Background

OSU Math Alumna Kirana began her undergraduate career at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, determined to pursue a career in journalism. However, by the time she registered for classes in her freshman year, the journalism courses were all full. She decided instead to take a year-long calculus, physics, and linguistics course, called Meaning, Math and Motion, instead. She ended up enjoying doing mathematics so much that she subsequently signed up for every mathematics class offered. Sometime during the next four years of studying everything from mathematical poetry to statistical mechanics, she decided to become an actuary. The Master’s program at Oregon State University was attractive as it offers several courses relevant to actuarial science at the M.S. level, and has an active Actuarial Science Club. Soon after arriving at OSU, however, she switched her focus to applied mathematics and scientific computation.

Her team is always striving to stay on top of any cutting-edge techniques for developing state-of-the-art, high-performance mathematical routines...

Career

Currently Kirana is a software development engineer working on the Intel® Math Kernel Library (Intel MKL) team. Specifically, she works on the LAPACK and ScaLAPACK components of Intel MKL, which provide functionality to solve systems of equations, eigenvalue problems, and singular value problems, as well as the related matrix factorizations (LU, Cholesky, QR, and others). The components that she works on are used for dense matrices on both shared and distributed memory systems. She has also worked on the Intel® Autonomous Driving Library (Intel ADL), a mathematical library providing functionally safe algorithms specifically for autonomous driving applications.

Intel MKL is a performance library, so the majority of her time is spent optimizing functions for performance; although for certain projects (such as the autonomous driving project), significant time is spent ensuring that the code is safe and user-friendly. Her team is always striving to stay on top of any cutting-edge techniques for developing state-of-the-art, high-performance mathematical routines, so she often researches and implements the latest algorithms and methods for dense linear algebra computations.

Preparation

Kirana’s time in the Department of Mathematics at Oregon State University prepared her for work at Intel by ensuring that she gained the mathematical knowledge and general problem-solving skills required to succeed on the Intel MKL team. Taking the graduate-level numerical analysis sequence (in particular, numerical linear algebra), as well as other linear algebra courses, provided her the requisite background knowledge to understand and implement stable, accurate, and high-performing numerical algorithms. Intel MKL is used primarily in high performance computing. Her experience doing research in applied mathematics with her advisor has been helpful in understanding the context of how the library is being used.

Successes

Kirana wrote and integrated a series of functions for the Intel ADL, including the standard LU, Cholesky, and QR factorization functions, as well as several new-to-MKL functions: updating QR (for updating the QR decomposition of a matrix after a column has been added) and a pseudo-inverse calculation. Because the Intel ADL was in its infancy when she started working on it, she was able to contribute to the design of and strategy for coding this library. By implementing a version of the algorithm using tall-and-skinny QR factorizations, she was able to sped up the SVD function. She also improved the generalized eigenvalue problem driver by implementing a blocked and parallelized version of the code. Recently, Kirana has helped to implement and integrate a new feature in Intel MKL, compact functions. The Intel MKL compact functions are a limited set of functionality for performing specific functions on large groups of very small matrices, a type of problem that is becoming more and more common in high-performance computing.

In addition, she often participates in community outreach on behalf of the LAPACK/ScaLAPACK team.

Developing the communication and leadership skills necessary to succeed on research projects with others will serve you well in a career...

Advice

Future graduates who are interested in working at Intel, or as a software engineer in general, should spend time practicing their basic computing skills. While certain skills are not strictly necessary to succeed in a graduate program, such as building and linking libraries, navigating in linux, and stepping through code with a debugger, these are invaluable in any software engineering work. She would also advise any students interesting in working at Intel to seek out opportunities to use high performance computing techniques within their research. Finding ways to use distributed memory systems and parallelism will not only improve the quality of your research, it will give you the experience that will prepare you well for a career in research or software engineering. Finally, she would tell students to take any opportunity to work in a diverse, collaborative group. Developing the communication and leadership skills necessary to succeed on research projects with others will serve you well in a career, especially at Intel, where they work closely in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural teams with partners of varied professional and personal backgrounds.

In her own words

“The computational knowledge and expertise that I gained through my experience at OSU has helped me immensely in my career at Intel.”

While the College of Science at Oregon State was formally established in 1932, science programs and departments have shaped the evolution of research and education at OSU since its 1868 land grant designation.

