Salma Wanna received a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1976. Her dissertation was entitled "A Spectral Sequence for Group Presentations." The award was established in her memory by her family after her untimely death in 1980. This award is given for exceptional performance in mathematics to a continuing junior, not necessarily a math major. The prize committee consults with mathematics instructors and bases its decisions on instructor comments as well as outstanding success in course work.

2022 Matthew Niemiro
2021 Ariel Lerman
2020 Baihe Duan
2019 Kieran Kaempen
2018 Ziyi Chen
2017 Alex Mendez
2016 Haidong Gong
2015 Boris Xu
2014 Cheng Ni
2013 Shiladitya Bhattacharyya
2012 Lingkun Lu
2011 Sakulbuth Ekvittayaniphon
2010 Meng Guo
2004 Wing Ho Ko
2003 Ben Lundell
2002 Ricardo Astudillo
2001 Michael Baym
1998 Eiji Aoki
1997 Christopher Francisco
1996 Mark Schmitt
1995 Tsz Ho Chan
Patrick J. Keenan
1994 Thomas Insel
1993 no award
1992 David P. Nicholls
1991 David Eugene Beckman
1990 Jeffrey Ho
1989 Jeffrey Douglas
1988 Joseph Andrew Kenny
1987 David Bryce Secrest
1986 no award
1985 Noriko Honda