ContinuNewsletter of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Michigan 2003-2004

UMVirginia Young Named to Nesbitt Professorship

In 2003 the department welcomedVirginia (Jenny) Young, who became theinaugural holder of the Cecil J. and Ethel M.Nesbitt Professorship in Actuarial Math-ematics. Young is both a Ph.D. and an FSAand is one of the preeminent actuarial re-searchers in the world today.

After receiving her Bachelor’s in math-ematics from Cumberland College, Youngentered the graduate program in mathemat-ics at the University of Virginia. She com-pleted her Ph.D. in just three years with adissertation in algebraic topology. “When Ilook back, I now realize that my graduate ca-reer was too short,” says Young. “How-ever, I had an excellent advisor and mentorin Robert Strong.” After a two-yearpostdoctoral fellowship at the Institute forAdvanced Study, she worked from 1986-1990 as an assistant and later associate pro-fessor of mathematics at CumberlandCollege in Kentucky.

In 1990, seeking to use her mathematicalskills in an area that was more applicable toreal life, Young pursued a career in the actu-arial field. For three years she worked at theWausau Insurance Company; during thistime she passed all of the examinations tobecome a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries(FSA). In 1993, Young joined the faculty ofthe School of Business at the University ofWisconsin, Madison in the Department ofActuarial Science, Risk Management andInsurance. She began as an assistant pro-fessor, and was promoted to associate pro-fessor in 1999. She has also passedexaminations 1-5 of the Casualty ActuarialSociety.

During her tenure at Madison she wonfour different prizes for two papers on thetopics of group health underwriting and So-cial Security actuarial assumptions. In 1999she was co-winner of the Halmstad Prize forthe best paper in actuarial science from theActuarial Education and Research Fund forthe paper “Forecasting Social Security

Actuarial Assumptions” with Frees, et al.The paper treats statistical estimation of pa-rameters for a linear model that predicts fu-ture Social Security liabilities of the federalgovernment. The authors analyze time se-ries data from the historical rate of inflation,returns on treasury notes, the wage rate,and the unemployment rate. This paper isvery much related to the work that CecilNesbitt did in the area of Social Security.

Young is also deeply interested in thetheoretical underpinnings of predictionmodels. In their joint work “Equity andCredibility,” Young and Promislow studythe comparative advantages of linear leastsquares methods of prediction versus theentropy methods which occur in informationtheory. On the theoretical side the most ex-citing of her works is the recent collabora-tion with Zariphopoulou. In this work theyare concerned with optimizing portfolioscontaining cash, hedgeable risky assets likestocks, and non-hedgeable liabilities suchas insurance policies. The mathematics in-volved is the mathematics of stochasticcontrol theory and its associated non-linearpartial differential equations. The problemsin partial differential equations that occurare exactly solvable in a few remarkable

cases, but otherwise require an extensiveanalysis to even prove a solution exists.

“I am very excited to be in a mathemat-ics department again; it was one of themost attractive aspects of the position,”says Young. “I am looking forward toworking with the AIM (Applied and Inter-disciplinary Mathematics) program, andhelping to establish a stronger graduateprogram presence in financial and actuarialmathematics. I want to contribute to thegrowth of the actuarial math program hereat Michigan, and broaden the scope to in-clude topics in casualty actuarial math. I amalso looking forward to continuing my re-search with others in the department likeKristen Moore.”

“For many years we have been seekingto hire a leader for financial/actuarial math-ematics with research credentials appropri-ate to the distinction of the program, as wellas expertise and experience in and contactwith the profession outside the university,”says Chair Trevor Wooley. “We believethat we have found the ideal candidate. Theappointment of Jenny Young will ensure thecontinued health and progress of the un-dergraduate actuarial program and providemomentum for the development of a fully-functioning master’s program.”

“We are delighted that Professor Younghas joined us as we celebrate 100 years ofthe Michigan Actuarial Program,” says Pro-fessor Curtis Huntington, Director of theActuarial and Financial Mathematics Pro-gram. “With her addition to the faculty, weare in a position to aggressively revitalizeboth the research and graduate studentcomponent of our program as we start thesecond hundred years of offering excel-lence in actuarial education and research.”

“The honor of being the inauguralholder of the Nesbitt Chair is just over-whelming,” says Young. “Nesbitt’s work isknown worldwide, and it will have a lastingimpact on the actuarial profession.”

View from the Chair’s OfficeTrevor Wooley

Few sectors of the economy haveescaped the unwelcome effects of the eco-nomic downturn, and with state budgetsbeing squeezed both by declining tax rev-enues, and by federal cutbacks, publicuniversities across the nation have experi-enced the largest budget cuts in twodecades. Although the storm clouds hadbeen visible on the horizon for a couple ofyears, the budgetary hurricane that hit theacademic community over the past twoyears stopped many institutions in theirtracks. Here at Michigan, it is with unex-pected relief that I report that the Depart-ment of Mathematics has, thus far, not onlyweathered this storm without sacrificingcherished features of our undergraduateand graduate programs, but through hardwork and good fortune, achieved measuredprogress in enhancing the Michigan Math-ematics experience.

The long, strange trip through this in-teresting period began with news of a 6%budget cut and a hiring semi-freeze. Thenext year saw another budget cut roughlyhalf that magnitude. Given that 90% of ourbudget is spent on salaries of instructorsand support staff, such a cut seemeddaunting indeed. Still, with the news thatsome institutions were experiencing back-to-back funding reductions totaling 30%,we comforted ourselves by noting that itcould have been much worse! Indeed wehave handled a large part of this cutthrough more efficient management of ourclass offerings without untoward conse-quences for our students. Furthermore,while the College of LSA rationed depart-ments across the college to filling one posi-tion each per year, independent of the sizeof the department, through good fortuneand a fair measure of skullduggery, we havecircumvented this semi-freeze by filling nofewer than seven permanent faculty posi-tions over the past two years. You will hearmore about these new faculty members inthis and future editions of ContinuUM.

Our Applied and Interdisciplinary Math-ematics program is expanding to fulfill thescope that we envisioned for it a decadeago. Aside from the more traditional ele-ments fitting between Applied Mathematicsand Engineering and the Natural Sciences,we have been developing components inFinancial Mathematics and Computer Sci-ence. In particular, with Virginia Youngjoining us as the first occupant of theNesbitt Professorship in Actuarial Math-ematics, our Actuarial Program will be re-stored to its position as a national leader(see the article in this issue for more newson Actuarial and Financial Mathematics).Moreover, in Fall of 2004 the Departmentwill welcome Jeff Lagarias, Anna Gilbertand Martin Strauss from AT&T ResearchLaboratories, and this will provide a sub-stantial boost for our teaching and researchactivities that bridge mathematics and com-puter science. A major success for us hasbeen to meet the formidable challenge inthis depressed budget climate of makingprogress on the strength of our traditionalcore activities, while at the same time devel-oping these new and exciting areas that areso important both in the academic environ-ment and the modern workplace.

Despite our successes in these gloomytimes, it is worth reflecting on some hardtruths that cannot be ignored if current andfuture generations of students are to ben-efit from the opportunities that mathematicsoffers in such abundance. It is apparentthat public education is undergoing a piv-otal transition that, unfortunately, seemsunlikely to be reversed. As recently as 1988,over half of the University of Michigangeneral fund revenue came from the Stateof Michigan. Next year, less than 28% ofthat revenue will come from the State. Theshortfall is made up partly from greater ex-ternal research funds, but primarily from tu-ition increases. The challenge of makingour outstanding “public” education avail-

able to students who, on the one hand, areexcited about the opportunities that math-ematics has to offer, yet do not have the se-cure financial backgrounds needed to beconfident in being able to continue theirstudies, is one that has grave implicationsfor the extent to which we as mathemati-cians will be inclusive as a profession. Iknow that it would have been absolutelyimpossible for me to obtain a college educa-tion without the significant support that Ireceived at a public institution, and I am ap-palled that the doors of opportunity seemto be closing for so many hard-working andenthusiastic students who ought to be con-tributing, as mathematicians, to our future.In this ContinuUM we report on the resultsof our first Alumni/Alumnae Solicitation forscholarship funds, and happily we wereable to help four students this year. As acommunity of mathematicians, we will needto work hard with such endeavors to pro-vide the support that is increasingly essen-tial for the health of our profession. Part ofthis work will involve reminding our col-leagues who have employed their math-ematical training with success in otherarenas that this mathematics base requirestheir help to prosper.

When I first arrived here at Michigan, Iwell remember the speech delivered by thethen Chair of the Department at the start-of-year faculty meeting. It was an awesomeand terrifying experience with much talk ofbelt-tightening, of becoming accustomed tocutbacks, of impoverished futures, and thatwas all before the most depressing part ofthe speech. Although I have been temptedto dust off a copy of this speech in recentyears, the truth of the matter is that the ex-perience that we offer our students is betterthan ever, and that our Department offersan exciting environment rivaling any in thenation. So while this may not be the best oftimes for the Department, it is certainly farfrom the worst of times!

See more news of the University of Michigan Department ofMathematics on our website http://math.lsa.umich.edu

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In 2004 Professor Mel Hochster wasnamed the Jack E. McLaughlin Distin-guished University Professor. The Distin-guished University Professorshiprecognizes Hochster’s many outstandingcontributions as a scholar, gifted teacherand mentor of students, and generous con-tributor to the life and mission of the depart-ment and the university. The Professorshipis named in honor of his colleague, the lateProfessor Emeritus of Mathematics Jack E.McLaughlin (1923-2001). McLaughlinserved on the UM Mathematics facultyfrom 1958-1994. Hochster says he “choseJack because, besides being a very closecolleague and friend, I admired his inspiredteaching of undergraduates as well as hiscourage in dealing with the challenges hefaced in life”.

Hochster is considered one of the mosteminent mathematicians in the world, and isa devoted teacher and mentor of studentsof every level—from undergraduatethrough graduate, postdoc, and beyond. Heis arguably the best commutative algebraistin the country and perhaps the world. Hisinfluence on the field is all-pervasive; hehas personally touched the lives of many ofthe most successful practitioners of commu-tative algebra.

After graduating from Harvard (B.A.)and Princeton (Ph.D.), Hochster was a fac-ulty member at Minnesota and Purdue be-fore joining UM in 1977. He has been anamed Collegiate Professor in Mathematicssince 1984. In recognition of his excellencein research he was elected in 1992 to boththe American Academy of Arts and Sci-ences and the National Academy of Sci-ences. In 2003 he was given the Margaretand Herman Sokol Award from the UM inrecognition of his outstanding teaching andmentoring.

Teaching and Mentoring

Hochster has had a profound effect onthe quality of education at UM, particularlygraduate education. Since 1981, he hasserved as the official thesis advisor for 26UM Ph.D.s, plus 3 others at Minnesota.Some students had come to the UM specifi-cally to work with Hochster, while an evenlarger number of his thesis students havebeen those who arrived at the UM openminded but unsure of what direction to pur-sue. Hochster’s enthusiasm for mathemat-

ics, both in the classroom and in coffeeroom discussions, is contagious. His mag-netic personality draws students to hisbeautiful mathematics, and then his excel-lent guidance (and abundance of goodideas for thesis problems) sustains them asthey are led deeper into research.

At the undergraduate level, Hochsterhas helped coach Michigan’s prize-winningPutnam Exam team, a mathematical competi-tion for undergraduates. He takes an activeinterest in the program for math majors,regularly teaching and revising its corecourses. And even at the most elementarylevel, Mel Hochster is an effective andpopular teacher who cares about studentsas individuals: during a recent semester ofteaching Math 215, Hochster photographedevery single one of his over 100 students sothat he could learn and use their names.

During three recent summers, he hasbeen an instructor in the Michigan Mathand Science Scholars program, working withtalented high school students in a two weekintensive program that introduces tech-niques like recursion and ideas from numbertheory, using properties of the Fibonaccinumbers as a starting point.

Of the 29 Ph.D. theses Hochster has su-pervised, twelve were written by women. Aneven greater proportion of his recent post-docs have been women. In a field with sofew women at the top levels, this is a trulyimpressive statistic, and something thatHochster supports fervently. In his lecturefor the Sokol award, entitled “WOMEN IN

MATHEMATICS: We’ve come a long way -or have we?” Hochster discussed the situa-tion of women mathematicians and otherwomen scientists, partly from a historicalperspective, and partly in terms of problemsthat exist today. There is overwhelming evi-dence of gender bias in the evaluation ofjob candidates and in many other contexts.Even when procedures seem to be objectiveand fair, studies have shown that genderbias is significant and pervasive. Whilegender bias may not be conscious, it is heldequally by men and women.

Through his work with the STRIDE pro-gram (Science & Technology Recruiting toImprove Diversity & Excellence), Hochsterhas worked with other UM faculty to dis-seminate information about gender bias,recommend procedures to alleviate bias,and provide guidelines for recruiting andhiring procedures. “We have to makepeople aware of the problem, particularlythe unconscious nature of gender bias”Hochster says, “and make tools and pro-cesses available to departments to help ad-dress the problem.”

Research

Hochster’s deep insights have had aprofound influence on the study of Cohen-Macaulay rings and modules. The Cohen-Macaulay property is a structural propertyof commutative rings and their modules thatallows one to completely describe the ele-ments of a ring in terms of generators in aunique way. Although technical to an out-sider, the Cohen-Macaulay property plays avery important role in the field of commuta-tive algebra, and a vital concept in many re-lated branches of mathematics.