In fact, long before OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences came into existence, the new agricultural curriculum was first taught in the Department of Chemistry in 1870 paving the way for the scientific study of agriculture for the first time in the Pacific Northwest. Such pioneering science programs since the earliest days of the institution were responsible for OSU’s land grant designation making it one of three land-grant colleges in the country at that time (The other two were the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California at Berkeley).

The first professors of engineering at OSU in the 1890s were also professors of mathematics. Some of the university’s earliest engineering disciplines would not have flourished if it were not for the fundamental sciences. A four-year mining engineering curriculum was established in the Department of Chemistry in 1900 that led to the consolidation of early engineering programs in metallurgy.

The chemistry department was also the home of the first geology courses. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the natural and physical sciences at OSU have shaped and guided the growth of the world-class research and education that takes place across all STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields in the university today.

The College is proud to have played a significant role in the establishment of several distinguished academic fields of study and pioneering research centers.

1870

Agricultural sciences at OSU gets its start when a new agricultural curriculum is taught in the Department of Chemistry to an inaugural batch of 25 students.

First class—one woman and two men—graduates with Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees.

1899

Microbiology, one of the oldest departments at Oregon State, originated as a single course in bacteriology in 1899. Today the department is at the helm of pioneering research on microbial communities in agriculture and aquatic environments.

1900

One of the earliest engineering disciplines, mining, begins in the Department of Chemistry.

1932

The School of Science (converted to College of Science in 1973) established under the leadership of E.L. Packard, Dean, 1932-1938.

1935

First Ph.D. degrees conferred (three in science and one in agriculture) during the 65^th Commencement.

1941

Francois Archibald Gilfillan, Dean of the School of Science, appointed acting president of Oregon State College (presently known as OSU).

1952

The pioneering Science Research Institute, 1952-1974, promoted significant and path-breaking collaborative research between OSU scientists and leading U.S. scientific agencies.

1959

The era of scientific ocean research at OSU begins with studies in coastal oceanography in the School of Science with the active support of Dean Francois Gilfillan.

1969

Currently led by biochemist Joseph Beckman, the multi-disciplinary Environmental Health Sciences Center is established to promote research on environmental effects on humans.

1973

The Survey Research Center opens under the aegis of the Department of Statistics, bringing state-of-the-art survey methodology to state, federal and local clients.

1984

With an endowed chair in polymer chemistry, alumnus Milton Harris (1926) establishes the first endowed position in OSU.

1993

The Department of Atmospheric Sciences transfers to oceanography (now the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences) from the College of Science

2011

Science at OSU receives a tremendous boost when The Linus Pauling Science Center opens its doors to students and researchers studying chemistry, biochemistry and the life sciences.

The Department of Geosciences transfers from the College of Science to create the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences.

Note: this article is part of a series on the distinguished tradition of scientific research pertaining to ocean and space to mark the occasion of Oregon State’s 150th anniversary. Read more: 150 years of science for sea and space(Introduction), Oregon State Science: The many "firsts" in 150 years, The significance of OSU’s sea-, space-, sun- and land-grant designations.

To celebrate Oregon State’s 150^th anniversary, the College of Science is shining a light on some of the “giants” who once walked these halls and who helped make our College — and the science we do —what it is today.

Progress —in society and in science — can be defined as a collective endeavor. But occasionally a single individual, whether persevering over the course of a lifetime or in one eureka moment, makes such a difference to the way we think, behave and do science that they deserve special recognition. Looking at their accomplishments, we stand in awe and gratitude.

Remembering these leaders is not just a historical exercise, but a continuing inspiration as to what is possible. There may be giants walking among us today.

Ida Burnett: One of the rare American women west of the Mississippi to pursue a higher education degree in the late 1800s, Burnett practically grew up at Corvallis College (OSU's earliest name), attending its primary school in the 1870s and graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1881. She led a life of service, beginning as an assistant in the preparatory department, promoted to principal from 1894-95, and then was named dean of women at the College from 1906-07. Burnett also taught English at the College from 1896 until her death in 1932. She married Thomas Callahan in 1889; Callahan Hall is named after her.

