Undergraduate Awards

The annual Mathematics Department luncheon to honor its oustanding undergraduates was held this year on Tuesday, May 30, at the University of Washington Club on campus. A gift from the actuarial firm of Towers-Perrin helped pay for the luncheon and was also used for the second annual Towers-Perrin Award, given to the outstanding graduating Mathematics major with an interest in actuarial science. This year the award had two winners, Laura Hodgson (now Laura Kelly) and Surekha Sydney. Laura is now doing a business internship at Renown Health, a hospital in Reno, Nevada, where she works on Medicare and Medicaid billing. Surekha graduated with three degrees, in mathematics, economics, and Spanish, and is currently interviewing for actuarial jobs in Seattle. Other awards were given to the outstanding graduating seniors in our four tracks of Mathematics major, together with further awards given to continuing or graduating students.

The award for outstanding student in first-year honors calculus was presented to two winners, Praveen Venkataramana and Yuan Luo. Praveen is a second-year student and Yuan is pursuing degrees in ACMS and physics. The award for outstanding student in second-year honors calculus went to Ting-You Wang, who participated in Jim Morrow's REU program last summer and is pursuing degrees in computer engineering and mathematics.

The winner of the Gullicksen Award for outstanding non-senior in Mathematics went to Owen Biesel, who won the outstanding student award in second-year honors calculus last year. He is grading that course this year and partipated in Jim Morrow's REU program during the summer.

Ming Li was awarded a Phelps Fellowship and is pursuing a computer science degree. Kyle Littlefield scored highest among UW students on the Putnam exam.

The outstanding seniors in the Comprehensive major were Noah Giansiracusa and Eliana Hechter. Noah is doing graduate work at Brown University, while Eliana won a Rhodes Scholarship and is now studying topology at St. John's College in Oxford. The award for the Standard major went to Jerry Pan, who is now working at Amazon. In ACMS, the awards went to Francisco Cruz, now a graduate student in applied mathematics at the University of Washington, and Alvin Raj, now a graduate student in computer science at MIT. Finally, the outstanding senior in the Teacher Preparation track was Matthew Halpin, who has returned to teach at his old high school and will later go back to school to earn a teaching credential.

Monty McGovern

Mathematics Undergraduate Endowed Scholarship Awarded to Amanda Jane Geddes

Amanda Jane Geddes has been selected to receive the Mathematics Undergraduate Endowed Scholarship this year. Amanda graduated from Evergreen High School in Vancouver, and is now in her freshman year at the UW. Last year's winner, Zachary Sanford, continues to do well here.

The Mathematics Undergraduate Endowed Scholarship is made possible by an endowment established by Byron and Sheila Bishop.