In his most famous theorem, theHochster-Roberts Theorem, Hochster as-serts that certain rings arising in representa-tion theory (specifically, rings of invariantsof reductive group actions) are alwaysCohen-Macaulay. This remarkable andbeautiful result is used daily by mathemati-cians, mostly outside Hochster’s own field.

Hochster’s more recent research, mostof it in collaboration with his former post-doc Craig Huneke, has been the introduc-tion and development of the subject of tightclosure. Tight closure is a closure operationperformed on ideals in commutative rings.Its definition is based on reduction to prime

Continued on page 11

Hochster Named Distinguished University Professor

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the National Science Foundation Director’sEqual Opportunity Achievement Award. In1997, Vélez received a White HousePresident’s Award for Excellence in Science,Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

In his talk, Vélez addressed the scarcityof minority mathematics faculty at Ph.D.granting institutions. He established a linkbetween math literacy and civil rights, quot-ing Robert Moses: “In today’s world, eco-nomic access and citizenship depend onmath and science literacy.” This literacyprovides access to technical careers.

It seems that the mathematical commu-nity has not embraced these principles. In1977, there were seven Chicano researchmathematicians at Southwestern Ph.D.granting institutions. No others were hiredfor 20 years. For U.S. students to surviveand flourish in our universities the facultyshould reflect the nation’s population. Di-versity is important, but it does not meanimporting mathematicians from other coun-tries. The one dimensional focus of math-ematics departments on research has had adetrimental effect on students, particularlyminority students. Even with good grades,U.S.-born minority students are ignoredduring graduate recruiting.

Lasting change comes from institutionalchange, which can only occur within math-ematics departments. The changing role ofmath in society and the mathematician’splace in it should serve as a major impetusto change. Vélez hopes that his work at theUniversity of Arizona in mentoring minoritymathematics majors to continue on to suc-cessful careers or graduate studies willserve as an example to help increase the vis-ibility of Chicanos and other minorities inmathematics departments nationally.

The 2004 Colloquium featured Dr. ArlieO. Petters, Professor of Mathematics andPhysics at Duke University. He received aPh.D. in Mathematics in 1991 from M.I.T. In1993 Petters became an assistant Professorat Princeton. In 1998 he was recruited toDuke, and he became the first African-American to be tenured in the MathematicsDepartment at Duke and the first elected toDuke’s prestigious Bass Society. In 2003, healso became the first African-American tohold a joint appointment in Math and Phys-ics at Duke.

The 2003 Marjorie Lee Browne Collo-quium, the department’s event celebratingMartin Luther King Day on January 20, fea-tured Dr. William Yslas Vélez. Dr. Velez isa Distinguished Professor of Mathematicsat the University of Arizona. His talk, en-titled “The Para-keet is Gasping,”addressed the smallnumber of minori-ties, particularlyChicanos, on themathematics facul-ties at Ph.D. grant-ing institutions.

Vélez graduatedfrom the Universityof Arizona in 1968 with a major in mathemat-ics and a minor in physics. In March 1968,he was activated by the U.S. Naval Re-serves and sent to the Tonkin Gulf, wherehe served aboard aircraft carriers for twoyears. After his Naval service, Vélez begangraduate school at the University of Ari-zona, earning a Master’s Degree (1972) anda Doctorate (1975), in mathematics. In 1975,he accepted a position as a Technical Staffmember at Sandia Laboratories in Albuquer-que, New Mexico, where he worked onproblems dealing with the command andcontrol of atomic weapon systems. In July1977, Vélez accepted a position as AssistantProfessor at the University of Arizona, andbecame a full Professor in 1989. In 1998,Vélez was selected as a University of Ari-zona Distinguished Professor.

While his research interests have beenin number theory and algebra, Vélez has al-ways been interested in the ways that math-ematics is applied. He has held positions atvarious military labs, where he has appliedmathematics to solve problems occurring inmilitary communication systems. He workedas a consultant to the Naval Ocean SystemsCenter in San Diego for four summers andreceived four patent applications dealingwith signal processing for military communi-cation systems. Vélez also published sev-eral articles dealing with issues inmathematics education and policy issues.

Vélez was a Program Officer for Algebraand Number Theory at the National ScienceFoundation from 1992-93. He was Presidentof the Society for the Advancement ofChicanos and Native Americans in Sciencefrom 1994-96. In July, 1993 he was awarded

2003 & 2004 MLK Day ObservancesHis career began at Hunter College of

the City University of New York, where hewas part of an accelerated B.A./M.A. pro-gram for exceptional undergraduates.Petters graduated from Hunter in 1986 andwas the recipient of many awards in math-ematics and physics. In 1999, he was hon-ored by his Alma Mater by being inducted

into the HunterCollege Hall ofFame.

Petters’s re-search is on gravi-tational lensing,which deals withhow light is dis-torted by thewarping of spaceand time. He hasbeen a pioneer in

establishing gravitational lensing as an areaof research in mathematical physics. Pettersis the leading author of the book titled“Singularity Theory and Gravitational Lens-ing,” which he co-authored with HaroldLevine of Brandeis University and JoachimWambsganss of Potsdam University in Ger-many. This book is the first to put gravita-tional lensing on a rigorous mathematicalfoundation. He has won an Alfred P. SloanResearch Fellowship and a National ScienceFoundation Early Career grant award.Petters was recently awarded the firstBlackwell-Tapia Prize in Mathematical Sci-ence by Cornell University and the Math-ematical Sciences Research Institute.

Petters has given back to the African-American community by dedicatedly help-ing and mentoring many minority studentsranging from those in elementary school tothe Ph.D. level. He was also Director of theReginaldo Howard Memorial ScholarshipProgram, which offers full tuition to Duke’sbest African-American undergraduates.Petters has consequently received severalcommunity-service awards.

Petters’ talk, entitled “Reflections onRace: An Academic Journey,” detailed hispersonal experiences being an immigrantfrom Belize and experiencing life in theUnited States as a teenager. He related thechallenges he faced as he navigated intel-lectually through higher education. Be-cause of his race, he felt that there wereadditional pressures placed on him, as wellas additional opportunities available to him.

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A new initiative to study methods forteaching mathematics has been undertakenby the University of Michigan. The Centerfor Proficiency in Teaching Mathematics(CPTM) is a collaboration between the Uni-versity of Michigan School of Educationand the University of Georgia College ofEducation. It aims to improve the capacityof the system of professional education forteachers of mathematics. Principal investi-gators for the Center at UM are ProfessorsDeborah Ball (Education), Hyman Bass(Mathematics), and Edward A. Silver (Edu-cation). A $10.3 million, five-year grant fromthe National Science Foundation (NSF)funds the center.

Professor Ball notes that a major prob-lem to which the center will devote its re-sources is that teachers’ mathematicspreparation often has been insufficient forthe mathematical demands of teaching. TheCenter brings together mathematicians andmathematics educators to develop a betterunderstanding of what constitutes math-ematical knowledge for teaching and howteachers can be helped to develop suchknowledge.

The need to better prepare teachers formathematics teaching is substantial; morethan a quarter of all students of mathemat-ics in grades 7-12 have teachers who haveneither a major nor a minor in their subjectof instruction. At the same time, the humanresources for training new mathematicsteachers are dwindling. In Ph.D.-grantinginstitutions, more than half the faculty willbe eligible for retirement in two years, andnearly 80 percent will be eligible in 10 years,according to the NSF.

Professor of Mathematics Al Taylorshared information on the need for such aninitiative, and the opportunities the Centerwill bring to the Department of Mathemat-ics. “Increasing the number and quality ofmathematics teachers is a critical problemfor the U.S., one that math departments, par-ticularly in public universities, should notfail to address. Indeed, mathematics depart-ments play a crucial role in the mathematicaleducation of teachers by providing almostall the mathematical content courses forthem. In our department there are many fac-

ulty, postdocs, and graduate students inter-ested in working to improve teacher’sknowledge of mathematics for teaching. Arole of the Center is to learn how to betterprepare mathematics teachers, to focus onthe ways of understanding mathematicsthat are critical for teaching. Most factorsthat affect mathematics education in theU.S. are far outside our influence. However,for the factors we can influence, such aswhat goes on in our courses for prospectiveteachers and communicating how profes-sional mathematicians can contribute to im-proving mathematics education, we lookforward to interacting with researchers fromthe Center to have the best possible math-ematics teacher education program atMichigan.”

CPTM will support and investigate a va-riety of approaches to the education of pro-fessionals who teach teachers ofmathematics, both pre-service and practic-ing. These teacher educators include doc-toral students in mathematics andmathematics education, post-doctoral fel-lows seeking to develop specialization inthe mathematics education of teachers,practicing mathematics educators, math-ematics teacher leaders, local curriculumand professional education specialists aswell as mathematicians. Projects to be de-veloped by the Center include study groupsand summer institutes. Local partners inthese activities include Michigan State Uni-versity, UM Dearborn, Western MichiganUniversity, and the Oakland IntermediateSchool District.

CPTM will also work to improve nationaland international capacity for the educationof teachers of mathematics by building con-nections between the Center and the pri-mary professional organizations whosemembers teach and work with teachers ofmathematics.

The center is part of a $100 million NSFinitiative across the country to improveteaching and leadership in mathematics, sci-ence and technology. Of the three new cen-ters funded this year, the UM School ofEducation is a major collaborator on two ofthem, the CPTM in mathematics education,and the other in science education.

New Center Will Focus onTeaching Mathematics

Growing up in Belize, Petters was ex-posed to an ethnically diverse and rich cul-ture. He was unprepared for some of thebiases that he experienced when he came tothe United States. He learned to overcomeracial encounters to his own benefit. Hisfamily encouraged him and never allowedhim the opportunity to quit. Petters felt thathe had earned the right to be where he wasstudying what he was, and didn’t allowother people to taint his opportunities.

This attitude allowed him to remain posi-tive and energized throughout his academiccareer. Petters encourages young studentsto develop a positive attitude, and acceptchallenges as the opportunity to prove theirabilities. Students should be provided themeans to explore the sciences and given achance to learn in a diverse atmosphere thatencourages acceptance.

The 2004 Marjorie Lee Browne Collo-quium also included a tribute to Dr. ArthurE. Bragg, who passed away in 2002. As amember of the UM Mathematics Depart-ment, Bragg pursued a doctorate in math-ematics from 1950 to 1961, and served in theArmy during 1951 and 1952. His academicachievements at the UM were admirable. Ina 1963 letter, former department chair GeorgeHay commented “…I must say that I haveseldom seen such a fine record in coursework. You are to be congratulated on hav-ing a most unusual ability in mathematics.”Bragg’s thesis research was in the area ofspecial functions, and he studied under Pro-fessor Earl Rainville. He taught in theMathematics Department and was recog-nized as a skilled educator, achieving theprestigious level of junior instructor.

Bragg left UM in 1961 and had an out-standing career in mathematics education.He continued his career at Tuskegee Uni-versity, and then moved to Virginia StateUniversity as an Associate Professor. In1962 Bragg became Chair of the Departmentof Mathematics at Delaware State Collegeand served in this capacity until 1989. Dur-ing this time he gave untiringly of his time,talents and interests to improving the de-partment and enhancing the college aca-demically, physically and financially.

Bragg’s military career spanned over 34years of active and reserve duty in theArmy. He retired in 1988 with the rank ofLieutenant Colonel. In recognition of hisdedicated service to education and the com-munity, Bragg was awarded an honorarydoctorate degree in science from DelawareState College in 1990.

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Faculty KudosJinho Baik was awarded an American

Mathematical Society Centennial Re-search Fellowship. The primary selectioncriterion for the Centennial Fellowship isthe excellence of the candidate’s research,recognizing only 2-4 scientists each year.

Alexander Barvinok published hisbook “A Course in Convexity” through theAmerican Mathematical Society.

Andreas Blass was the program chairfor the 2003 annual meeting of the Associa-tion for Symbolic Logic.

Anthony Bloch has been elected a Fel-low of the Institute of Electrical and Elec-tronics Engineers. He has been elected onthe basis of contributions to nonlinear dy-namics and geometric control of physicalsystems. The IEEE Fellow is one of themost prestigious honors of the IEEE, and isbestowed upon a very limited number ofmembers. The number of IEEE Fellowselected in a year is no more than one-tenthof one percent of the total IEEE votingmembership. In addition, Bloch’s book“Nonholonomic Mechanics and Control”was published by Springer-Verlag this year.

Brian Conrad received from theRackham Graduate School, a Henry RusselAward for the year 2004. This award is con-ferred annually to recognize distinguishedscholarship or authorship (including cre-ativity in the arts) and conspicuous abilityas a teacher.

Harm Derksen has been awarded anNSF CAREER Award for Science and Engi-neering. The Faculty Early Career Develop-ment (CAREER) Program is a highlycompetitive Foundation-wide activity thatoffers the National Science Foundation’smost prestigious awards for new facultymembers. The CAREER program recognizesand supports the early career-developmentactivities of those teacher-scholars who aremost likely to become the academic leadersof the 21st century. Derksen was also pro-moted from Assistant Professor to Associ-ate Professor.

Charlie Doering was elected Vice-Chairof the American Physical Society’s (APS)Group on Statistical and Nonlinear Physics(GSNP). The APS-GSNP handles fellowshipnominations, conference organization, andgeneral scientific and public and policy out-reach issues for the American Physical So-ciety in the areas of modern statistical

physics and nonlinear dynamics theory, ex-periments and applications. The APS-GSNP Vice-Chair position is the start of afour-year appointment that evolves in sub-sequent years into the duties of the APS-GSNP Chair-Elect, Chair, and Past-Chair.Doering also received a Humboldt ResearchAward for Senior U.S. Scientists. Thisaward is given to researchers with interna-tionally recognized academic qualificationsand honors the academic achievements ofthe award winner’s lifetime. Award winnersare invited to carry out research projects oftheir own choice in Germany in cooperationwith colleagues.