Emile Pernot: First hired by the College in 1890 to photograph campus scenery and diseased fruit trees and vegetables at its various Agricultural Experiment Stations, Pernot quickly discovered the ‘very important and useful” work of “photo-micrography.” Over the next 20 years, he laid the foundation for bacteriology and for our present-day Department of Microbiology at Oregon State. His hundreds of engravings, slides, and micrographs – and later laboratory experiments -- led to dozens of immediate improvements in health and agriculture, from fruit preservation, grain storage, and cheese-making to poultry and livestock disease management.

In 1899, bacteriology was listed for the first time in the College catalog as taught by “Emile F. Pernot, Bacteriologist” and increased to a Department offering 14 courses by 1909. Similar to the novelty and potential of microbiome research today, bacteriology in the early 1900s promised a revolution in agriculture, health, and many other fields.

After leaving Oregon State in 1910, Pernot served as Portland’s city bacteriologist and also ran his own Pernot Laboratories. There he spent long hours developing a flu vaccine during the 1918 epidemic and worked for more than 35 years on tuberculosis, leading to the discovery of the bacillus responsible for tuberculosis in poultry. He received an Award of Honor for being the “Father of Avian tuberculosis” at The Hague in the Netherlands.

More recently, Pernot’s daughter, Mabel E. Pernot, made a major contribution of more than $500,000 to the Department of Microbiology in 1991 to support microbiology education and research.

Linus Pauling: One of OSU’s most famous alumnus, Linus Pauling was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, educator; father of quantum chemistry and molecular biology; author of more than 1,200 papers and books; winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. A 1922 OSU graduate in chemical engineering, Pauling has a substantial influence on campus that continues today through the Linus Pauling Science Center, the Linus Pauling Legacy Award and the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers archive at OSU. This historic collection contains more than 500,000 items reflecting Pauling’s long and varied scientific career and, together with his wife Ava, his dedication to world peace.

Francois A Gilfillan: OSU’s Renaissance man, Gilfillan’s career spanned more than 50 years as a student, chemistry professor (1927-39), acting president (1941-42) and a long-time dean of science (1939-62). In addition to his many contributions in pharmacy and chemistry research, Gilfillan spoke German, Russian, French, Italian and Chinook; translated Latin, Greek, Chinese and Sumerian inscriptions on clay tablets; and collected rare books and antique silver. His estate made major contributions to the university’s collection of rare books and also sponsors the annual F.A. Gilfillan Memorial Lecture each spring. The Gilfillan award recognizes distinguished scholarship in science by honoring a faculty in the College who demonstrates a long and exceptional scientific career with scholarly achievements widely recognized nationally and globally.

Chung Kwai Lui, emigrating directly from China to Corvallis, Lui was not only one of the first two students to enroll in the newly formed physics graduate program in 1936, but also OSU’s first female Ph.D. student in physics in 1941. After graduation, she worked at Westinghouse as a researcher, investigating materials for incandescent lighting, including uranium. She was selected to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project thanks to her expertise in purifying microscopic quantities of uranium. In 1949, she was named “Woman of the Day” by Eleanor Roosevelt. She and her husband, Hsin Hsu Wei, continue to benefit OSU through the legacy of the Wei Family Foundation, which supports undergraduate and graduate scholarships in science and mathematics.

Warren Washington: earned a Bachelor of Science in physics (’58), a master’s degree in meteorology (’60) from Oregon State and a Ph.D. in meteorology (‘’64) from Pennsylvania State University. Washington spent his entire career at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He became an internationally renowned climate scientist and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2010 and an honorary Ph.D. from OSU in 2006.

Sue Borden, completed her master’s degree in mathematics in 1962 at OSU and remained on campus as an early computer programmer for the oceanography department. In 1988, Borden was hired to lead the SMILE (Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences) Program at OSU, an initiative seeking to promote interest in the STEM fields and enrollment in college among Oregon's minority and under-served youth. By the time Borden retired from OSU in 1999, the program had been implemented in 10 communities across the state and was acknowledged by the Clinton Administration with a Presidential Award.

Read more:

Science at OSU has always been a trailblazer, continuing a tradition of outstanding ocean and space research. Find out what it means for OSU to have Land-,Sea-, Space- and Sun-Grant designations. Science at OSU can proudly lay claim to many “firsts” in its 150-year history.

