Undergraduate Awards

The luncheon honoring the Math Department's undergraduate award winners for 2003-4 was held on May 25 in the University of Washington Club (formerly known as the Faculty Club). As usual, awards were given to both continuing students and graduating seniors.

The winners of the Dumas Awards for excellence in honors calculus were Jeffrey Eaton and Nicholas Reichert. Jeffrey Eaton, the winner of the award for outstanding student in first year honors calculus, was a UW Academy student; he is now a regular student and is currently in the second year honors calculus sequence. Nicholas Reichert was the winner of the award for outstanding student in second year honors calculus; he was also an early entrance student. Nick participated in Professor Morrow's REU program this past summer and plans on competing in the Mathematical Modeling Contest this year.

The winners of the Gullicksen Awards for outstanding juniors in mathematics were Sheng-Fong (Simon) Pai and Michael Gaul. Simon also won the award—for the third consecutive time—given to the UW student scoring highest on the Putnam Exam, a nationwide undergraduate math competition. This year, he is writing a senior thesis in computer science and is planning to participate once more in the Mathematical Modeling Contest (and presumably the Putnam). Michael Gaul is currently taking graduate courses in both algebra and complex analysis.

The winners of the awards for outstanding graduating seniors in mathematics were Ian Walls, Joel Adriance, Adam Wilson, Caleb White, Aleksandr (Sasha) Aravkin, and Tracy Lovejoy. Ian Walls won the award for outstanding B.A. Liberal Arts major; he completed the Mathematics-Philosophy Option and is planning a trip to Europe followed by a return to school to study computing. The winner of the award for outstanding B.A. in the Teacher Preparation Option was Joel Adriance, who is now in the Teacher Education Program at the UW seeking Certification and a Master's Degree. Caleb White was named the outstanding ACMS major, and he is now studying for a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Wisconsin. Also studying for doctorates are Sasha Aravkin and Tracy Lovejoy, the outstanding graduates in the B.S. Comprehensive Option. They are both at the UW: Sasha in Mathematics and Tracy in Physics. They also each served as a TA in summer programs here—Sasha for SIMUW and Tracy in Professor Morrow's REU. Finally, Adam Wilson was named the outstanding graduating senior in the B.S. Standard Option; he also earned a degree in Technical Writing and is now working for Microsoft.

Jennifer French was awarded a Phelps Fellowship, which allowed her to participate in the REU here. She is now taking graduate courses in differential geometry and real analysis in addition to being the TA for first year honors calculus. She too plans to participate in the Mathematical Modeling Competition.

Other math students were recognized for winning awards from outside the department. Aravkin, Lovejoy, and Casey Schneider-Mizell were the members of the championship Math Modeling team (see separate article), Noah Giansiracusa won a Goldwater Scholarship, and Terri Moore won a Dean's Medal. Noah participated in the REU here and is now a TA for second year honors calculus, and Terri is a math graduate student at the University of Nebraska.

Ethan Devinatz