Robert Griess, Jr., received theUniversity’s Harold R. Johnson DiversityService Award, recognizing his commitmentto the development of a more culturally andethnically diverse campus community. For10 years, Griess has led the department’sannual effort in the King/Chavez/Parks Col-lege Day visitation program. He displayshis commitment to diversity through takingpersonal and direct interest in studentsfrom under-represented minorities who en-ter the mathematics program.

Phil Hanlon has been named theUniversity’s Associate Provost for Budget-ary and Academic Affairs. Phil had beenAssociate Dean for Finance and Planningin LSA for the past four years.

Mel Hochster received the 2001-02 Mar-garet and Herman Sokol Faculty Award inthe Sciences. This award, one of the mostdistinguished awarded by the University, isconferred on a tenured faculty member ofthe University in the sciences, for contribu-tions to graduate education and research.

Trachette Jackson received five distin-guished honors thisyear, and was pro-moted from AssistantProfessor to AssociateProfessor. The AlfredP. Sloan Research Fel-lowship is an extraordi-narily competitiveaward with Fellows se-lected from the very best scientists of theirgeneration. The 2003 Career EnhancementFellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Na-tional Foundation is intended to “assist tal-ented junior faculty to pursue scholarlyresearch and writing...by providing support

for a year’s sabbatical.” Jackson will usethe fellowships to further her research inmathematical modeling in biomathematics,in particular, mathematical models for can-cer growth and treatment. She also re-ceived one of the University’s NationalScience Foundation (NSF)-funded AD-VANCE program Elizabeth Caroline CrosbyResearch Awards. The award will extend amathematical model of tumor encapsulationto include certain effects of the interactionamong tumor cells, the extracellular matrixand interstitial fluid. In June 2003 Jacksonwas awarded the Amoco Faculty TeachingAward from the UM. Most recently Jacksonwas chosen by LSA as the recipient of theRobert D. and Janet E. Neary FacultyAward. This award is intended to supportfaculty research.

Smadar Karni was promoted from As-sociate Professor to Professor. She also re-ceived one of the University’s NationalScience Foundation (NSF)-funded AD-VANCE program Elizabeth Caroline CrosbyResearch Awards. She will use the award tofund a speaker series and two one-daysymposia featuring women in applied andinterdisciplinary mathematics.

Bruce Kleiner was promoted from As-sociate Professor to Professor.

Bob Megginson was selected by theNational Association of Mathematicians topresent the 2003 Albert Turner Bharucha-Reid Lecture. The talk is given each year atthe NAM Faculty Conference on Researchand Teaching Excellence. The topic wascontributions of Native Americans to math-ematics. This talk honors the contributionsof the African-American mathematical bi-ologist Albert Turner Bharucha-Reid,whose career accomplishments includedserving as Dean of the School of Arts andSciences at Wayne State University in the1970s. Megginson was recently named As-sociate Dean for Undergraduate and Gradu-ate Education in the College of LSA.

Peter Miller was promoted from Assis-tant Professor to Associate Professor.

Kristen Moore received one of theUniversity’s National Science Foundation(NSF)-funded ADVANCE program ElizabethCaroline Crosby Research Awards. She willuse the award to facilitate completion of aresearch program in actuarial and financialmathematics, and help develop the math-ematical tools available to analyze the fi-nancial environment. Moore also receivedan Excellence in Education award from LSA.

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New JuniorFaculty

Assistant professors who joined the de-partment during the past and current aca-demic years are listed here with theirdoctoral institutions and area of specialty.

Emina Alibegovic - Univ. of Utah, Alge-braic Topology (Hildebrandt)

Lyudmyla Barannyk - New Jersey Insti-tute of Technology, Fluid Dynamics

Jason Bell - Univ. of California, San Di-ego, Algebra and Analytic Number Theory

Gautam Bharali - Univ. of Wisconsin,Complex Analysis

David Bortz - North Carolina StateUniv., Applied/Mathematical Biology

Elizabeth Burslem - NorthwesternUniv., Dynamical Systems

Andrew Christlieb - Univ. of Wiscon-sin, Numerical Analysis

Tommaso de Fernex - Univ. of Illinois,Algebraic Geometry (Hildebrandt)

David Gammack - Univ. of Surrey, MathBiology

Yevgeny Goncharov - Univ. of Illinois,Numerical Analysis

Alexander Gorodnik - Ohio State Univ.,Dynamical Systems

Russell Goward - Univ. of Missouri, Al-gebraic Geometry (VIGRE)

Peter Hasto - Univ. of Helsinki, Com-puter Science (Gehring Fellow)

Samuel Hsiao - Cornell Univ., Combina-torics (NSF Fellow)

Bogdan Ion - Princeton Univ., Represen-tation Theory (Hildebrandt)

Elmas Irmak - Michigan State Univ.,Topology/Geometry

Hyunsuk Kang - Univ. of Pennsylvania,Complex Analysis

Muthukrishnan Krishnamurthy -Purdue Univ., Number Theory (Hildebrandt)

Gregory Lyng - Indiana Univ., Topol-ogy/Geometry

Sergiy Merenkov - Purdue Univ., Com-plex Analysis

Jani Onninen - Univ. of Jyväskylä,Nonlinear Analysis (Hildebrandt)

Nikola Petrov - Univ. of Texas, Dynami-cal Systems

Karen Rhea has been awarded an Excel-lence in Education Award from the Collegeof LSA. This award acknowledges her dedi-cation and special contributions to under-graduate education.

Chris Skinner was promoted from As-sociate Professor to Professor.

Peter Smereka was promoted from As-sociate Professor to Professor.

Karen Smith received a Faculty Recog-nition Award from UM for outstanding con-tributions as a teacher, scholar and memberof the University community.

Joel Smoller was a Rothschild VisitingProfessor at the Newton Institute of theUniversity of Cambridge in summer 2003.

Kannan Soundararajan was awardedthe 2003 Salem Prize. The Salem Prize isawarded every year to a young mathemati-cian judged to have done outstanding workin the field of interest of Raphael Salem, pri-marily the theory of Fourier Series.

Divakar Viswanath has been awardedan Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, an extraordi-narily competitive award involving nomina-tions of the very best scientists fromaround the country.

Sijue Wu was chosen by LSA as therecipient of the Phyllis and William Wolff IIIFaculty Award. This award was establishedby the LSA Dean’s Office to be used forfaculty research support.

These junior faculty received fundingfor summer 2003 and sumer 2004 throughRackham Faculty Grants and/or Fellow-ships for Research:

Mahdi Asgari

Lyudmyla Barannyk

Gautam Bharali

David Bortz

Andrew Christlieb

Tommaso de Fernex

Bogdan Ion

Elmas Irmak

Gregory Lyng

Jani Onninen

Nikola Petrov

Bernardo Uribe

Hui Xue

David Radnell - Rutgers Univ., VertexOperator Algebras (Hildebrandt)

Nathan Reading - University of Minne-sota, Algebraic Combinatorics

James Rossmanith - University ofWashington, Applied/Scientific Computing(VIGRE)

Elizabeth Stanhope - Dartmouth Col-lege, Differential Geometry (VIGRE)

Howard Thompson - University of Cali-fornia, Algebraic Geometry

Julianna Tymoczko - Princeton Univ.,Group Theory (VIGRE)

Bernardo Uribe - Univ. of Wisconsin,Algebraic Topology

Monica VanDieren - Carnegie MellonUniv., Logic (Hildebrandt/VIGRE)

Hui Xue - Columbia Univ., NumberTheory

Yongwei Yao - Univ. of Kansas, Algebra

David Kausch - Univ. of Michigan, Ab-stract Algebra/Ring Theory. David joinedthe department’s Actuarial and FinancialMathematics program as an AdjunctAssociate Professor.

Math ProblemYou are playing a game. Youropponent chooses a polynomialP with non-negative integercoefficients: you don’t knowwhat it is. You are allowed tochoose an integer a and ask forthe value of P(a). You may thenchoose an integer b and ask forthe value of P(b). After that, towin, you must determine what thepolynomial is. Is there a fool-proof strategy for winning thisgame?

(Answer elsewhere in theContinuUM)

7

In addition to Virginia Young (see page1) several new tenured or tenure-track fac-ulty were appointed this year.

Jinho Baik joined the department as anAssistant Professor. He received his Ph.D.from the Courant Institute of MathematicalSciences at New York University, and hasheld a Veblen Research Instructorship atPrinceton University and the Institute forAdvanced Study. Baik is an analyst with astrong component in probability. He hasworked on several different kinds of prob-lems, including the structure of random per-mutations and Young diagrams,percolation, and random walks. The Baik-Deift-Johansson theorem is viewed as avery deep, important result that has im-pressed people in the area and triggeredenormous research activity.

Stephen DeBacker joined the depart-ment as an Associate Professor. He re-ceived his Ph.D. from the University ofChicago. He was awarded a National Sci-ence Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowshipfrom 1998-2001, and held the position ofDickson Instructor at the University of Chi-cago from 1999-2001. Most recently he wasa Peirce Assistant Professor at Harvard.

DeBacker has done outstanding work inp-adic representation theory. He is consid-

ered the strongest researcher of his genera-tion in this area. He solved a conjecture ofHales-Moy-Prasad on the domain of valid-ity of the Harish-Chandra-Howe local ex-pansion that is considered extremely deepand difficult work. Other major results in-clude a description of the nilpotent orbitsof p-adic groups and the parametrization ofconjugacy classes of maximal unramifiedtori.

Patrick Nelson, who previously had athree-year appointment in the department,has now become an Assistant Professor.Nelson received his Ph.D. from the Univer-sity of Washington. He held post-doctoralpositions at Duke University and the Insti-tute for Mathematics and its Applicationsprior to coming to UM. In 2002, he receiveda Career Award at the Scientific Interfacefrom the Burroughs Wellcome fund.

Nelson’s research in mathematical biol-ogy uses delay-differential equation modelsto study infectious disease, mainly HIV/AIDS. His work uses many techniques in-cluding asymptotics, stability analysis, pa-rameter estimation, the theory of dynamicalsystems, and scientific computing, and heis also involved in the development of boththeory and numerical algorithms for dealingwith delay-differential equations.

Sijue Wu joined the department as aProfessor with tenure. She received herPh.D. from Yale University. Since 1990, shehas held positions at the Courant Institute,Northwestern University, University ofIowa, Institute for Advanced Study, Univer-sity of Maryland, and Harvard University.

Wu is a deep and original researcherworking in the areas of partial differentialequations, fluid dynamics and harmonicanalysis. In 2001, she received both the

New Senior Faculty Members

Junior FacultyResearch HighlightAssistant Professor Tibor Beke

was awarded a two-year “incubation”grant under the heading of CARGO(Computational and Algorithmic Rep-resentations of Geometric Objects).The sponsors are NSF (National Sci-ence Foundation) and DARPA (De-fense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency). The objective is to findcoding methods, based in part on to-pological graph theory, that facilitatefast transmission and creation of digi-tal maps. Beke is partnering with thesenior scientist at MetaCarta, Inc., acompany that provides services forthe intelligence community.

The immediate goal of the programis to provide map-transmitting capa-bilities for low bandwith hand-helddevices. Services like MapQuest andMapblast on the Internet can be usedif there is a good net connection andhigh-resolution screen, but are notpractical for more remote applications.

Beke is involved in the broadercontext that uses topological graphsto describe not just two-dimensionalimages (like a road map) but alsothree-dimensional configurations (likea solid body in space).

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Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics andthe Morningside Silver Medal in Mathemat-ics. She was an invited speaker at the 2002International Congress of Mathematiciansin Beijing, one of the highest honors for aresearch mathematician. Wu establishedherself as a top analyst by makinggroundbreaking contributions to the studyof water waves and of vortex sheets. Hersuccess in these areas is particularly im-pressive considering that her training wasnot in fluid dynamics.

Faculty Profile - Associate Professor Brian ConradAs a child, Associate Professor Brian

Conrad never considered mathematics as acareer. An intensive eight-week summermath program during high school made himrealize that math is a “living subject.”Conrad says that “math is really aboutideas, not formulas. Unfortunately, that’ssomething not so widely known. More stu-dents would be interested in math if theyunderstood this.”

Conrad, who joined the department in2000 and was promoted to Associate Pro-fessor in 2001, is a rising star who works inalgebraic geometry and number theory. Theoverlap of these fields has applicationsboth within theoretical mathematics as wellas in development of cryptographic sys-tems needed for secure electronic telecom-munications.

A native of Long Island, Conrad is theson of a high school math teacher. His expe-riences at the summer program convincedhim to major in math at Harvard. He earnedhis Ph.D. in 1996 from Princeton.

Conrad has been widely recognized forhis work on the Shimura-Taniyama Conjec-ture, which concerns properties of ellipticcurves over the rational numbers; this workhelped to complete a program initiated byWiles’ proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem in1993. His area of general interest, arithmeticgeometry, is concerned with the use of geo-metric structures to investigate problemsthat arise from number theory. In additionto his work on elliptic curves, he has donework in non-archimedean geometry and thearithmetic of modular curves, and has writ-ten a book on duality for schemes. He ispresently working on a geometric analogueof an old conjecture on prime numbers, andis completing a book on modular forms.

