The University at Buffalo Gifted Math Program (GMP) was founded in 1979 by its current co-directors, Dr. Gerald R. Rising, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus in the university's Department of Learning and Instruction and Dr. Betty J. Krist, Professor Emerita and former chair of the Mathematics Department of Buffalo State College. Each year the program enrolls between 250 and 280 students of outstanding mathematics ability from the seventh through twelfth grades of the public, parochial, and private schools of New York's Erie and Niagara counties.

The single objective of the program is to deliver to exceptional secondary school mathematics students a curriculum that challenges them in the same way that standard school curricula challenge students of lesser ability. Because there are few such students in each district, even the largest regional schools cannot serve this clientele adequately. It is this arithmetic that has led local schools to give GMP universal support. Every Erie and Niagara County secondary school has had students enrolled.

Approximately 400 students from an area age cohort of about 16,000 are nominated for GMP each year by their home schools or by their parents. Interested nominees then compete for the 60 places in the program. They are evaluated on the basis of a three-hour battery of tests, a completed questionnaire that includes two essays, and a family interview.

Students who successfully gain GMP admission commute to the university twice weekly through each academic year for two 75 minute class sessions each day. They study an enriched and accelerated program of school mathematics in grades 7 through 10, and university courses in discrete mathematics and calculus in grades 11 and 12, accumulating up to 22 semester hours of university credit.

The GMP teaching staff includes outstanding school and college teachers of this region, two at each grade level. These teachers are assisted by mentor-graders, many of whom are program graduates.

GMP is a cooperative program involving the families of the students and the students' home schools as well as the university. The university coursework replaces the home school mathematics curriculum and student grades are sent to the schools by GMP instructors. Each participating school names a liaison officer to communicate with GMP staff. An advisory board that includes university, school and community members provides program oversight.

The approximately 700 individual GMP graduates have attended many the nation's finest universities where they have studied not only mathematics and science but also such fields as psychology, business, law and education. Earlier graduates are now embarked on a variety of outstanding careers.

Fiscal support for GMP is provided by student enrollment fees and university tuition as well as by grants and gifts. Scholarships are available for those who need that assistance.

GMP has been recognized as one of ten outstanding mathematics-science programs in the country by a team sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Science Teachers Association, and the American Association of School Administrators.