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Math News May 10, 2002♦Graduationedition♦ MathDuke University News May 10, 2002 ♦GraduationEdition♦ In 1968, David Schae er received his PhD Events in mathematics at MIT under the direction of Takeshi Kotake. He came to Duke after two Math Department Gala years at Brandeis University and eight years at MIT. His two volume work Singularities and Members of the Duke math community en- Groups in Bifurcation Theory (with Golubitsky joyed plentiful food and conversation in the and Stewart) is considered a classic reference informal atmosphere of the math lounge on in bifurcation theory. He has written more Thursday afternoon, April 18. In addition than 80 other publications and received numer- to a large group of math students and fac- ous honors, including an Alfred P. Sloan fellow- ulty, the party was attended by President Nan ship and the Max Planck Research Award. For Keohane, Provost Peter Lang, Deans Berndt more information, see http://www.math.duke. Mueller, Robert Thompson, Mary Nijhout and edu/applied/NDEMB/index.html Kay Singer. The faculty and administrators rec- ognized the many accomplishments of math ma- jors this year. Undergraduate News Graduation Luncheon Graduating students who major in mathemat- Putnam Team ics and their families are cordially invited to a Duke collected $15000 for its third place n- luncheon in the Levine Science Research Cen- ish in the 62nd William Lowell Putnam Mathe- ter dining room after the Graduation Exercises matical Competition taken on December 1, 2001, on Sunday May 12. In a brief ceremony at the by nearly 3000 students at more than 400 col- end of the luncheon, Director of Undergraduate leges and universities throughout the United Studies, Stephanos Venakides, will present the States and Canada.The team members, sopho- diplomas to those with math as their rst ma- more David Arthur and seniors Nathan Curtis jor. and Kevin Lacker, each received a cash award. Di erential Equations Conference For the second time, Lacker was named Putnam Fellow for placing among the top 5 in the com- A conference in honor of James B. Duke Pro- petition. He received an award of $2500.For her fessor David G. Schae er will be held at Duke top ten individual ranking, junior Melanie Wood from May 20 through May 22, 2002. The con- won the $1000 Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Award ference will bring together a large body of dis- for the highest score among the participating fe- tinguished speakers in a meeting spanning pure males. Arthur also received a cash award for his and applied mathematics, the physical sciences, ranking among the top 25. Curtis and Oaz Nir and engineering disciplines. '05 were named Honorable Mention and Matt During his career, Schae er has made funda- Atwood '03 was in the top 5%.All of the 13 Duke mental contributions to bifurcation theory and students who participated ranked among the top the study of systems of hyperbolic conservation third of these most talented of math undergrad- laws. More recently, he has also turned his fo- uates in North America. cus to mathematical problems in biology and the Since 1990, Duke teams have won the com- nonlinear dynamics of granular materials. petition three times, placed second twice and 1 Duke Math News May 10, 2002♦GraduationEdition♦ third twice. They have ranked in the top This was one of the series of Undergraduate 10 for all but one of the past 10 years.For Mathematics Lectures sponsored and arranged more information, see http://www.math.duke. by members of DUMU. edu/news/awards/competitions.html#putnam. Julia Dale Prize Math Modeling The 2002 Julia Dale Prize for excellence in un- A Duke team has been named Outstanding for dergraduate mathematics has been awarded to the FIFTH year in a row in the math contest in seniors Kevin D. Lacker and Samuel W. Malone. modeling. The team has been invited to present Lacker shared this award for his excellence their results at the 50th annual meeting of the in many advanced mathematics courses and his Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics success in mathematical contests.In the national in July. Each team member will receive a $300 Putnam competition, Lacker ranked among the award from SIAM. top ten of 3,000 competitors for all four of his In a four day and four night stretch last Febru- years at Duke, twice being named a Putnam Fel- ary, the team of David Arthur, Sam Malone low for nishing among the top ve individual and Oaz Nir wrote a 42 page paper to estimate participants.He will attend graduate school at the optimal level of \overbooking" for airlines. the University of California, Berkeley, on an NSF They incorporated sophisticated probability the- Graduate Fellowship and plans to work in the ory and an "auction" system and supported their area of Arti cial Intelligence. Lacker is a Presi- algorithm with nine pages of computer code. Us- dential