Department Chair Elias Saab gives an overview of the past year and looks at plans for the future.
It was quite a year for our students. The department congratulates junior Greg Jones, national problem-solving champion of the annual competition sponsored by the American Mathematical Association. And for the first time in history, our undergraduate mathematics team beat Washington University in a statewide mathematics competition. We congratulate team members Ben Ingrum, Greg Jones and Don Vaught for that achievement, as well as their adviser, postdoc Bill Banks.
Half of the 28 graduating math majors earned Latin Honors this year, nine as summa cum laude with a 3.9 GPA and three as magna cum laude. Six of the students also received department awards. Some who will go on to graduate school were accepted with full support to prestigious universities.
To report more honors, three of our teaching assistants, Lotfi Hermi, Nora Sprenger and Julie Thomas, received this year's Donald K. Anderson Student Teaching Awards. Also, Kelly Ballard and Todd Werts won Outstanding Teacher Awards from the Wolpers Hall Men of Engineering. Our graduating PhD students have obtained excellent positions at the Beckman Institute at Illinois, Georgia Tech, the National Security Agency and Syracuse.
As for the faculty, they solved four famous, long-standing mathematics problems this year. Please see that story. They published important articles in all of the best journals and received a record number of research grants. No wonder we have attracted more faculty than ever as major conference speakers.
Congratulations are in order for other singular achievements. Dan Lieman won a Provost's Junior Faculty Teaching Award, and Ira Papick became the unprecedented fourth consecutive department winner of the prestigious William F. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching.
It's always rewarding to have collegial approval, and that happened when an outside review committee gave a glowing report on the department's significant achievements and future potential. And from within, we just received a new round of enhancement, which will bring this department three new assistant professors and three new postdoctoral positions.
The prestigious hires continue. New this year are Alex Koldobskiy, who has solved numerous famous problems; Zhenbo Qin, who formerly held a Sloan Fellowship; and Charles Li, who brings a Guggenheim Fellowship.
As we welcome new faculty, we regretfully say goodbye to others. With more than 90 years of combined service to MU, Richard Crownover, Jim Huckaba, John Reeder and Richard Crownover announced their retirement. We look forward to their reminiscences in future newsletters as we enjoy this year's interview with Professor Emeritus Clinton Petty.
Technology Instruction Coordinator Nataliya Latushkina and Instructor Michael K. Wodzak received Wolpers Hall Men of Engineering Outstanding Teacher Awards.
Again the department has received a very generous alumni gift. A $108,000 bequest from Phyllis Heyssel will provide an endowed scholarship for a deserving undergraduate student. We are most grateful for this help.
As usual, our postdocs greatly enhance the department. The 13 of them come from a broad spectrum of mathematical interests and from all over the world, adding great energy and enthusiasm that is evident in the seminars and special talks. Thus, it is heartwarming to learn of the excellent positions they secure.
On the alumni front, calling Richard Miller's career an "outstanding achievement" barely describes the story of the 1972 graduate who built Miller's Professional Imaging from a $175,000-a-year operation to its current level of $50 million annually. He tells us how he did it.
I know you'll enjoy, too, the guest article by former faculty member Paul Ehrlich, who writes about another former MU professor, the famous Oliver D. Kellogg. Ehrlich recalls other famous people who previously were Mizzou math faculty, including G.A. Bliss, who took a Princeton position, and Earle Raymond Hedrick, who moved to UCLA. It's an interesting historical piece.
As you can see, everyone associated with the department and its mission at Mizzou is making an effort to be the best. Those outstanding achievements of the year are recorded here and will serve as a model for future generations.