It was not unusual for Judy Faucett (’70) to be the only woman in the room. She recalls that she was the only female student among 90 students in her advanced calculus class at OSU, her first class after she transferred from the mathematics program at the University of Oregon (U of O).

At Pacific Mutual Life, which she joined right after graduation, Faucett was one of the first women to be hired and complete the company’s actuarial training program. She not only made an impression for being one of the few women in her math classes and at her job, but also for her exceptional performance both academically and professionally.

The College of Science is proud to announce its 2017 Alumni Award recipients: Christopher Mathews, distinguished emeritus professor of biochemistry and biophysics, Lifetime Achievement Award in Science; Kay Merrill and Lee Sickler ('90) of the Merrill Family Foundation, Distinguished Service Award; Suzanne McGrath ('70), Distinguished Alumni Award; and Luisa Snyder and Nathan Snyder (both '09), Young Alumni Award.

The awards publicly recognize alumni or friends of the College of Science for distinguished professional and personal accomplishments and for exemplary contributions to society that bring credit to the College as well as the University.

"I am delighted to honor these exceptional alumni and friends who have made invaluable contributions to their professions, to society, to the College of Science and to Oregon State University," said College of Science Dean Roy Haggerty.

"They have enriched our communities here in Oregon and beyond through their passion for science and education and have brought honor and distinction to the College of Science and the University."

The College celebrated the accomplishments of these distinguished individuals with a gathering of invited guests comprising faculty, campus leaders, students, alumni and friends at its annual award ceremony and dinner at the Memorial Union's Horizon Room on November 17.

Congratulations to these outstanding alumni and friends of the College for their scholarship, leadership and service to science at Oregon State!

For Suzanne McGrath, things are coming full circle.

After graduating from Oregon State with a degree in mathematics, McGrath taught math for one year at Oregon State University and three years at Newberg High School. Fast forward 40 years, and she is seeing the fruits of her labor through the success of her former students including OSU Head Baseball Coach Pat Casey and Ken Austin III, a principal owner at A-dec, one of the nation’s largest dental manufacturing companies based in Newburg, Oregon.

Coach Casey likely uses the probability, mathematical and statistical skills learned in McGrath’s classroom to develop a winning game strategy and build one of the greatest success stories in the state's athletic history in the course of his 20-year career. Austin is using a similar skill set in his role at A-Dec while managing other businesses.

Although McGrath loved teaching mathematics and inspiring her students, she hoped for a broader career experience. As she encouraged her students to follow their dreams, she too followed hers. She applied her computational and problem-solving skills to accounting and became a CPA. Today, McGrath is President of Vision Capital Management, Inc., an investment advisory firm she founded with her daughter, Marina Johnson, CFA, 18 years ago. Vision Capital manages just over $550 million and employs a team of 12 professionals.

McGrath forged a path first as one of the few female accountants in Oregon in the 1970s, and then as an investment manager in the 1980s when women in finance were few and far between. She seized the opportunity to be a trailblazer for other women to follow in her footsteps, knowing there was both a need and space for women in finance.

McGrath is characterized by her hallmark determination and exuberance, whether it is getting up at 4:30 a.m. every morning to head to the gym, masterminding financial plans for clients or finding ways to support the best and brightest in science.

She credits her science education with giving her the fundamental skills and solid foundation to confidently navigate every step of her career.

“There is a reason that every student at OSU takes a course in the College of Science, whether they are majoring in music, engineering or business.” said McGrath, who “loves athletics” whether it is football, basketball or baseball.

She is especially proud of the McGrath Family Press Box, which is perched behind home plate at OSU’s Goss Stadium. She watches the games with enthusiasm during baseball season, cheering the Beavers to victory both on and off the field.

“We have supported and love Coach Casey and are thrilled that he has built an outstanding legacy of baseball at OSU,” said McGrath.

McGrath and her husband, math alumnus Bernie McGrath (’70, ’74), have had fruitful careers and are deeply committed to giving back. They have generously supported OSU across a range of interests, from the Colleges of Science, Engineering and Business to athletics. They see their gifts and the resulting impact as a way to pay it forward and to inspire others to respond, amplifying their support.

