earnings.”
  • National Academies Press, The Top 20 Most Popular Titles (2013)
    Highlights include an Institute of Medicine report, “Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress,” which garnered the National Academies Press Top Ten List for 2013.
  • Outstanding Contractor Award, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010)
    Mathematica won the 2010 Outstanding Contractor Award from the assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for our systematic reviews of pregnancy prevention and home visiting programs.
  • American Statistical Association, Government Statistics Section, Pat Doyle Award (2011)

Leadership recognition

Recent honors awarded to members of Mathematica’s leadership team include the following:

  • Top Women in Communications, Jennifer de Vallance (2021)
    Jennifer de Vallance, vice president and director of public affairs at Mathematica, was named a 2021 Top Women in Communications honoree by Ragan Communications and PR Daily. Recognized for her noteworthy leadership abilities, dedication to Mathematica’s future success, and commitment to advancing the communications field, de Vallance joins a prestigious group of women from many industries who represent the future of trailblazing communicators.
  • Mid-Market CEO of the Year, Paul Decker (2018)
    CEO Connection named Mathematica’s president and chief executive officer Paul Decker the 2018 Mid-Market CEO of the Year. Each year, CEO Connection recognizes one CEO who represents the vision, generosity, and values associated with effective and inspiring mid-market leadership. Decker writes and speaks on trends in the field of policy research, including the emergence of Big Data and its impact on public program evaluation and management.

Outreach and community engagement awards

With a mission to improve public well-being, we seek to promote our work broadly through communications outreach and by being an active partner in the communities where we work and live. Recent recognition in these areas include the following:

  • Best Use of Twitter for Community Engagement (2021)
    Mathematica won a PR News Digital + Social Media Award for the #PrimaryCareCovidChat, a Twitter chat series created in spring 2020 to help support the U.S. primary care community as it faced challenges on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
  • APHA’s Global Public Health Film Festival Winner (2020)
    The American Public Health Association (APHA) Public Health Film Festival features public health films which explore public health topics and encourage “change for a healthier future.” Mathematica won the 2020 festival’s Short Film Award for Substance Abuse and Addiction Treatment. Produced with support from the Administration for Children and Families, the video explores how the Regional Partnership Grant program improves the safety, permanency, and well-being of children affected by a parent or caregiver’s substance abuse disorder.
  • NIHCM (National Institute for Health Care Management) Foundation Research Award Finalist (2021)
    The NIHCM Foundation Health Care Digital Media Award recognizes excellence in digital media that improves understanding of health care topics through analysis grounded in empirical evidence. Mathematica was recognized as a finalist for its presentation “An Evidence-Based Tool for Educating the Public about the Risks of COVID-19 and How to Mitigate Them.”
  • Gold Quill Award of Excellence Winner (2020)
    The International Association of Business Communicators’s Gold Quill Awards recognize excellence in strategic communication worldwide. Mathematica won the Award of Excellence in the social media category for an Instagram series celebrating International Literacy Day in September 2019. In the series, colleagues from Mathematica and our subsidiary, EDI Global, read passages from one of the most translated books in the world, The Little Prince, to help call attention to the importance of embracing linguistic diversity in education and literacy interventions and our commitment to working with our global partners to address literacy challenges.
  • PRSA Bronze Anvil Award (2020)
    The Public Relations Society of America’s Anvil Awards honor high performance in public relations. Mathematica received the Bronze Award of Commendation for Facebook Engagement for a series of “Progress Together” videos highlighting our work and mission.
  • Communitas Award for Leadership and Excellence in Community Service (2018)
    Mathematica received the Communitas Award for Leadership and Excellence in Community Service for our wide-ranging volunteer efforts with Erie Neighborhood House, HomeFront, Miriam’s Kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, Lakeview Pantry, and more. The award is presented by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals and seeks to honor organizations dedicated to helping the less fortunate in their communities.
  • PR News Platinum PR and Agency Elite Award (2017)
    Mathematica’s Communications Department received an honorable mention from PR News in the Event Marketing category for the 2016 congressional event called “Pi(e) Day on Capitol Hill.” Pi(e) Day was Mathematica’s first large-scale Hill event for an audience of congressional staff and was attended by more than 250 staff from the Senate, House, Congressional Research Service, Government Accountability Office, and National Governors Association. Hill staff participated in activities coordinated by Mathematica and learned more about our focus areas.
  • Gold Hermes Creative Award (2017)
    Hermes Award
    Each year, the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals recognizes the outstanding efforts of professionals in those fields by hosting the Hermes Creative Award. In May 2017, Mathematica received a Gold Hermes Creative Award in the Public Relations Video category. A video produced as part of the Alumni Voices research project, conducted by Mathematica for the MasterCard Foundation, features young people from across Africa participating in the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program. The program provides access to secondary and higher education for young people who are committed to giving back to their communities. In the video, MasterCard Foundation Scholars describe their hopes and professional aspirations, their commitment to improving their communities, and how the program provided them with opportunities to achieve their full potential.