MATH
DAY 2004
The Department's
annual Awards Day Ceremony
was held on Thursday April 29 in conjunction with national Mathematics
Awareness Month. After cookies and punch and opening remarks by Dean Ross
Mackinnon, we recognized several students for their achievements.
Freshman
Calculus Achievement Award, presented by Jim Hurley
á Abigail Hidalgo
The
CIGNA Awardees in Actuarial Science, presented by Jim Bridgeman
á Peter Fagan Monica Johnson Beibei
Li Katie McCarthy Surekha Patel
The
University of Connecticut Calculus Competition winners,
presented
by Stu Sidney
- Gregory Magoon - First
over-all (for the second
year) Laura
Mariano - Second Beginner
(tie)
- Heeseop Shin - Second over-all & First Intermediate Aparna Boddapati - Second Beginner
- John Haga
- Third over-all Matthew
Boland - Fourth
Beginner
- Yik-Sian James Seow - Second Intermediate &
First Beginner
- Andrew Polonsky - Honorable mention over-all
Five additional students received
honorable mention in the Beginner category:
James
W. Chernesky Jr, James Cornacchio, Michael Carrison, Nicole Gonzalez, and Kelly
Michaelis.
Superior or Noteworthy Performance on the William Lowell
Putnam
International Mathematics
Competition
á
Superior performance - Brian
D'Astous Michael Nehring Cheng Yu
á
Noteworthy performance -
Zachary Chaves Andrew
Polonsky
Pi Mu Epsilon honor society initiates, presented by Jerry Leibowitz
á
Gina Cavallo Geri
Izbicki Carly
Williams
Presentations by Manny Lerman
The Louis J. DeLuca Memorial
Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant
á Minerva Catral
The Connie Strange Graduate
Community Service Award
á
Regina Speicher
This year's Awards
Day colloquium speaker was Roland J. Minton of Roanoke College, who spoke on The
Mathematics of Sports. Here is
Professor Minton's abstract:
Alan Shepard hit
a golf ball "miles and miles" on the moon. Would golf actually be
easier on the moon? The New York Yankees had trouble hitting Boston pitcher Tim
Wakefield's knuckleball. Why is this pitch so unpredictable and why don't more
pitchers use it? How much margin of error does Andy Roddick have on his 140 mph
tennis serve? Why does it help to put spin on the serve? These and other sports
questions can be analyzed using basic algebra and calculus. The focus in this
talk is on what information mathematics can contribute on a variety of sports
issues. By the end of the talk, you will know answers to the above questions as well as why it was so hard as a youngster to
keep your eye on the ball.
Dean
Ross Mackinnon Speaking the
Praises of Mathematics
Awards
Day Audience April 29, 2004
Guest
Speaker Roland Minton Being Congratulated by Jim Hurley
After
His Stimulating Lecture/Demonstration
Stu Sidney and Putnam Stalwarts Brian, Cheng, and Andy
Jerry
Leibowitz and Miki Neumann with Geri & Gina,
New
Pi Mu Epsilon Members