In July 2002, Conrad was awarded aPresidential Early Career Award for Scien-tists and Engineers in a ceremony at theWhite House. This award is considered thenation’s highest honor for professionals atthe outset of their independent research ca-reers, and recognizes the most promisingyoung researchers. In addition, he receiveda Sloan Foundation award in 2001, and wasa Clay Foundation Fellow from 2000-2002.

Conrad’s research and leadership poten-tial were evident to the department when hewas recruited. His first graduate student,Mihran Papikian, defended his dissertation

in 2003; this thesis work was awarded theWirt & Mary Cornwell Prize from the de-partment. He is also advising three othergraduate students, and is very pleased withthe activity of the number theory group inthe department. Since coming to Michigan,Conrad has been an outstanding educatorand mentor, staying involved in outreachactivities at all levels. He was chair of themathematics honors program, and partici-pated in reorganizing the two-year honorsmath sequence. “I find that sometimes thehonors students want to jump ahead intocourses for which they are not really pre-pared, so I try to help them to see that it isnot enough just to know the answers. Theyneed to understand the theory behind thesolutions before they move on to more ad-vanced courses.”

“As Honors Chair, I met a lot of pro-spective undergraduates and their parentsduring campus visits, and the top questionthe parents always have is: Will getting a

math major lead to a decent job? This is ofcourse a most reasonable question, and theparents are often pleasantly surprised whenI tell them about the range of job optionsavailable to people with strong analyticaltraining, such as in math biology, industry,national security, and finance. The fact thatthis department offers courses related to allof these fields is a big attraction for stu-dents who have an interest in math but alsoare considering careers in other fields.”

Conrad also organized the Undergradu-ate Math Club. Each week, 15 to 20 mathmajors meet for pizza and pop in the Nesbittundergraduate common room and hear apresentation by a faculty member or gradu-ate student on a topic outside of the stan-dard curriculum. “I think the mostimportant aspect of the math club is that itenables undergraduates interested in mathto meet others with similar interests,” hesays. “It seems to have also led to an in-crease in the number of students majoringin math.”

Conrad has given presentations at sum-mer math programs for high school stu-dents, and when he first came to UM hegave monthly talks to students at a mathand science program at Churchill HighSchool in Livonia, Michigan. He now worksindividually with students from that pro-gram on research projects. “I enjoy workingwith students at the high school to helpthem think clearly about mathematicalideas,” he says. The student he supervisedin 2002-03, Ethan Street, was the only stu-dent from Michigan selected as a top 40 fi-nalist in the Intel (formerly Westinghouse)Science Talent Search, and Ethan also wontop honors in the International Science andEngineering Fair (first place in math and atrip to the Nobel prize ceremonies in De-cember). In 2003 he enrolled at UM and hascompleted his freshman year.

9

Solution to Math ProblemSurprisingly, you can determine the whole polynomial from just two values. First askfor the value of P(1). This is the sum of the coefficients, and so is an upper bound forall of them. Take b to be any larger integer, and ask for the value of P(b). Thisnumber, written in base b, gives the sequence of coefficients. For example if P(n) =3n2 + 4n + 2 then P(1) = 9. Take b = 10. Then P(10) = 342. Of course, we usually writenumbers in base 10, but this method works just as well no matter what b is.

Three Faculty Members RetireEugene F. Krause, Professor of Math-

ematics in the College of Literature, Science,and the Arts and the School of Education,retired from active faculty status on Decem-ber 31, 2002.

After receiving his bachelor’s and doc-torate degrees from the University of Wis-consin, Krause (as he will always be known

to the hun-dreds ofmathemat-ics educa-tionstudentswho tookhiscourses)joined theUM Depart-ment ofMathemat-ics in 1963as an in-

structor. He became a Professor in 1977,and served as Associate Chair for Educa-tion, from 1975-79.

Krause began his mathematics researchcareer in the area of algebra but soon mi-grated toward mathematics education. Forthe past 20 years, Krause managed themathematics education program, personallycounseling a myriad of students who wenton to teach at the elementary and highschool levels. He was able to show his stu-dents how to demonstrate the complexitiesand beauty of mathematics to young stu-dents. Krause was able to utilize his mas-tery of the subject to not only communicatewith his students, but also to explain waysof teaching these ideas to others. Krausealways felt that rather than writing aboutteaching and how to teach, he couldachieve more by writing textbooks, whichembody new ideas. His publications includethe books “Elementary Mathematics forTeachers” (with C. Brumfiel), “Introductionto Linear Algebra,” “Introduction to theTheory of Arithmetic,” and “Mathematics Iand II.” He contributed several articles tomath-education journals and was consid-ered a top expositor. Krause’s monograph“Taxicab Geometry” is popular with bothstudents and teachers.

During his tenure at UM Krause wasconsidered a stellar teacher. His courseswere quite demanding. His teaching evalua-

tions are simply outstanding, and his com-mitment to his own teaching and to theteaching profession are evident. In review-ing his teaching evaluations, the majoritystated that Krause was “the best teacher Iever had at UM” or that the course was“the most useful for my teaching career.”Krause was effectively “teaching the teach-ers” of generations to come. Many of hisstudents realize the valuable tools and re-sources they gained from Krause’s instruc-tion when they begin teaching, and contacthim to thank him for their knowledge andexperience.

Krause’s dedication and strong teachingdid not go unrecognized by the University.In 1979 he won the AMOCO FoundationGood Teaching Award; in 1982 he won theRuth M. Sinclair Award in LSA Freshman-Sophomore Counseling; he received theCollege’s Excellence in Education Awardthree times, Excellence in Concentration Ad-vising award in 2001, and was recognizedby the Panhellenic Association of Michiganas an outstanding teacher. In 1993 he wasnamed a Fulbright Scholar and spent a yearat Rhodes University in South Africa. Hewas a frequent speaker at both national andregional meetings of the National Council ofTeachers of Mathematics and the SchoolScience and Mathematics Association. Theaward that likely holds most meaning forhim was given to him by his last math edu-cation class in 2002: After nominating him(unsuccessfully) for the University’sGolden Apple Award, which signifies thebest teacher at the University as chosen bythe students, Krause’s class presented himwith an engraved “golden apple” paper-weight, citing the paramount role he playedin their educational careers.

To honor Krause’s commitment to en-gaging new teachers in the art and scienceof teaching mathematics, a fund has beenestablished in the School of Education tohelp new teachers of mathematics continueto enhance their skills and abilities. Thefund will provide support for classroom ma-terials, conference travel and other profes-sional development opportunities related tothe teaching of mathematics. Donations canbe sent to UM School of Education, 610East University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259;ATTN: L. Stoianowski. Please indicate thedonation is for the Eugene Krause Fund.

Mort Brown , Professor of Mathematicsin the College of Literature, Science, and theArts, retired from active faculty status onMay 31, 2004.

Brown attended the University of Wis-consin, andreceived hisBachelor ofScience de-gree in 1953and his Ph.D.in Mathemat-ics in 1958.He was an in-structor atOhio StateUniversityprior to join-ing the Uni-versity of

Michigan Mathematics Department on a fel-lowship from the Office of Naval Research.Brown was promoted to assistant professorin 1959, and became a Professor in 1964.During his tenure, he directed seven Ph.D.students.

Early in his career, Brown was recog-nized as an expert in topology, and he haspresented papers and lectures by invitationon topology, high dimensional topology,and dynamical systems at universities andinstitutes throughout the world. In 1963Brown received a Sloan Foundation Fellow-ship. In 1966 he received the Veblen Prizefrom the American Mathematical Society forhis proof of the generalized Schonfliesstheorem. He later grew interested in dynami-cal systems on 2-dimensional manifoldsand, with Walter Neumann, gave an under-standable and acceptable proof of a fixed-point theorem conjectured by Poincaré andBirkhoff. The original “proof” by Birkhoff in1913 and “correction” in 1925 were consid-ered controversial. His visiting appoint-ments have included CambridgeUniversity’s Topology Institute, the Univer-sity of Warwick, the Imperial College ofLondon, Institute des Hautes EtudesScientifiques in Paris, and the Institute forAdvanced Study at Princeton.

Brown was active in administration atthe department, college and university lev-els. In the Mathematics Department heserved as Associate Chair for Education, amember of the Executive Committee on sev-eral occasions, and Doctoral Committee

10

Chair. He was a member of the LSA Execu-tive Committee and the Rackham ExecutiveBoard. He served on the Board in Control ofIntercollegiate Athletics for three years. Pro-fessor Brown was active in the Senate Advi-sory Committee on University Affairs(SACUA) and was the committee’s chair in1981-82.

As Associate Chair for Education in thelate 1980s, Brown began implementing thefirst major revision of the undergraduatecalculus program in nearly 20 years. In theearly 1990s he initiated cooperative learningin calculus classes, dedicated classroomswith new technology to that approach,implemented a specialized training programfor instructors, and oversaw the adoption ofa reform textbook. The new introductorycalculus courses incorporated group learn-ing, a graphing calculator, team homework,and smaller classes. Brown is credited withproviding a significant model for the na-tional calculus reform movement, and wasactive on numerous national and state cal-culus reform committees. After the reform ofthe calculus program, he continued as Di-rector of the elementary program in the de-partment for several years.

To acknowledge his efforts in reformingcalculus education and learning, Brown re-ceived Excellence in Teaching Awards fromthe College of LSA in 1992 and 1993. He wasnamed a Thurnau Professor in 1994, recog-nizing his contributions to undergraduateeducation.

Paul Federbush, Professor of Math-ematics in the College of Literature, Science,and the Arts, retired from active faculty sta-

tus on May31, 2004.

Federbushreceived aBachelor ofScience fromthe Massa-chusetts Insti-tute ofTechnology in1955, and in1958 a Ph.D.in PhysicsfromPrinceton Uni-

versity. From 1958 to 1966 he was an in-structor and assistant professor in theM.I.T. Physics Department. The year 1964-65 was spent on leave in the M.I.T. Math-

ematics Department. Federbush joined theUniversity of Michigan Mathematics De-partment in 1966 as a Lecturer. He was pro-moted to associate professor in 1967 and toProfessor in 1971.

In 1965 Federbush received a SloanFoundation Fellowship. In 1975 he was aJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow,and was a member of the Institute for Ad-vanced Studies with a grant-in-aid. Elevendoctoral students received their Ph.D. de-grees under his direction in either physicsor mathematics. From 1991 to 1997Federbush was Associate Chair for Educa-tion in the Mathematics Department. Heserved on many departmental committeesand several college committees, and was theunofficial social chair of the MathematicsDepartment. The latter role providedFederbush with ample opportunity to ex-hibit his prowess as a polyglot.

As a teacher, Federbush handled themany and varied courses in applied math-ematics, including many of the specializedand demanding courses designed for engi-neering students. He and a colleague devel-oped student computer lab materialsutilizing Matlab that continue to be used inthe current introductory differential equa-tions course, Math 216.

Federbush is a mathematical physicistworking in statistical mechanics and quan-tum field theory. Early on he became inter-ested in the part of field theory that couldbe put on a firm mathematical foundation,and in applications of field theoretic ideasto other areas of mathematics. One of hismost influential papers (in 1969) was an in-finitesimal version of Nelson’s hypercon-tractive inequality in field theory. TheFederbush inequality later became knownas the logarithmic Sobolev inequality and iswidely used in the theory of partial differen-tial equations.

Another important work was his 1975paper on the stability of matter, which gavea new proof of a classic result of Dyson andLenard that a large neutral system of elec-trons and nuclei does not collapse. Unlikethe original paper, the Federbush approachshowed that the technique of phase spacelocalization is central to the proof. Phasespace localization became a focus ofFederbush’s research, particularly in prov-ing results about correlations in Euclideanfield theory. His most impressive result wasthe proof in 1981 (with David Brydges) of“Debye” screening, that in a charged neu-

tral gas the effects of the long-range elec-tromagnetic interactions are screened out.As part of his work on field theories he de-veloped a set of orthogonal phase space lo-calized functions–known as “wavelets”–which are divergence free. In a 1993 paperhe explored a new direction, applying thesewavelets to the Navier-Stokes equations offluid dynamics. His current main researchinterest is in the Heisenberg model forquantum spin systems.

Hochster, continued from page 3

characteristic, where one then takes ad-vantage of the Frobenius operator. Tightclosure has provided deep new insight intothe structure of commutative rings and hasfound striking applications to a surpris-ingly diverse collection of problems.Hochster and Huneke’s notion of a ‘testideal’ for tight closure has turned out tohave deep connections with ‘multiplier ide-als,’ another current hot topic in algebraicgeometry arising for yet different reasons.Tight closure even appears to have inter-esting connections with a subject as seem-ingly remote as differential operators.Despite these apparently deep and diverseconnections with other fields, tight closureis important and beautiful in its own rightas an elegant tool for unifying and illumi-nating many basic constructions in com-mutative algebra, including Cohen-Macaulayness, integral closure, and ho-mology modules.

Diversions

While mathematics keeps him quitebusy, there are other diversions and inter-ests in Hochster’s life. These include cryp-tic crosswords and bridge. He is theunofficial organizer of a lunchtime bridgegame that involves nearly twenty facultymembers and graduate students over thecourse of a week. Most days he can befound at lunchtime in the common room orat a local restaurant with other bridge afi-cionados. The game is always open to newplayers, and new faces appear frequently.His home life is as active as his profes-sional life, with a 14-year-old daughter and8-year-old triplets to make sure there isnever a dull moment. He has a grown sonwho is a mathematician and two grandchil-dren as well.

