MATH MATTERS CORNELL UNIVERSITY JANUARY 2020 Letter From The Chair Ravi Ramakrishna ’88 s is the case every year, our beginning of their first year with Department (along with all others studentsA and faculty are participat- their advisor, in the College) recently reclassi- ing a rich tapestry of mathematical and then as fied all its courses under the new events and scholarship. From needed. This system, with two falling under running conferences and summer often meant the Statistics and Data Science schools to supervising undergradu- never. The new (SDS) heading and the rest under ate research to (of course) proving model has a the Symbolic and Mathematical wonderful theorems, Cornell math- group of 10 first Reasoning (SMR) heading. We are ematicians at all levels are doing semester stu- curious to see how the new clas- great things. dents meeting sifications and requirements will Ravi Ramakrishna As you will read throughout with their advisor affect our enrollments, especially this issue of Math Matters, they once a week for 9 weeks. The at the first-year and sophomore are also being recognized for their intent is to orient students to the levels. outstanding accomplishments. College and break down the barri- Speaking of enrollments, we Our faculty have in the last year ers between faculty and students. will this year graduate about 95 won two College-wide teaching 2019 was the first year where the math majors. We now have the awards, three National Science seminar served all incoming A&S fifth most majors in the College. Foundation CAREER awards, a students and seven Math faculty Our enrollments at junior and Sloan Fellowship, two Simons participated. senior levels have risen by 80% Investigators awards and the list The class of 2024 will be the over the last decade. We are proud goes on. Graduate student Maru first required to fulfill the new A&S that we are (just!) keeping up with Sarazola won the College of Arts graduation requirements. The Math Continued on page 4 & Sciences Deanne Gebell Gitner ’66 and Family Annual Prize for Teaching Assistants while Sumun TEACHING AWARDS Iyer was one of two graduate Three instructors in the Math “bring back the students nationwide selected department received Arts & Sci- world to Cornell,” by the American Mathematical ences awards for teaching this something particu- Society to participate in the Cata- year. larly appropriate as lyzing Advocacy in Science and Senior Lecturer Kelly Delp Tara is spending Engineering (CASE) workshop in received the Stephen and Margery the year at Cam- Washington D.C. Kabir Kapoor ’20 Russell Award for bridge University. was one of three Cornell students Distinguished- Tara Holm Ph.D. student named a 2019 Goldwater Scholar. Teaching. Kelly Maru Sarazola won the College’s Seniors Prem Talwai ’19 and joins colleagues Deanne Gebell Gitner ’66 and Eun Bi (Seraphina) Lee ’19 were Allen Hatcher, Ravi Family Annual Prize for Teaching awarded the Harry S. Kieval Prize, Ramakrishna ’88, Assistants who have demonstrated the Department’s highest honor for Michael Stillman, their devotion to graduating seniors. Kelly Delp and Maria Terrell as undergraduate As I mentioned in last year’s a Russell Winner. teaching — includ- Math Matters, things are changing Professor Tara Holm received ing classroom in the College of Arts & Sciences. the Morgan Chia-Wen Sze and presence, course In 2017 and 2018 the College ran Bobbi Josephine Hernandez Dis- preparation and a pilot and expanded version of the tinguished Teaching Prize. Award- administration, and new advising seminar. In the old ees are encouraged to travel and student counseling. Maru Sarazola system, students met once at the ANIL NERODE: 60 YEARS AT CORNELL MELANIE LEFKOWITZ, CORNELL CHRONICLE A nil Nerode spent his in 1957 for a logic meeting and theorem, a theory of formal childhood on the move. thought it was the prettiest place languages. As the son of an itinerant yogi I’d ever seen, so I accepted by He chaired the Department living in the United States, “I went return mail.” from 1982-87, and served as to around 50 grammar schools in Within a few years, he was act- director of Cornell’s Mathematical 50 places,” said Nerode, Goldwin ing director of Cornell’s new Center Sciences Institute from 1987-96. Smith Professor of Mathematics in for Applied Mathematics. “At that He was named Goldwin Smith the College of Arts & Sciences. “I point, I got various outside offers,” Professor in 1991. was never anywhere more than a he said, “but I was already a full “Anil is an outstanding scholar, few weeks.” professor and I didn’t envisage a great adviser of Ph.D. students, So in 1959, when he found ever leaving the place. I loved it.” and he’s a leader,” said Chair a place he liked – Cornell – he Ravi Ramakrishna ’88. “Not that settled down and stayed put. many people have Ph.D. students Sixty years later, he’s believed