From a mathematics teacher, James Simons, Ph.D. has become one of the richest hedge fund managers in US history and is chairman and CEO of Renaissance Technologies Corporation. Simon’s fund highlights application of mathematical models and principles.

True to form, the former professor donated $10 million to the Mathematical Science Research Institute in 2007. With a net worth of $5.5 billion by Forbes estimates, he is in a position to give them the largest donation ever to an American mathematics institute. In a span of four years, Simons has already given $243 million to benefit his pet projects for basic education in math and science.

Math for America, a not-for-profit organization, was launched by Simons in 2004 to combat the declining standards in math and science education. At that time, Simons was confronted by the decreasing number of high school educators with math and science degrees in the US. Graduates in the said degrees often choose to work in more high-paying jobs than teaching.

He conceived Math for America during a fundraising game of poker in 2003. Gathering his poker-playing acquaintances, he pitched the concept of intervening in the dilemma of mathematics education.

Math for America persuades individuals to train in math, earn a master’s degree, and enter a career in education. In turn, it pays them sizably. Prospective teachers would be offered $90,000 in stipends each, excluding the salary. Math for America operates under The Simons Foundation, of which the hedge fund manager is secretary and treasurer.

Simons earned his B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ph.D. from University of California-Berkeley. Winner of the 1975 American Mathematical Society’s Veblen Prize for geometry, Simons is known in theoretical physics for discovering the Chern-Simons Invariants. In his illustrious career as mathematician, he has held teaching posts at Harvard University and MIT. He was employed by the Institute of Defense Analyses as a cryptanalyst.

In February 2008, Simons and his wife, Marilyn, gave $60 million in addition to previous gifts to Stony Brook. It holds the record for the largest gift ever to a New York tertiary school.