11

Math Department Chosen for Carnegie ProgramThe Carnegie Foundation for the Ad-

vancement of Teaching has selected theUniversity of Michigan as a national, multi-year partner in a project to improve doctoraleducation at American universities.

The foundation’s Carnegie Initiative onthe Doctorate (CID), a research and actionproject designed to support departments’efforts to more purposefully structure theirdoctoral programs has tapped U-M’s Chem-istry, English, Educational Studies andMathematics departments to participate inthe five-year study. The departments willanalyze all aspects of their doctoral pro-grams and link specific activities to desiredoutcomes.

Carnegie Senior Scholar Chris Golde ex-plained that the project goals are to supportand study experiments in doctoral educa-tion with leading graduate programs, and todocument and analyze the character ofthose initiatives. Then, working with theseinnovative units, the project will help the

disciplinary community create models andevidence of success to inform others in thefield. “We’re working with departments thatare committed to being stewards of theirdisciplines,” Golde says. “We don’t justmean a preservation of the heart and es-sence of the field, although that’s important,but we chose those departments that have acritical eye toward the future, that are will-ing to take risks and move the discipline for-ward.” The initiative has three interactingelements: a conceptual analysis of doctoraleducation, design experiments in depart-ments, and research and dissemination.

UM and The Ohio State University werethe only institutions to have four depart-ments chosen to participate as partners.The 32 partner departments of the CID havecommitted to a serious deliberation aboutthe purposes and desired outcomes of theirdoctoral programs. Departments will con-sider the strategies currently used to meetthose goals. As a result of the deliberations,

departments will propose changes in theirprogram intended to better meet the agreedupon outcome goals. Taking a scholarly ap-proach, departments further commit to gath-ering evidence about the impact of thechanges.

“We are in a strong position to assistthe Carnegie Foundation in a prolonged ex-amination of reform in doctoral education,”said Earl Lewis, former Dean of the HoraceH. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. “Iam pleased that the initiative has chosenfour Michigan units to participate in this im-portant national project. That all four of ourprojects were selected for inclusion is aclear sign of a level of commitment of theUniversity and our colleagues to change.”

The initiative is funded by the CarnegieFoundation and by the Atlantic Philanthro-pies, which identifies and supports leadersand organizations dedicated to learning,knowledge-building and solving pressingsocial problems.

12

The Michigan Math and Science Schol-ars (MMSS) had a highly successful 2004program. Initially known as “math camp,”and offering courses only in mathematics,the MMSS program is in its ninth year andoffers courses in all areas of science tobright high school students from aroundthe world.

Attendance at the two sessions thissummer totaled 252 students. MMSS hasbecome known internationally; 49 of thisyear’s participants were from foreign coun-tries. The Busan Science Academy in Koreasent 36 high school students toparticipate in MMSS.

“I think our website hasbeen the main impetus to theincreased enrollment from othercountries,” says MMSS pro-gram coordinator WarrenNoone. “It was exciting to havethe U.S., Canada, and sevenother countries represented thissummer. Besides the program’sobvious academic benefits,these kids were part of a di-verse student body and gainedexposure to other cultures.”

Participants could choose from a varietyof courses in areas of mathematics, financialmathematics, mathematical modeling, em-bryology, field biology, genome sequences,physics, statistics, and astronomy. In thephoto below, students from the FinancialMathematics course visit the trading floorof DTE Energy in Ann Arbor. Group activi-ties and field trips also included the DetroitScience Center, Ann Arbor Art Fair, and Ce-dar Point amusement park.

Some financial assistance for tuition wasavailable for participants this year. For infor-

2004 MMSS Programmation on how you can support this pro-gram through corporate or personal dona-tions, please visit the MMSS website atwww.math.lsa.umich.edu/mmss/.

The MMSS website includes detailedinformation and many more photos from the2004 program, and will be updated with in-formation on the 2005 summer program.

Addresses:

www.math.lsa.umich.edu/mmss

or email mmss@umich.edu.

Some time in 1902 (or 1903), the first lec-tures in Actuarial Mathematics took placeat the University of Michigan. James W.Glover began instruction in the mathemat-ics of finance and insurance, and soon de-veloped a broad curriculum in actuarialscience. The exact starting date is a littleunclear. What is clear is that Michigan hasat least a century of actuarial excellence ineducation and research to celebrate, andcelebrating is just what we did in 2003-04.

In April 2003, we had our inaugural Ac-tuarial Commencement. Supported by theCecil J. Nesbitt Commencement LectureFund that was established with memorialdonations upon Nesbitt’s passing, the 2003graduates, parents and friends joined to-gether for a “mini” graduation ceremony,followed by a catered luncheon in theatrium of East Hall. The commencementspeaker was Susan M. Smith (BS Math1963) who also happens to be a resident ofAnn Arbor and recently retired from the lo-cal office of Towers, Perrin. In 2004 thecommencement speaker was R. StephenRadcliffe (MS 1968 ), President of AmericanUnited Life Insurance Co. of Indianapolis.We plan to make this an annual traditionand to bring back former students of CecilNesbitt to be commencement speakers.

In August 2003, we hosted the 38th Ac-tuarial Research Conference to celebratethe first 100 years of the Michigan ActuarialProgram, and also “in celebration of the lifeof Cecil J. Nesbitt.” It was fitting to havethe conference back in Ann Arbor, whichalso hosted the first conference.

There were 41 scientific papers presentedby 40 different researchers, representing 6countries (and Ohio State—it not being quiteclear how to count that representative). At-tendance at the three day conference was inexcess of 100 individuals from 8 countries.All of the events, including the elegant Con-ference Dinner, were held in the home of theMichigan Actuarial Program - East Hall.

In September 2003, UM hosted thesemi-annual meeting of the Midwestern Ac-tuarial Forum (casualty actuaries working inthe Midwest). About 100 people attendedthis all day conference that was held in anacademic site for the first time. In thespring of 2003, the Michigan Actuarial Soci-ety was hosted by the department for thefirst time. Despite bad weather, the turnoutto hear Society of Actuaries’ President

Harry Panjer was good, and we hosted an-other meeting in 2004.

Elsewhere in this issue, you have beenintroduced to Virginia “Jenny” Young, FSA,Ph.D., the initial holder of the Cecil J. andEthel M. Nesbitt Professorship in ActuarialMathematics. Jenny joined us for the fall,2003 semester. In addition, we are pleasedthat David T. Kausch, a 1994 MichiganPh.D. graduate as well as an ASA, EAjoined us at the same time.

With Kristen Moore, Ph.D., ASA andmyself, the Michigan Actuarial Program isstarting the second century of its existencewith 4 full time actuarial faculty members, allof them with professional actuarial creden-tials (ASA or FSA) and all of them holdingdoctorates. In addition, enrollment in ourundergraduate degree programs is quite ro-bust and we have a steady stream ofMaster’s degree candidates, as well.

Our students maintain an active stu-dent-run organization, the Student Organi-zation of Actuaries, with programs inacademics, sports and social activities. In2003 there was an outreach program to a lo-cal high school by 4 of our students. Wewould like to develop a more extensive out-reach program to area schools—to provideus with an opportunity to inform highschool students about the actuarial fieldand to give our students the opportunity todevelop their public presentation skills.The club also organizes several on-campusvisits from interested employers.

We are excited about the start of thenext 100 years for the Michigan ActuarialProgram and look forward to hearing fromany of our alumni/ae if you have any ques-tions or suggestions for us.

- Curtis E. Huntington (BA 1964), FSA; Director, Financial & Actuarial Mathematics Program

A Chronology ofActuarial FacultyMembers at UM

James W. Glover 1895-1938

Walter O. Menge 1928-1937

Thomas N.E. Greville 1931-1933,1937-1940, 1962-1963

Cecil J. Nesbitt 1937-1980

Carl H. Fischer 1941-1974

Marjorie Van Eenam Butcher1947-1956

Robert W. Butcher 1950-1956

Allen L. Mayerson 1956-1971

Donald A. Jones 1959-1991

Newton L. Bowers, Jr. 1965-1969

Hans U. Gerber 1972-1982

W. James MacGinnitie 1973-1985

Charles L. Trowbridge 1979-1983

Howard Young 1987 - 1997

Marjorie A. Rosenberg 1991-1994

Curtis E. Huntington 1993 - present

Kristen S. Moore 1999 - present

David T. Kausch 2003 - present

Virginia R. Young 2003-present

100 Years of Actuaries

Below: Guests at the Actuarial ResearchConference Dinner: (top l-r) DavidKausch, Kristen Moore, Howard Young,Curtis Huntington; (bottom l-r) JimHickman, Jenny Young, Ethel Nesbitt,Marjorie Rosenberg, Marjorie Van EenamButcher.

13

PhD Recipients December 2002 - August 2004Jason Aubrey completed his disserta-

tion “Pseudo-Dominating Families ofFunctions” under the direction of AndreasBlass. He is an assistant professor atNorthern Iowa University.

Sylvia-Pek Chiang completed her dis-sertation “Vacuum State Problems of Dif-ferent Systems of Conservation Laws”under the direction of Joel Smoller. She willbe a research scientist at the National Uni-versity of Singapore.

Seung-Il Choi completed his disserta-tion “Degenerate Principal Series for Ex-ceptional p-adic Groups” under thedirection of Allen Moy. He is employed atthe Samsung Corporation.

Dean Chung completed his dissertation“Computation of Cache Misses in MatrixMultiplication” under the direction of PhilHanlon. He has accepted a position at theQuadstone company.

Georgios Dalakouras completed hisdissertation “A New Fast and Robust Tech-nique for Pricing and Hedging Asian Op-tions” under the direction of KristenMoore. He has a position at SusquehannaInternational Group in Philadelphia.

Haggai Elitzur completed his disserta-tion “Tight Closure in Artinian Modules”under the direction of Mel Hochster.

Erik Ferragut completed his disserta-tions “Detection of Epistatic Effects in Ge-netic Data” under the direction of PhilHanlon.

Julia Gordon completed her disserta-tion “Some Applications of Motivic Inte-gration to the Representation Theory ofP-Adic Groups” under the direction ofRobert Greiss and Tom Hales. Julia willspend a year at the Institute for AdvancedStudies and then has a postdoc position atthe University of Toronto.

Theron J. Hitchman completed his dis-sertation “Rigidity Theorems for Large Dy-namical Systems with HyperbolicBehavior” under the direction of RalfSpatzier. He is a postdoc at Case WesternReserve University.

Amanda Johnson completed her disser-tation “Multiplier Ideals of DeterminantalIdeals” under the direction of Karen Smith.She has a position with the National Secu-rity Agency.

Daniel Jupiter completed his disserta-tion “Envelopes of Holomorphic and Ap-proximation Theorems” under the directionof Berit Stensones. He is a postdoc at TexasA&M University.

Benjamin Keen completed his disserta-tion “A Kinetic Scheme for Gas Dynamicson Arbitrary Grids” under the direction ofSmadar Karni. He is a researcher for the In-stitute for Defense Analysis/Center forComputing Sciences.

Christopher Kennedy completed hisdissertation “An Exploration of Deep Ma-trix Algebras” under the direction of DavidWinter. He has a tenure-track position atEdinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth Klodginski completed her dis-sertation “Essential Surfaces in Fibered 3-Manifolds” under the direction of PeterScott. She is a VIGRE Postdoctoral Fellow/Visiting Research Assistant Professor at theUniversity of California-Davis.

Scott Kravitz completed his dissertation“The Homology of a Filtered Boolean Al-gebra” under the direction of Phil Hanlon

Jonathan Korman completed his disser-tation “A Character Formula for CompactElements Using the Building” under thedirection of Tom Hales. He is a postdoc atthe University of Toronto.

Alex Kuronya completed his disserta-tion “Asymptotic Cohomological Func-tions on Projective Varieties” under thedirection of Robert Lazarsfeld. He is apostdoc at Universität Duisburg-Essen inGermany.

Elliott Lawes completed his dissertation“The Regular Shalika Germ and MotivicIntegration” under the direction of TomHales. He held a one-year lecturship at UM,and now has a position at the University ofToronto.

Krastio Lilov completed his dissertation“Skew Products” under the direction ofJohn Erik Fornæss. He has a visiting posi-tion at State University of New York, StonyBrook.

Boris Mitavskiy completed his disserta-tion “A Mathematical Model of Evolution-ary Computation and Some Conse-quences” under the direction of AndreasBlass. He is a researcher at the Universityof Birmingham, U.K.

Mihran Papikian completed his disser-tation “Optimal Elliptic Curves, Discrimi-nants, and the Degree Conjecture OverFunction Fields” under the direction ofBrian Conrad. Mihran received the 2003Cornwell Prize. He is a Szego Assistant Pro-fessor at Stanford University.

Joel Pitkin completed his dissertation“A Twisted Kazhdan Density Theorem: AnApplication of the Stabilized TwistedTrace Formula” under the direction of TomHales. He is a risk management profes-sional with Bear Stearns Investment Bank.

Marko Slapar completed his disserta-tion “Real Surfaces in Complex Surfaces”under the direction of John Erik Fornæss.He is a postdoc at the University ofLjubljana (Slovenia).

Peter Storm completed his dissertation“The Barycenter Method on SingularSpaces” under the direction of Dick Ca-nary. He is an NSF postdoc and DicksonInstructor at the University of Chicago.

