DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY MAY 2020 • WWW.MATH.FSU.EDU FSU Alumna Named AMS Fellow A Message from Former FSU Biomathematics student members who have made outstanding the Chair Mariel Vazquez has been selected to contributions to the creation, exposi- Washington Mio the 2020 Class of Fellows of the American tion, advancement, communication, and Mathematical Society (AMS). She re- utilization of mathematics. The AMS se- Greetings! As we near the end of the aca- ceived her Ph.D. in 2000 under Prof. De lected Prof. Vazquez “For contributions demic year, it is very rewarding to see how Witt Sumners and is now a Professor in in research and outreach at the interface much the Department of Mathematics the departments of Mathematics and of of topology and molecular biology, and has accomplished in all spheres of aca- Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at for service to the mathematical commu- demic activity as a result of the hard work the University of California, Davis. The nity in particular to underrepresented and dedication of our faculty, students, Fellows of the AMS program recognizes groups”. Vazquez’s research lies at the in- and staff members, and the support from terface of mathematics, polymer physics, our donors, alumni and the larger com- and molecular biology and she special- munity. Over the last few years, we have izes in the application of topological tools welcomed many new faculty members to study DNA. to a vibrant and collegial environment, where groundbreaking research in math- After graduating from FSU, Vazquez was ematics – both pure and applied – goes a postdoctoral fellow at the University of hand in hand with undergraduate and California, Berkeley from 2000 to 2005, graduate education. then a faculty member in the mathe- matics department at San Francisco The cutting-edge research of our faculty State University from 2005 to 2014, be- and students cover a vast mathematical fore joining the faculty at the University of landscape, frequently transcending dis- California, Davis. Prior to being selected ciplinary boundaries, with many projects as an AMS fellow, Vazquez received sev- funded by external contracts and grants. eral awards, including the prestigious NSF The teaching and scholarly accomplish- Early Career Award in 2011 and, in 2012, ments of our faculty and students have the Presidential Early Career Award for been recognized by many awards, Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the and the recently implemented Dean’s nation’s highest honor for researchers in Postdoctoral Program enriches the at- the early stages of their career. mosphere of the department with the Mariel Vazquez CHAIR Continued on page 2 FACULTY AWARDS FACULTY NEWS STUDENT DEPARTMENT NEWS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS OUTREACH Mariel Vazquez pg. 1 Faculty Promotions pg. 4 Society of Undergraduate Alumni, Graduate, and Quant Symposium pg. 15 Brennan Professorship pg. 2 New Faculty pg. 5 Math Students pg. 13 Faculty News pg. 18 Math Fun Day pg. 16 Hunter Professorship pg. 3 Faculty Retirements pg. 9 Association for Women in PhD Recipients pg. 19 High School Math Mathematics pg. 14 Math Honors Day pg. 23 Competition pg. 7 Chair, from pg. 1 contributions, energy and vigor of many Nick Cogan Becomes the Fourth junior scholars and educators. Our stu- dents graduate to successful careers in Brennan Professor of Mathematics academia and diverse sectors of industry or government, attesting to the quality Bertram, who held the position from of our programs. It also has been very 2015 until 2018. The most recent recip- refreshing to see a renewed commitment ient, Nick Cogan, was selected to hold the from our faculty to offering richer aca- endowed chair position until 2021. demic experiences to our undergradu- ates to enhance learning outcomes, Dr. Cogan is a biomathematician who especially in basic mathematics that in- builds and analyzes models describing fluences the academic trajectories of so fluid/solid interactions, chemical trans- many students, campus wide. Through port, and bacterial physiology. He has our outreach activities, the Department published roughly 50 papers in journals engages with the local community, cata- such as Biophysical Journal, the SIAM lyzing interest and inspiring K-12 students Journal on Applied Mathematics, the to learn mathematics. All of our activities Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, the are supported by a wonderful, dedicated Journal of Theoretical Biology, and the staff that ensure that our operations Journal of Membrane Science. His publi- run smoothly, always ready for the next cations typically are aimed at answering challenge. biological questions, and often employ sophisticated mathematical tools and As I sketched this message, reflecting Nick Cogan computational analysis. This work is on the collective achievements of the often done in