In November, McGrath will receive the College of Science’s 2017 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, which recognizes exceptional achievements and leadership that bring honor, distinction, and visibility to the College and to Oregon State University. The College’s distinguished alumni have made valuable contributions to science, the University, Oregon and the world.

“This is totally unexpected,” said McGrath. “It really caught me off guard. It is both flattering and humbling at the same time.”

The McGraths support graduate students through the ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation Portland Chapter. The distinguished national non-profit, is a volunteer women’s organization dedicated to advancing our nation’s competitiveness in scientific and technological innovation. Next year, McGrath has agreed to lead the organization as co-President, which has necessitated her departure from the College of Science’s Board of Advisors. However, she is still volunteering and advocating for the College of Science through her new position.

“It is such a gratifying feeling to hand the students their cash gift each year and encourage them to pursue their studies so they don’t have to worry about finances,” said McGrath.

This year, together with another couple, she and Bernie are supporting Jennifer Leaf, an OSU engineering student with research interests in robotic learning and planning in unstructured environments.

Read more about Suzanne McGrath and the profound impact she has made professionally and personally to the College, OSU and her community.

Founded in 1989, Corvallis's premier community festival, Da Vinci Days, is back with a vibrant and exciting series of events to engage people of all ages. Da Vinci Days 2017 will feature a series of five Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) talks and other events the week of May 15-20.

The festival showcases the creativity of community members, students and faculty from Oregon State University, LBCC and local schools.

There will be a high energy show by the musical group Cherry Poppin' Daddies, who have been blending musical genres and breaking boundaries for the past 25 years. The show will take place on Saturday, May 20 at La Sells Stewart Center.

For tickets and more information, please visit link. This year, Da Vinci Days will include talks by Oregon State scientists and mathematicians. Benjamin Dalziel, assistant professor of integrative biology and mathematics, and Tom Dick, professor of mathematics, will share the intellectual and human adventure of research in science and mathematics. The talks are free and open to the public.

Alumnus Michael Waterman (’64, ’66) has traveled quite a distance to get where he is. From humble beginnings on an isolated livestock ranch in southern Oregon in the 1950s to becoming an internationally celebrated mathematician and biologist at the University of Southern California (USC), Waterman has shattered all expectations.

“For me, OSU was the doorway to the rest of the world,” said Waterman, whose mother was committed to the idea of her children going to college.

Reflecting on his rural childhood, he recalls thinking, “You have no idea what’s out there. It’s very hard to imagine beyond what you see.”

Waterman struggled to see a clear career path forward, but pursued mathematics which proved to be a fortuitous jumping off point in his young life.

The values he acquired growing up in the Pacific Northwest—a respect for living off the land, freedom from outside authority, and a slight tendency to go against the grain and reach beyond the imagination—served him well.

Through the ESTEME@OSU (Enhancing STEM Education at OSU) project, Oregon State has conducted a comprehensive examination of its learning practices and is evolving them to transform its very culture of scholarship.

Supported by a $2 million grant from National Science Foundation’s Widening Implementation and Demonstration of Evidence-Based Reforms (NSF WIDER) program, OSU is broadly implementing evidence-based instructional practices in calculus-based freshmen- and sophomore-level courses in biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and physics.

The ESTEME@OSU project, led by Milo Koretsky and an interdisciplinary team including mathematics professor Tom Dick, is based on a theoretically grounded action research approach to organizational change. The College of Science is leading OSU in number of faculty trained as ESTEME Action Research Fellows focused on instructional design and learning.

This year, science faculty created and implemented many pedagogical and curriculum transformations combined with high-powered teaching and career development initiatives. They are arming students with the knowledge, skills and research experiences required to become effective scientists and leaders. They have essentially moved the needle on large lecture classes and evolved a set of best practices critical to improving scientific inquiry, communication and literacy as well as student success.

Active learning in biology

Since construction of OSU’s state-of-the-art Learning Innovation Center (LInC) in 2015, faculty have integrated multilayered interactive technology, active learning processes and instruction to enhance engagement and learning in large-format lecture science courses.

Biology instructor Devon Quick teaches 277 students in a circular arena classroom equipped with wall-to-wall screens with 10 well-trained undergraduate student learning assistants (LAs). The LAs circulate and work with students on an assigned question, engaging them through questions and dialogue to probe the conceptual thinking behind their answers.