Ronald Walker completed his disserta-tion “Concerning the Characterization ofBoundaries of Holomorphic 1-ChainsWithin Complex Surfaces” under the direc-tion of David Barrett. He is a VIGRE Assis-tant Professor at Ohio State University.

Craig Christopher Westerland com-pleted his dissertation “Stable Splittings ofConfiguration Spaces of Surfaces and Re-lated Mapping Spaces” under the direc-tion of Igor Kriz. He has a one-yearposition at the Institute for AdvancedStudy at Princeton, and then will join theUniversity of Wisconsin.

Kevin Woods completed his dissertation“Rational Generating Functions and Lat-tice Point Sets” under the direction ofAlexander Barvinok. Kevin received the2004 Cornwell Prize. He is a NSF postdoc atthe University of California, Berkeley.

Alexander Yong completed his disserta-tion “On Combinatorics of DegeneracyLoci” under the direction of Sergey Fomin.He is a postdoc at the University of Califor-nia-Berkeley.

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Graduate Program NewsGraduate Awards 2002-2003

The Sumner Myers Prize, given for thebest Ph.D. thesis in mathematics for theyear 2002 was presented to two recentgraduates. Eduard Kirr was selected forhis thesis “Resonances in HamiltonianPartial Differential Equations.” Edwardwas a student of Anthony Bloch andMichael Weinstein, and is currently at theUniversity of Chicago. Daniel Rogalskireceived the award for his thesis “Ex-amples of Generic Noncommutative Sur-faces” under the direction of Toby Stafford.Daniel is a Moore Instructor atMassachusettes Institute of Technology.

Mihran Papikian received the Wirt andMary Cornwell Prize , recognizing a stu-dent who has demonstrated the greatest in-tellectual curiosity, given the most promiseof original study and creative work in math.Mihran’s dissertation “Optimal EllipticCurves, Discriminants, and the DegreeConjecture Over Function Fields” waswritten under the direction of Brian Conrad.

Allen Shields Memorial FellowAbigail Ochberg

Arthur Herbert Copeland, Sr. MemorialScholars

Hualong FengBart KastermansLu Lu

Calouste Gulbenkian FellowOscar Felgueiras

Carroll V. Newsom ScholarsMilena HeringOichi Yuen

Computational Science Graduate FellowBenjamin Keen

Darrow Mathematics Graduate StudentScholars

Elizabeth ChenRobert HouckPaul Jeray

Departmental Alumni ScholarsAlina AndreiLuciana-Maria BobitanSara HeuselSukmoon HuhHarsh JainRizwanur KhanBoris MitavskiyAlvaro PelayoJody RadowiczKhachik SargsyanMatthew SmithMichael VathKevin WildrickBo Yang

Edwin Wilkinson Miller PrizePeng Gao

E. S. & A. C. Everett Memorial ScholarJoe Stubbs

Gabrielle & Sophie Rainich FellowLeonardo Mihalcea

Luther Claborn Mathematics FellowsMahesh AgarwalCalin ChindrisJungmin Choi

NSF FellowsSamuel PayneEllen VeomettRonald WalkerKevin Woods

Rackham One-Term Dissertation FellowsSylvia ChiangMarko SlaparAlexander Yong

Rackham Predoctoral FellowsMihran PapikianPeter Storm

Regents FellowsTrevor FastHannah RobbinsZachariah Teitler

NSF VIGRE FellowsTrevor ArnoldAmy BauerErik BirdGrigoriy BlekhermanJim BrownBryden CaisElizabeth DewittGeoffrey DietzPhilip DutoitHaggai ElitzurThomas FioreJonathan FordeHester GravesElizabeth KlodginskiScott KravitzJason KutchRobert LonigroWilliam LorenzJessica Metcalf-BurtonIvan MiddletonCharles MuellerBenjamin SchmidtSreekar ShastryJanis Stipins IIILauren ToneyJames TungCraig WesterlandAlexander WolfeEric Zupunski

Paul Jeray, pictured with graduatecoordinator Jennifer Wagner, was named aDarrow Mathematics Scholar. This awardwas established by Dale Darrow, a 1992Mathematics Ph.D. recipient, to providefinancial support for U.S. graduatestudents.

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Graduate Awards 2003-2004

The Sumner Myers Prize, given for thebest Ph.D. thesis in mathematics for theyear 2003 was presented to Peter Storm,who was selected for his thesis “TheBarycenter Method on Singular Spaces”Peter was a student of Dick Canary, and iscurrently a NSF Postdoc and Dickson In-structor at the University of Chicago.

Kevin Woods received the Wirt andMary Cornwell Prize , recognizing a stu-dent who has demonstrated the greatest in-tellectual curiosity, given the most promiseof original study and creative work in math.Kevin’s dissertation “Rational GeneratingFunctions and Lattice Point Sets” waswritten under the direction of AlexanderBarvinok.

Allen Shields Memorial FellowAlina Andrei

Arthur Herbert Copeland, Sr. MemorialScholars

Tobias BergerElizabeth ChenBrian JacobsonKevin Wildrick

Calouste Gulbenkian FellowOscar Felgueiras

Carroll V. Newsom ScholarsSarah CrownAfsaneh MehranAlison NorthupSvetlana Simakhina

Computational Science Graduate FellowBenjamin Keen

Darrow Mathematics Graduate StudentScholar

David Allen

Departmental ScholarsSebastien ChivoretRizwanur KhanJared MaruskinHualong FengKyung Yong LeeHyekyung MinSukmoon HuhNam-Hoon LeeAlvaro PelayoThiradet JiarasuksakunBart KastermansKenneth KeppenTong LiuJohn MackayFeng RongSourya Shrestha

Fulbright ScholarGiancarlo Urzua

Gabrielle & Sophie Rainich FellowEji Aoki

Lucent FellowEllen Eischen

Luther Claborn Mathematics FellowsKyle HofmannMichael LiebermanMichael VathDiane Vavrichek

Mathematics Alumni/Alumnae ScholarsJungmin ChoiJiarui Fei

Mathematics Department FellowHan Peters

Mathematics Department One-Term Dis-sertation Fellow

Leon Kaganovskiy

National Physical Science ConsortiumFellow

Marie Snipes

National Defense Science and EngineeringGraduate Fellow

Matthew Ong

National Science Foundation FellowsDennis ClarkRyan KinserKevin Woods

Rackham Dean’s Discretionary FellowDavid Tello

Rackham Merit FellowsAdeboye IlesanmiNaomi Martinez

Rackham One-Term Dissertation FellowsScott KravitzConstantin Leonardo MihalceaCraig Westerland

Rackham Predoctoral FellowAlex Kuronya

Regents FellowSamuel Payne

Samsung FellowYungkwon Kim

NSF VIGRE FellowsDavid AndersonTrevor Arnold (Fall)Amy BauerEric Bird (Winter)Grigoriy Blekherman (Winter)Bryden Cais (Winter)Elizabeth Dewitt (Winter)Geoffrey Dietz (Winter)Philip Dutoit (Winter)Thomas Fiore (Winter)Jonathan Forde (Winter)Jasun GongHester Graves (Winter)Jason KutchRobert LonigroWilliam LorenzJessica Metcalf-Burton (Winter)Ivan Middleton (Winter)Yogesh MoreCharles Mueller (Winter)Hannah Robbins (Winter)Benjamin SchmidtSreekar ShastryCraig SpencerAndrew SteinZachariah Teitler (Winter)Lauren Toney (Winter)James Tung (Winter)Ellen Veomett (Winter)Alexander Wolfe (Fall)Eric Zupunski (Winter)

Some 2003 Ph.D.recipients Theron J.Hitchman, ElizabethKlodginski and DanielJupiter.

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2003 Undergraduate Award RecipientsThe Department’s team for the William

Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competitionplaced 40th out of 376 teams in the event.The 2003 team was comprised of ThomasDunlap, Anna Maltseva and Vivek Shende.The individual competition included 3349students from across North America. VivekShende received an honorable mention,placing the highest of UM students at 48.Joel Louwsma finished at 157.

The winner of the 20th Annual Univer-sity of Michigan Undergraduate Mathemat-ics Competition was Vivek Shende.Shailesh Agarwal and ChristopherCunningham tied for second place.

The following students received M.S.Keeler Scholarships for the 2002-03 aca-demic year

Alexandra AchenJeffrey AllottaJulia ArcieroJacob BernsteinHaywai ChanKevin CodyJeremy CookSpencer DowdallWalter DulanyMatthew ElseyAnn HuangJesse KassElliot LeeJustin MalesteinAnna MaltsevaJoseph McClainJason MillerKalman NanesRandolph PistorKathryn RoederVivek ShendeRonit SlyperKarl WeintraubChristopher Zborzek

The following students receivedMargaret S. Huntington Awards inActuarial Outreach:

Elizabeth BarrettLindsey BoegeholdJohn Chih Chang HuangThangaver Rathina Santosh KumarAndre LoboLindsay NelsonKing-Leung Gary NganKhoi NguyenMikhail SomovLaura Tedesco

The following studentsreceived Evelyn O.Bychinsky Awards, whichrecognize underclass stu-dents who show exceptionalpromise in mathematics:

Nitsan Ben-GalJacob BernsteinHaywai ChanSarah IvesonGregory Malivuk

Sarah Haeusler re-ceived the Leon P.Zukowski Prize for out-standing service in theMath Lab.

The William LeVeque Award in Number Theory was presented toJames McCann. The award recognizesa student who is at most a junior and ex-cels in the study of number theory.

Outstanding Achievement in Math-ematics Awards went to the following se-niors:

Julia ArcieroGordon BermanDaniel CoffieldBrian DrakeThomas DunlapLynn GromekColleen MurphyJoseph TanniruJohn WangElise Zipkin

The Otto Richter Memorial Prize inActuarial Science was presented to JasonGratson and Thomas Walker.

The CIGNA Award in Actuarial Sci-ence was presented to Alexander Geml andRussell Polcyn.

The Irving Wolfson Award in ActuarialScience was presented to Stacy Bittner.

The Lois Zook Levy Memorial Awardwas presented to John Baker. The awardrecognizes an outstanding mathematicsstudent who plans to pursue a career in K-12 mathematics education.

Jesse Kass was named the OutstandingGraduating Senior.

Graduating seniors Julia Arciero, Lynn Gromek andElise Zipkin at the Awards Ceremony Reception.

The inaugural presentation of the Lois Zook Levy Memorial Award. Pictured(l-r): William Baker, Hiram Levy, award recipient John Y. Baker, his fiance,

and his mother, Susan Baker

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The Department’s team for the WilliamLowell Putnam Mathematics Competitionplaced 54th out of 401 teams in the event.The 2004 team was comprised of VivekShende, Joel Louwsma and ChrisCunningham. The individual competitionincluded 3615 students from across NorthAmerica. Vivek Shende placed the highestof UM students at 137.5. FreshmanFernando Delgado Salas finished at 212.

The winner of the 21st Annual Universityof Michigan Undergraduate MathematicsCompetition was Vivek Shende. FernandoDelgado Salas placed second and Christo-pher Cunningham came in third.

The following students receivedMargaret S. Huntington Awards inActuarial Outreach:

Juline ChenHuey Fang LimNinad NaikEsther NiMui Keng OhKathy RayJason RoseEthan StreetDonald SullivanAlice Zheng

Sarah Iveson received the Leon P.Zukowski Prize for outstanding service inthe Math Lab.

The following students received EvelynO. Bychinsky Awards, which recognizeunderclass students who show exceptionalpromise in mathematics:

Christopher CunninghamFernando Delgado SalasSpencer DowdallMelinda Kleczynski

The William LeVeque Award in Number Theory was presented toHaywai Hayward Chan. The award recog-nizes a student who is at most a junior andexcels in the study of number theory.

The Sumner Myers Award in Analysiswas presented to Jason Miller.

Outstanding Achievement in Mathemat-ics Awards went to the following seniors:

Timothy BlassRandall CoughlanSean GerrishShaili JainYu Hang KanJoel LouwsmaGregory MalivukJoseph Mc ClainVivek NatarajanMarina PolishchukDavid Wicklund

The Otto Richter Memorial Prize inActuarial Science was presented toAlexander Geml.

2004 Undergraduate Award Recipients

The CIGNA Award in Actuarial Sciencewas presented to Julie Sachs.

The Irving Wolfson Award in ActuarialScience was presented to Heather Costello.

The Lois Zook Levy Memorial Awardwas presented to Kristen Barbosa. Theaward recognizes an outstanding mathemat-ics student who plans to pursue a career inK-12 mathematics education.

Brendon Rhoades received the Wirt andMary Cornwell Prize , recognizing a stu-dent who has demonstrated the greatest in-tellectual curiosity, given the most promiseof original study and creative work in math,and also shows an interest in music.

Justin Malestein was named the Out-standing Graduating Senior.

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Professor Carolyn Dean (left)presents the Zukowski Prizeto student Sarah Iveson.Sarah also received aMathematics Alumni/Alumnae Scholarship.

Professors Curtis Huntington and Harm Derksen present an award to Fernando DelgadoSalas (right). Fernando also received a Mathematics Alumni/Alumnae scholarship.