Research Fellow and Goldwater Scholar. ing an average value for the price of tickets, num- Malone has been honored for his many re- ber of seats, and \no-show" rate, their algorithm search projects, his unprecedented four wins suggests that by selling 177 seats for a 150 seat in the Mathematics Contest in Modeling and aircraft, airlines would maximize revenues. his many special scholarship awards including The Outstanding papers will be published A. B. Duke Scholar, Goldwater Scholar, Faculty in the journal Undergraduate Mathemat- Scholar and Rhodes Scholar. Malone has pub- ics and its Applications. Malone has been lished six research papers during his four years on an Outstanding MCM team each of at Duke and was one of the rst PRUV Fellows his four years at Duke. See http://www. at Duke. As a Rhodes Scholar, he will study eco- comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/ nomics at Oxford University next year with a fo- 2002Results.html and http://www.math.duke. cus on nance and development. For his senior edu/news/awards/competitions.html#modeling thesis, Black-Scholes Revised: Alternative Price for more information. Processes and Stochastic Volatility, Malone will Graduate with Highest Distinction. Undergraduate Math Lecture Julia Dale joined the Duke mathematics de- Walter Mientka, the former director of the partment in 1930 as an Assistant Professor and USA Mathematics Olympiad program and pro- died of renal failure just six years later at the age fessor at the University of Nebraska, presented of 43. Friends and relatives established the Ju- a lecture entitled Approximations of Arithmetic lia Dale Memorial Fund to honor Duke under- Sums and their Applications to Number Theo- graduates for their mathematical achievements. retic Functions on January 29, 2002, to a large For more information about Dale and for a list group of math majors. of previous winners, see http://www.www.math. Mientka addressed the following ques- duke.edu/news/awards/dale/index.html. tion.How does one nd a useful approximation Alice T. Schafer Prize for the sum of an in nite series whose argu- ments are the natural and real numbers?The At the meetings of the mathematical societies results have implications for the Prime Number in San Diego in January, the Association for Theorem and other questions in number theory. Women in Mathematics (AWM) presented the Twelfth Annual Alice T. Schafer Prize to Melanie 2 Duke Math News May 10, 2002♦GraduationEdition♦ Wood '03. The AWM cited her for several re- Duke Math Meet search projects, including a paper accepted for Over 100 high school students from Georgia to publication in a major mathematics journal, her Virginia participated in the annual Duke Math outstanding success in graduate level mathemat- Meet on Saturday, November 17, 2001. Mem- ics courses starting in her rst year at Duke bers of the Duke University Math Union sent and her excellence in mathematical competi- out invitations, wrote and graded the problems tions. Wood is an A. B. Duke Scholar and a B. and presented the awards to the winners of this M. Goldwater Scholar.She expects to pursue a ARML style team/individual competition. The doctorate in mathematics. winner was the A team from Thomas Je erson This prize for excellence in mathematics by High School of Science and Technology. NC an undergraduate woman was established in School of Science and Math and the B team from honor of Alice T. Schafer, Professor Emerita from TJHSST tied for second place and the Charlotte Wellesley College, who contributed signi cantly Math Club and Chapel Hill HS nished fourth to women in mathematics throughout her ca- and fth among the 18 teams of six. Congratu- reer. The rst Schafer prize was won by Duke lations to DUMU president Mike Miller and to graduate Jeanne Nielson Clelland in 1991. Other David Arthur, Nathan Curtis, Melanie Wood and Duke winners include Jennifer Slimowitz, Hon- the other DUMU members for a job well done! orable Mention, and Sarah Dean '00, Runner Up. For more information, see http://www. Karl Menger award awm-math.org/schaferprize.html. The Menger award is given in recognition of Virginia Tech Math Contest superior performance on the William Lowell Put- nam Mathematical Competition. The winners of Duke students continued their domination of the $250 prize are David Arthur '04, Kevin Lacker the Virginia Tech Regional Math Contest. On '02 and Melanie Wood '03. These students each Saturday November 3, 2001, 269 students from ranked among the top 25 among the 3000 par- 35 schools throughout the southeast, includ- ticipants. This is the fourth Menger award for ing 16 from Duke, competed in this two and Lacker. a half hour contest of mathematical ingenuity Born in Vienna 100 years ago this year, Karl and problem solving ability. For placing second, Menger exerted a strong in uence on many David Arthur '04 won $150.
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