finishing in seven different decades to be the longest serving faculty (his current students are expected member in University history. to graduate in the 2020s). That’s Along the way, he helped found amazing.” Cornell’s Computer Science Because Nerode has been Department, advised more than 55 reading research papers for more doctoral students – a Department than 70 years, he teaches from a record – and made important con- historical perspective, providing tributions in logic, computer sci- students with the context for the ence, systems and control theory. equations and theorems they might “Serving as an active faculty use in practice. member for 40 or 50 years is truly “I think there’s a lot of added remarkable. But 60 years!” wrote value in teaching things in the President Martha E. Pollack, Pro- order in which the notions were vost Michael Kotlikoff and Dean invented,” Nerode said. “I’ve taught Anil Nerode, the History of Mathematics at least of Faculty Charles Van Loan in Goldwin Smith Professor of Mathematics an April 2019 letter congratulating 50 times, and each time it incorpo- rates different material.” Nerode. “Our records show that He had a front-row seat as the He continues to advise stu- no faculty member in the history field of computing emerged and dents, teach classes and do of the university has ever reached then exploded, as part of the group research – an ability he partly this milestone – you are unique! that wrote the first grant proposal credits to his childhood training in Moreover, your contributions have to establish Cornell’s Computer yoga, breathing and concentration. been extraordinary.” Science Department in 1965. “I “It’s invaluable for doing mathemat- It could have turned out differ- was absolutely aware that technol- ics,” Nerode said. “Normally, you ently. Nerode chose to study math ogy was changing at an incredibly do mathematics for the day, you try because he found the mathemati- rapid rate,” he said. “And I came to to make notes at the end, you go cians friendlier than the physicists the conclusion – and I tried to sell it to sleep and your whole thought’s at the University of Chicago, to a skeptical faculty – that it would broken. When I was young, in where he earned his bachelor’s permeate every single department my 20s and 30s, I could work for degree at age 16 and Ph.D. at because it would eliminate all rou- four or five days. I simply had the 24. After postdoctoral studies tine work.” breath control for it.” at Berkeley, he came to Cornell Nerode’s research career has Spending his youth in what partly because it was beautiful. spanned pure and applied logic, he described as a “chaotic yoga “In 1959, I was at Berkeley computability, automatic structures environment” also gave him an wondering, what would happen to and foundations of logic. As a stu- appreciation for the academic life. me next year, and I got an unso- dent at the University of Chicago, Said Nerode: “I’ve never found licited offer through the mail from he and John Myhill proved what’s anything to dislike about it.” Cornell,” Nerode said. “I’d visited now known as the Myhill-Nerode 2 Extracurricular Math Learning Opportunities for K-12 Students are Flourishing in Ithaca (and Beyond)! Senior Lecturer Mary Ann Huntley & Senior Research Associate Laura Jones H istorically, school math Biology, Human Ecology, Opera- Ithaca City School District, and clubs in Ithaca operated under the tions Research and Information attract students from as far away radar. A lot of the heavy lifting was Engineering, the Vet School, as Corning and Watkins Glen. done by parent volunteers, often Molecular Biology / Genetics, The Department of Mathemat- Cornell employees and faculty. As the Boyce Thompson Institute, ics also hosts Math Explorer’s a result, outcomes varied, depend- Biometry, and the Johnson School Club (MEC) sessions for students ing entirely on parental interest of Business. Some clubs at the in Grades 8-12. One or two and availability. With the growth middle and high schools have Math Explorer’s Club modules of Cornell’s mathematics outreach received assistance from Ithaca are offered each semester, and program, math clubs and Circles High School students who return each module takes place over for grades K-12 students now to their middle school clubs to help the course of two Saturday morn- receive logistical support, recruit- after school. Other volunteers ings. Lessons are designed to be ing assistance, and coordination include faculty from Ithaca College, interactive, providing opportunities via the Cornell Math Department’s visitors to the Cornell Department for participants to ask and refine Director of Outreach. of Mathematics, and undergradu- questions, develop ideas and Math clubs in Ithaca owe their ates from Engineering and from a definitions, and solve problems longevity and success to institu- rocketry club at Cornell.