Undergraduate Degree Recipients 2002-03Julia ArcieroJohn BakerGordon BermanStacy BittnerAnn BymanDominique CaballeroLuyuan ChaiDaniel Coffield, Jr.Antonio CushmanStephanie DowBrian DrakeThomas DunlapElizabeth FedorowiczRobert FeeneyChristopher GardnerSara GoldbergJason GratsonLynn GromekRahul GuptaSarah Haeusler

Peter HuffAndrew HutchinsonLeslie JohnsonJesse KassDebra KearneyMegan KernCook-Hwan KimAmy KimballMatthew KleinHoryan KongPriya KotharyMark LazzoPaul LeeJacob LessemLi LinBenjamin LowDiena LukawskiOlga MalykhDara MarshallTanya Morey

Colleen MurphyNicholas MurphyKalman NanesNina PalmoAngelo PerezRussell PolcynSuzanne SchlegelSauravendra SenXiao ShuNoriyuki SugiyamaKaryn SuttonLiLeng TanJoseph TanniruMichael TopperRachel VictorJames VosotasThomas WalkerJohn WangAlexis WesawNikia Williams

Jason WilsonTin YuElise Zipkin

MinorsKenji AokiKartik ArekapudiAdam BeernaertChristopher BishopKarl BrakoraAlexander ButterwickJun ChanBrian CheungBryant ChoeMichael CiulisBradley CovellJennifer DenbowJason Dillaman

Benjamin EversonMegan FlynnMeghan GarstangChristopher GreweJulie HengeholdWilliam HerringtonMatthew HorningTina HsiehElizabeth HuebnerHenry HyattAudrey JohnsonSergey KlibanovHimanshu KumarPeter KwanMichael La MarcaAdrien LazzaroRobert LeeMolly LynnEric LysterNicole Martin

Ryan McClarrenJ. Brandon McClimonMegan MedeaSandeep MurtiSangwook OhWichai PawgasameVishal RaoJosh RoveyShabeta SahoreJohn SchaferMarc ShmerlingLukas SkoogShun Chi TamLandry TientcheuMichael YatesJonathanYeeDavid YogiamanAlex YueVladimir Zlatkin

Undergraduate Degree Recipients 2003-04Norazura AbdrahimMegan AlbertsonJeffrey AllottaRyan AndersonMegan BakerChetan BalweKristen BarbosaBradley BarkerMatthew BattinIgnacio BenedettiNitsan Ben-GalKathryn BircheffTimothy BlassJason BreckAnne BrennerMelissa BylsmaMichael CallahanMihir ChandraLu Lu ChangTin-Yan CheungStephanie ChinWilliam ChristopherKevin CodyJamie ColemanLouise ConlonRandall CoughlanKathleen CroneJennifer DeVreeBrandon DobbinsAndre’ EcholsEugene EngKristin Essary

Nora FitzgeraldNicholas FleesNicholas FoleyAlexander GemlSean GerrishMichael GeskeWilliam GittermanRajendra GorrepatiMatthew GrahamRita HanRorujorona HarrisKyle HerrityTuyet HoYoshiyuki IkedaShaili JainKurt KanYu Hang KanMartin KandesKara KnaufGeoff KobayashiGuha KrishnamurthiRon LaiJoel LouwsmaNicholas LuiGregory MaczkaJustin MalesteinRobert Dean MalmgrenAdam MalovanceDiana MayJoseph McClainInsun Mo

Peter MordenSheela NairVivek NatarajanNicole NaumRonni NeemanKristin NewtonJulia NisbetElisa PaganSeongweon ParkZhachary PavlovThien-An PhamConnel PintoJohn PolicicchioMarina PolishchukDavid PuttermanRaehan QureshiJoseph RaisanenWalter Ray-DulanyMichael RobersonMatthew RossJonathan RothAditi SaxenaEvan SchulzDouglas SpolyarKristina StefanouPaul SuberlakJerrilyn ThompsonTu-Anh TranKa Kit TsuiFusaka TsujiokaAndrew WagnerHelen Wang

David WicklundRobert WyattYoung-Yun YangJoel ZammitVladimir ZlatkinJohn-Paul Zammit

MinorsYasemin AkdasJoshua BartlettEdward BaskervilleChristopher BatteyPaul BeldenAlbert BertramJustin BertschiKevin BordersCameron CaryMelissa ChaseBenjamin ChessAlbert Tzu-Cheng ChuangEdward Courtney IIIVikas DayalNicholas DegraziaBrendan DillonStanko DimitrovArtem DmytrenkoDouglas DoumaZachary DrennenMira FleisherPing Fu

Joseph GattJeffrey GermondAnthony GirolamoClara GonzalezRachel GunnettAmanda HalashLei HeRyan HesselinkMark HodgesPeter JanowskiWei JiangMichael KatelmanAaron KeysMinjoo KimMasako KishidaYevgeniya KleymanJay KopferOscar LahoudSangeetha LakshminarayananRobin LandfairErwin LauDavid LeibrandtHeen Choong LeongMan Wai LeungSinman LeungJeffrey LevAimee LeytonArianne LiepaThomas LiuChristopher LymanKevin Makowski

Maya MandelEdward MansourJason MattiacciNicholas MaxwellKaren MeskoDilber MutluKenneth NarraHeather NastJennifer OlsonOrkan OzturkNathan PacerStephanie PakulaRohini PandhiHeather PetresStephanie PickardKristina PoulosRanjana RamJoshua RayAdam SailorPeter SongKristen ScheibachStephen StamatisJohn SterzickSveta Lana StolbovJonathan StoneAlbert TongWilliam UhlAaron WolfEmily WoltersDiana WongBrian Young

19

“More than fifty years ago I cameto the conclusion that every collegestudent who desired to learn math-ematics could do so. I spent my entireprofessional life believing that thiswas the case.” It is for his outstandingsuccess in converting that belief intoreality that UM alumnus ClarenceFrancis Stephens (MS ’39, PHD ’43)was presented the 2003 Yueh-GinGung and Dr. Charles Y. Hu Award forDistinguished Service to Mathematicsfrom the Mathematics Association ofAmerica.

As chair of the Mathematics De-partment at the State University of NewYork at Potsdam from 1969 through 1987,Stephens was the primary architect of the“Potsdam Miracle” that resulted in thissmall upstate SUNY campus, with a total en-rollment of less than 4000 in the middle1980s, graduating the third largest numberof mathematics majors among all U.S. insti-tutions of higher education in each of theyears 1985 through 1987. About a quarterof all the bachelor’s degrees given atPotsdam each of those three years went tomathematics majors. This was not accom-plished by lowering standards in any sense;the mathematics majors were among thestrongest students at the institution, domi-nating the President’s List of high-achiev-ing students and producing seven of theeight valedictorians for the period 1980–87.Nor was it done at an institution with a longmathematics tradition. No student whograduated from SUNY Potsdam between itsfounding in 1816 and the arrival of Stephensin 1969 is known to have gone on to earn aPh.D. in mathematics, although twelve stu-dents who graduated during Stephens’stime have done so, half of them women.

Stephens was also responsible for asimilar but earlier “miracle” at Morgan StateCollege in Baltimore (now Morgan StateUniversity). Both “miracles” were accom-plished by a combination of Stephens’sstrong faith in students’ ability to masterhigh-level mathematics when it is taught ina supportive and nurturing environment,and his equally strong encouragement ofexcellence in instruction through a programdesigned to draw out the best in eachteacher.

Stephens was born on July 24, 1917 inMacon, Georgia. He and his brothers at-tended the Harbison Institute, a boardingschool in Irmo, SC. Stephens and all five ofhis siblings went on to college, and allgraduated, with all brothers and one sisterreceiving baccalaureate degrees fromJohnson C. Smith University in Charlotte,NC and the other sister a degree from a two-year college. Each of the brothers majoredin mathematics.

Stephens had planned to become a highschool mathematics teacher after graduat-ing, but during his senior year he was per-suaded by JCSU’s Dean of the College ofLiberal Studies, T.E. McKinney, to enter themaster’s program at the University of Michi-gan. He did so in the fall of 1938. Along theway one of his mathematics professors,George Yuri Rainich, persuaded Stephensof his potential and encouraged him to con-tinue on to the Ph.D. In 1943 he becameonly the tenth African American to obtain aPh.D. in mathematics. From the guidanceand encouragement he received fromMcKinney and Rainich, Stephens saw in adirect, personal way the impact thatmentoring by faculty can have on the deci-sions students make about continuing a ca-reer in mathematics. This lesson was put togood use in the programs he later designedat Morgan State and Potsdam.

After service in the Navy and teachingat Prairie View State College in Texas,

Stephens accepted a position at MorganState. To his surprise and initial dismay, hewas offered the position of chair of the de-partment, which would put him in charge ofa department of mathematicians, all older

than him, at the tender academic ageof 30. He was dismayed at the level ofmathematics that was being offered tostudents at Morgan State. Stephensbelieved that one of the best ways toprepare students for graduate study inmathematics was, first, to get theminto calculus courses as early as pos-sible, providing an atmosphere in thedepartment and in such courses thatwas nurturing and offered role modelsto show them that success was pos-sible. Second, he wanted the studentsto be exposed to graduate mathemat-ics, despite Morgan State’s not having

a graduate program. He instituted an Under-graduate Honors Mathematics Program thatexposed undergraduates to first-year gradu-ate mathematics and drew a large percent-age of Morgan State’s best students tomajor in mathematics. One consequencewas that, although Morgan State had nostudent go on to obtain a Ph.D. in math-ematics during the ninety years of its his-tory before Stephens’s arrival, at least ninestudents who passed through its mathemat-ics program during Stephens’s time thereeventually obtained that degree.

After fifteen years at Morgan State, in1962 Stephens moved on to a position asProfessor of Mathematics at SUNYGeneseo, where he would remain until 1969.In the spring of that year, he visited thePotsdam campus as a lecturer sponsored bythe Seaway Section of the MAA, and sogreatly impressed the Potsdam mathematicsfaculty with his ideas on the teaching ofmathematics that they immediately began acampaign to have him move to their depart-ment as its chair. He did so in the fall of thatyear, and the rest is history.

Professor Stephens lives with his wife,Harriete, whom he met at UM where Mrs.Stephens was beginning her studies for theMaster’s degree in mathematics. She is cur-rently Professor Emerita of Mathematics atSUNY College of Technology, Canton. Thecouple’s daughter has a Ph.D. in Mathemat-ics Education from the University of Iowa,and their son has a Master’s degree inMathematics.

- Contributed by Robert Megginson

Alumni ProfileDr. Clarence Stephens

Clarence Stephens with Bob Megginson atthe MAA Awards Ceremony, January 2003.

20

At the April 2004 Com-mencement exercises, Profes-sor Karen Uhlenbeck (BS1964) was granted an honor-ary doctorate from the Univer-sity of Michigan. Uhlenbeckis one of the world’s foremostresearchers on non-linear dif-ferential equations and theirgeometric properties. She isprofessor of mathematics atthe University of Texas at Austin and since1988 has held the Sid W. Richardson Foun-dation Regents’ Chair in Mathematics. Sheis widely acclaimed as a talented and cre-ative mathematician, as well as someonewho has made a serious commitment toyoung women mathematicians.

After graduating from the University ofMichigan in 1964 with a Bachelor of Sciencedegree in mathematics, Uhlenbeck contin-ued her studies at the Courant Institute inNew York. She then entered Brandeis Uni-versity and was awarded an M.A. and aPh.D. in 1966 and 1968, respectively. Before

going to the University ofTexas, she taught at theMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology; the Univer-sity of California, Berkeley;the University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign; theUniversity of Illinois, Chi-cago; and the University ofChicago.

During her career,Uhlenbeck has made pioneering contribu-tions to global analysis and gauge theorythat resulted in advances in mathematicalphysics and the theory of partial differentialequations. She has been called variously adifferential geometer and differential topolo-gist and a non-linear analyst; her work hasmade contact with modern high energyphysics, in particular with string theory.She is also interested in the ways complexmathematical concepts find uses in researchin other areas of science, such as ecology,molecular biology and the structure of mate-rials.

In recognition of her outstanding contri-butions to mathematics, Uhlenbeck hasbeen the recipient of numerous prestigioushonors and awards. In 1982 she received aMacArthur Fellowship, and in 1985 she waselected to the American Academy of Artsand Sciences. In 1986, she became one ofthe first women mathematicians to beelected to the National Academy of Sci-ences, and in 1990 she became the secondwoman to give a Plenary Lecture at the In-ternational Congress of Mathematics. In1995 she received the CommonWealthAward for Science and Technology, and in2000 she received a National Medal of Sci-ence for “special recognition by reason of[her] outstanding contributions to knowl-edge” in mathematics. She was previouslyhonored by UM in 1984 when she receivedthe Alumna of the Year Athena Award.

For her contributions to mathematicalanalysis and gauge theory leading to majoradvances in mathematical physics and thetheory of partial differential equations, andfor her commitment to the education and en-couragement of women mathematicians, theUM presented Uhlenbeck with the honorarydegree Doctor of Science.

Alumna Receives Honorary Degree

The Abel Prize, establishedby the Norwegian government in2001 as an annual “Nobel Prizefor Mathematics,” was awardedthis year to Sir Michael FrancisAtiyah of the University ofEdinburgh and UM Mathematicsalumnus Isadore M. Singer of theMassachusetts Institute of Tech-nology.

The prize is being given for the workthat led to the names Atiyah and Singer be-ing forever linked in the field of mathemat-ics: the “Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem”,which they formulated and proved in a se-ries of papers they published in the early1960s. The Index Theorem provides a bridgebetween pure mathematics (differential ge-ometry, topology, and analysis) and theo-retical physics (quantum field theory) thathas led to advances in both fields.

The Norwegian Academy of Science,which oversees and manages the new prize,referred to the Index Theorem as “one of thegreat landmarks of 20th century mathemat-ics”. It is no exaggeration to say that the re-

sult changed the land-scape of mathematics.