Quick teams up with colleague Lori Kayes to teach large classes. Both are 2016 Action Research Fellows. In 2016, Quick received the OSU Faculty Teaching Excellence Award.

“One thing we were both interested in was changing our classrooms to a more active learning classroom, giving students more responsibility for their learning,” Quick said.

“We created more open-ended questions that would allow students to theorize or make predictions, and sometimes when learning that way students need immediate feedback. But how do you do that when there is one of you and 600 of them?” posed Quick.

The solution came in the form of the ESTEME program, which enabled Kayes and Quick to enhance the learning assistants program. They trained top undergraduates to facilitate peer discussions and class activities. LAs foster in-class learning by providing individualized feedback as students grapple with complex clicker questions posed by the instructor or classmates. This experience builds the confidence of the student LAs and creates strong connections with their learners.

Kayes and Quick trained over 60 LAs this year, and reported successful results in an essay, “Promoting Engagement in the (Sometimes Very) Large Lecture Classroom,” published in The Scholarly Teacher. Their enthusiasm for the LA program is infectious and is expanding to their colleagues at OSU and beyond.

Project boxsand in physics

2015 Fellow and physics instructor KC Walsh is conducting research to understand how his students interact with online physics content. This “flipped” classroom—hence ‘Boxsand’—has students engaging with course content online and use class time for problem solving and critical thinking. He is focused on what content students access, the order they access it, and how that correlates with performance.

Reflective of other out-of-the-box thinking, Assistant Professor of Physics Liz Gire is a co-PI on a new NSF-funded project “Raising Physics to the Surface.” The project involves creating dry-erasable surfaces and other manipulatives that can be used to teach advanced physics by helping “students coordinate their understanding of contour maps, physical 3D surface and equations to study physical systems.” Both Walsh and Gire have made valuable contributions to the nationally acclaimed Paradigms in Physics program.

Mindsets in mathematics

Mathematics instructor and 2015 Action Research Fellow Scott Peterson is exploring how students’ beliefs, such as a growth mindset, the need for persistence, and/or mathematical reasoning change during an algebra course. He is especially interested in the aspect of the course that causes that change, including the instructor’s talk, group work, etc.

Colleagues and 2016 Fellows Dan Rockwell and Nicole Seaders are examining three types of interactive lecture styles to determine how they impact students and teachers’ perception of learning, if a particular approach is “better,” and whether one style resulted in greater improvement than another. The Math department is exploring innovative curricula, adaptive learning technologies and alternative pathways for student success.

Chemistry curriculum innovations

Instructor and 2015 Fellow Richard Nafshun is studying if the amount of time devoted to topics in the curriculum is appropriate or if adjustments are needed based on a student’s pre-test data. His colleague, Kristen Ziebart is exploring, “Promoting Conceptual Understanding of General Chemistry with Short Writing Tasks,” to learn to what extent after class activities (reflection process, writing, instructor feedback, etc.) are responsible for higher exam scores, which activities improve course performance, and whether certain demographic groups of students benefit more or less from them.

Associate Chemistry Professor Chong Fang, a 2016 Fellow, is studying interactive engagement to elevate student interest and accountability as a doer, and to effectively communicate physical chemistry’s abstract concepts to cross-disciplinary learners. Faculty across the college are developing and using innovative techniques to help students learn and to be successful beyond the classroom.

The Mathematics Department will welcome alumni and friends during the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) in Atlanta at a special reception on Friday, January 6, from 7:00 - 8:30 pm at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis in room M102. Please join us for hors d’oeuvres and beverages and good conversation with new and old friends!

In addition to gathering friends and alumni, we will be honoring mathematics professor Tevian Dray, winner of the Deborah and Franklin Teppo Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) award honors teachers who have been widely recognized as extraordinarily successful and whose teaching effectiveness has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions. Please join us in congratulating, Tevian, who will receive the award at JMM 2017.

This is a great opportunity for alumni, friends and faculty to reunite and catch up. There is much good news to share!

If you aren’t attending JMM, consider attending or participating as an industry speaker or panelist next year. JMM is an excellent place to cultivate strong connections with academia and industry and to grow your professional network. One of our College’s strategic goals is to foster strong connections among academic, industry and government mathematicians and scientists.