Singer, speaking toBBC News (March 26),said: “I am delighted towin this prize with SirMichael. The work wedid broke barriers be-tween different branchesof mathematics and

that’s probably its most important aspect. ...It has also had serious applications in theo-retical physics.” Referring to the creation ofthe Abel Prize, he added “I appreciate theattention mathematics will be getting. It’swell-deserved because mathematics is sobasic to science and engineering.”

Singer received his undergraduate de-gree from the University of Michigan in1944. After obtaining his Ph.D. from the Uni-versity of Chicago in 1950, he joined thefaculty at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT). Singer has spent mostof his professional life at MIT, where he iscurrently an Institute Professor. Singer is amember of the American Academy of Arts

and Sciences, the American PhilosophicalSociety and the National Academy of Sci-ences (NAS). He served on the Council ofNAS, the Governing Board of the NationalResearch Council, and the White HouseScience Council.

In 1992 Singer received the AmericanMathematical Society’s Award for Distin-guished Public Service, recognizing his“outstanding contribution to his profes-sion, to science more broadly and to thepublic good.” Among the other awards hehas received are the Bôcher Prize and theSteele Prize for Lifetime Achievement, bothfrom the American Mathematical Society,the Eugene Wigner Medal (1988), and theNational Medal of Science (1983).

When Singer was awarded the SteelePrize his response, published in Notices ofthe American Mathematical Society, was:“For me the classroom is an important coun-terpart to research. I enjoy teaching under-graduates at all levels, and I have a host ofgraduate students, many of whom haveended up teaching me more than I havetaught them.” Singer has also written influ-ential textbooks that have inspired genera-tions of mathematicians.

Singer Wins Abel Prize

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New initiatives and funding of currentprograms highlight the efforts to raisefunds for the department.

A new award was established by thefamily of alumna Lois Zook Levy (BS 1959,MS 1962). The inaugural award was givento John Baker, who plans a career in teach-ing, and the 2004 award was given toKristen Barbosa (see undergraduate awardpages). Hiram Levy , Lois’ husband, per-sonally presented the awards. The endow-ment fund is now at a level that produces asignificant prize each year. The departmentappreciates the generosity of the Levy fam-ily and friends who supported this awardand created the endowment.

After several years of investigation, thedepartment was able to secure funds from abequest from alumni G. Cleaves Byers (B.A.1941, Ph.D. 1953 Duke University). Byers, anative of Hancock, Michigan, was a facultymember at Michigan Technological Univer-sity from 1953 until his retirement in 1981.He served as head of the Mathematics De-partment there from 1963 to 1968. Byersconceived and developed the Digital Com-puter Laboratory at Michigan Tech, one ofthe first digital computer labs at the univer-sity. Michigan Tech later honored him byestablishing the Byers Center for Computa-tional Mathematics. The bequest to theUM established the G. Cleaves Byers En-dowment for Collegiate Mathematics Edu-

cation. The funds will be used for scholar-ships or other purposes that help youngmathematicians (graduate students oryoung faculty less than 2 years past Ph.D.)seeking academic careers to achieve excel-lence in collegiate mathematics education.

In December 2002, Chair Trevor Wooleyset the goal of funding the Sumner B.Myers Memorial Prize endowment to thelevel of $45,000 within five years. TheSumner Myers prize, given to a Ph.D. recipi-ent whose thesis is judged to be the mostoutstanding for that calendar year, was es-tablished as a memorial upon the death offaculty member Sumner Myers in 1955 atthe age of 45. The original funding for theprize has been depleted. Wooley chal-lenged the faculty to give to the fund andagreed to match any faculty gifts by 50%from departmental funds. Emeritus faculty,friends of the department, and formerSumner Myers Prize recipients were alsoasked to help with the funding of the prize.The total raised to date, including matchingfunds and outstanding pledges, is $24,275.

In 2001 Professor and Mrs. CameronCourtney established the Cameron andJack Courtney Graduate Fellowship inMathematics. The fellowship is named afterCameron Courtney (M.S. 1957, Ed.D. inMath 1965) and his son John (Jack)Courtney (Ph.D. 1993). The fellowship wasestablished through a charitable remainder

trust. Cameron Courtney passed away in2004, and the trust has been transferred tothe Department of Mathematics. The fel-lowship will be awarded next year to a de-serving graduate student.

In 2003 the department initiated theMathematics Alumni/Alumnae Scholarshipfund. In a mailing to all alumni/alumnae,Wooley asked them to support an expend-able fund to support undergraduate andgraduate students. This is the first suchfundraising effort by the department since1996. The department received donationsfrom more than 100 donors in 2003, includ-ing some funds from matching corporategifts. The money was used to support de-serving students during the 2003-04 aca-demic year (see story above). The chairagain asked for alumni/alumnae support inJune 2004. As more money is received,more students will benefit from your gener-osity.

To protect the privacy of our donors,their names will not be listed in this newslet-ter. The administration, faculty and stu-dents of the mathematics department trulyappreciate the thoughtfulness and generos-ity of the donors to all of the initiatives.Your support is paramount to our mission.If you are interested in giving to any of theabove initiatives, or for general departmen-tal support, please call 734-647-4462, oremail math.mich@umich.edu.

Development and Fundraising Update

Sarah Iveson is a senior who originally enrolled in the College of Engineering. After a year she switched her major to math, andwith every math class that she took, her love of the subject grew. While Sarah enjoys all areas of math, algebra is her favorite. Sheworked in the Math Lab, and this year received the Leon P. Zukowski award for outstanding tutor. In previous years she received aBychinsky award, and a Keeler scholarship. Sarah has made great efforts to support herself through school. Receiving this fundinghas relieved some of her financial concerns. Sarah will continue studying math in graduate school after her graduation in December.

Fernando Delgado Salas just completed his freshman year. He has proven to be one of the brightest undergraduate students inthe department. Fernando was a member of this year’s Putnam Competition team, and received Outstanding Achievement recogni-tion for his individual performance in the competition (second of the UM student participants). He also placed second in the UMUndergraduate Mathematics Competition.

Jiarui Fei is a first year graduate student. After studying applied math at the undergraduate level, his graduate studies havebeen in pure mathematics. He shows exceptional promise as a mathematician and has already passed his qualifying exams in algebraand analysis. Jiarui says that he “loves math, the art of discovering the ultimate secrets of nature. The funding will help me stay inAnn Arbor this summer to continue studying math.”

Jungmin Choi is a fourth year graduate student. Her undergraduate studies in math education led to her desire to teach stu-dents the beauty of math. Jungmin is in the Applied and Interdisciplinary Mathematics (AIM) program here, studying financialmathematics with Mattias Jonsson. The scholarship has allowed her to continue her research this summer and prepare for the birthof her child.

2004 Alumni/Alumnae Scholarship Recipient Profiles

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Alumni/aeUpdates

Want to get involved with the UM Department of Mathematics?Here are some areas where alumni participation is vital. Let us know

if you are interested in working with us on these initiatives.

n Recommend the UM mathematics program to students interestedin undergraduate or graduate studies

n Participate in our annual Career Day, November 12, 2004

n Visit the department for afternoon tea (3:45 sharp) if you are in townfor the weekend, including Homecoming, Parent’s weekend, or thePresidential Society weekend

n Be a mentor (in person or via email) to a current student

n Set up a recruiting program with your company for graduatingstudents

n Offer internships in your company to mathematics students

n Allow groups of mathematics students to visit your company

Email math.mich@umich.edu or call 734-647-4462

The Department lost a good friend andstrong supporter in 2003. Miner (Mike) S.Keeler passed away in May 2003. He was78. Keeler received a bachelor’s degree inmathematics from UM in 1947. Upon gradu-ation he joined the family business, KeelerBrass Company of Grand Rapids, andserved in a variety of positions, includingPresident/CEO, and Chairman of the Board.Under his management, the company grewfrom 800 to 3000 employees. He also servedas Director of Old Kent Bank from 1965 to1990.

Throughout his career, he continued hisinterest in mathematics by posing math-ematical challenges for himself—and con-sulting with UM faculty members. As along-time friend of the department, Keelercontributed generously to the mathematicsdepartment for many years. He endowed ascholarship fund from which many under-graduates have benefited (see page 13), andfunded the Keeler Lecture Series, whichproved stimulating for faculty and students.Most recently he contributed $1.5 millionfor the establishment of the M.S. Keeler IIProfessorship in Mathematics and an addi-tional $600,000 for Miner S. Keeler II Fellow-ships in Mathematics.

Bob Nusbaum (BA 1970, MBA 1978Harvard) is a senior product marketing man-ager at Brocade Communications Systems.Regarding Tom Storer’s retirement he says“My greatest lesson from Professor Storer’stopology course - besides topology - wasthat effective teaching, or communication ofany sort, emanates from the ability to con-vey complex ideas in simple language. Thathas made a huge difference in this student’scareer and life.”

Alan Wilde (BS 1970, MA 1973) will beincluded in the 2003 edition of Who’s Whoin the World. He is listed on the NationalAviation and Space Wall of Honor at theSmithsonian Institute.

Richard Fleissner (MA 1976) is a cor-porate budget and planning manager at theAmerisure Companies.

Michael Frank (BS 1987) joinedAquarius Capital as president in 2002.

James Mercurio (BS 1989) screened hisfilm “March” at the Michigan Theater inAnn Arbor in 2002. Mercurio is director/co-producer of the film, and helped fellow UMalum Dean Morini (1990) write the screen-play.

Carol Fan (MS 1992, PhD 1997) is amathematician at RAND, a “think tank” inSanta Monica, California.

Husaini Hussin (BS 1992) is an ERPmanager at Shell Information TechnologyInternational in Malaysia.

Anna Callahan (BS 1993) released her de-but CD as a jazz singer-trumpter in August of2002. Since graduating from UM, she haswritten a book on music arranging, performedin various groups and taught music at Califor-nia State University at Long Beach. She nowperforms with her own groups around theLos Angeles area and is planning a nationaltour. Information about her music can befound at www.annacallahan.com.

Anthony Vazanna (PhD 1998) is an as-sistant professor at Truman State Univer-sity. He was named 2002 Missouri Pro-fessor of the Year by the Carnegie Founda-tion for the Advancement of Teaching andthe Council for Advancement and Supportof Education. Vazzana was selected from422 faculty members nominated by collegesand universities throughout the country.

ObituaryKeeler’s philanthropic interests ex-

tended to other causes as well. He and hiswife, Mary Ann helped bring the AlexanderCalder stabile “La Grande Vitesse” to GrandRapids in 1969. The sculpture has since be-come the city’s symbol, gracing street signsand stationery letterheads. Keeler’s fund-raising efforts helped establish Grand ValleyState University in 1960. He was an accom-plished sailor and was the first finisher ofthe Chicago to Mackinac race in 1980.

“Mike’s passion was mathematics,”says former Math Department Chair DonLewis. “As an undergraduate he took manygraduate level courses. On graduation, hehad to choose between becoming a full timemathematician, or entering the family busi-ness. Family loyalty led to his decision toenter business, but he never lost his inter-est in mathematics. In retirement he de-voted himself to studying mathematics. Hislove for the University of Michigan and ofmathematics led him to take a great interestin the department, and he took great plea-sure in seeing the advances the departmenthad made. The department, and I personally,will miss him.”

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What Are You Doing?We’d like to hear from you! Please complete and return this form for our

alumni/ae files. You may mail it to the address below, fax it to 734-763-0937,or email the information to math.mich@umich.edu.

Name_________________________________________________________________

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Check here if you do not want this published in the next ContinuUM

Considering aDonation to UM?

If you are contacted by the Universityof Michigan for a donation, you can ear-mark your gift to the Department of Math-ematics. Simply tell the caller to designateyour gift to mathematics or write Mathemat-ics Department on the pledge card you aresent. We greatly appreciate all of your sup-port, and we hope we can count on you tosupport future fund-raising projects.

Estate GiftsYou may include the Department of

Mathematics in your estate plan. Please callus at 734-647-4462 for information on chari-table trusts and bequests to the department,or contact:

University of MichiganDevelopment/Planned Giving

734-647-6000

ContinuUM Editorial Board:Suzanne Jackson-Rogers, Editor

Doreen FussmanCurtis E. Huntington

Donald J. LewisB. Alan TaylorTrevor Wooley

Photos by UM Photo Services andthe Math Department

The Regents of the University of Michigan:David A. Brandon, Laurence B. Deitch,Olivia P. Maynard, Rebecca McGowan,

Andrea Fischer Newman, Andrew C. Richner,S. Martin Taylor, Katherine E. White;

Ex officio: Mary Sue Coleman

The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/af-firmative action employer, complies with all applicablefederal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and af-firmative action, including Title IX of the EducationAmendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilita-tion Act of 1973. The University of Michigan is commit-ted to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportu-nity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion,creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status,sexual orientation, disability, or Vietnam-era veteran sta-tus in employment, educational programs and activities,and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressedto the Senior Director for Institutional Equity and TitleIX/Section 504 Coordinator, Office for Institutional Eq-uity, 2072 Administrative Services, Ann Arbor, MI48109-1432, 734-763-0235, TTY 734-647-1388. Forother UM information call 734-764-1817.

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PAIDAnn Arbor, MichPermit No. 144

Department of MathematicsUniversity of Michigan525 E. University, 2074 East HallAnn Arbor, MI 48109-1109734-764-0335 • www.math.lsa.umich.edu