collaboration with experi- Mathematics Department over the years The Marion Bradley Brennan mental scientists. His research has been was very inspiring. Over three quarters Professorship in Mathematics was estab- supported over a number of years by of a century, our research and graduate lished through a generous gift from Ms. the National Science Foundation, and programs have come a long way and at- Carol Brennan, in honor of her mother. one of his publications was awarded tained national prominence. Our under- Carol completed her Bachelor’s degree a Best Paper Prize from the journal graduate and graduate programs are in in 1976 and Master’s degree in 1978, Mathematical Medicine and Biology. The a healthy state and are responsive to the both in applied mathematics at FSU. lead author on this prize-winning paper needs of our students, supporting many Upon graduation, she took a position at was Angela Jarrett, a former biomathe- career paths. I have every reason to be- Bell Laboratories, and later at Telcordia matics graduate student who is now a lieve that we are on a strong, positive tra- Technologies where she became the postdoctoral fellow at the University of jectory and the future is bright. Looking Corporate Vice President of Quality Texas, Austin. forward, we will continue to build on our Operations before retiring. She regularly strengths and expand in new directions. returns to the math department to attend Angela is not the only student fortunate One of the current plans is to unveil a the Brennan Professor talks given by new enough to work with Dr. Cogan. In fact, new master’s program in data science in recipients. he has mentored eight doctoral stu- the fall of 2021. dents who, after receiving their PhD de- The Brennan endowed professorship is grees, went on to postdoctoral work at I invite you to continue to read this awarded every three years or so to an the University of Michigan, University of Newsletter to learn more about the de- FSU mathematics professor who is an “in- Texas, University of Cincinnati, and North partment and the people making things ternationally known scholar in the field of Carolina State University, as well as to in- happen. I wholeheartedly thank all mem- mathematics, with a proven track record dustry. Dr. Cogan regularly teaches the bers of the Mathematics Department in research, teaching, and mentoring of graduate-level class Spatial and Temporal for all of their contributions, our alumni undergraduate and graduate students”. Methods in Biology, as well as special for continuing to project a great image The first recipient of the award was Paolo topics classes such as Sensitivity Analysis. of the department, and our donors for Aluffi, who held the chair from 2012 His extensive work with students has endowing professorships, funding schol- until 2014. This was followed by Eriko been recognized with an FSU Graduate arships, supporting the professional de- Hironaka, who held the position from Mentor Award in 2016 and an Honors velopment of our students, and making a 2014 until 2015, when she left the de- Thesis Mentor Award in 2018. It is only real difference in so many ways. partment to become a senior editor at fitting, then, that Dr. Cogan should be- the American Mathematical Society. The come the fourth recipient of the Marion third recipient of the chair was Richard Bradley Brennan Professorship. 2 May 2020 Hunter DEPARTMENT OF Professorship MATHEMATICS Christopher Hunter (1934-2008) was re- AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY cruited by FSU from MIT in 1970 to found and direct the applied mathematics pro- gram. He was the department chair from MAY 2020 www.math.fsu.edu/newsletter 1993 - 1999 and had a profound impact on mathematics at FSU. In 2018, his es- Washington Mio tate established the Christopher Hunter Chair, Department of Endowed Professor of Mathematics. The Mathematics endowment is used to support a faculty [email protected] member whose scholarly activity is fo- Amod Agashe & Richard cused on, but not limited to applied math- Oberlin ematics. The inaugural faculty member Editors was Mark Sussman. Monica Hurdal and Mark Sussman Kyle Gallivan were also nominated. Dr. Richard Bertram Reagan Creamer Sussman joined FSU in 1999 with a PhD. of computer programming (we owned a Nick Cogan from UCLA under Stanley Osher followed radio shack TRS80 computer and then we Lydia Eldredge by several years at Sandia National Labs. owned the first IBM PC computer), I was Brian Ewald Dr. Sussman answered a few questions: intimidated by the prospect of having to Arash Fahim write computer programs until I got to Nina Fernandez Shelby Fintak What was your reaction to finding San Diego State University (SDSU). My Monica Hurdal out you would be the inaugural teachers at SDSU made math and com- Steve Paris Hunter Professor? puter programming very accessible and Julia Ream I was very happy, and I became a little I quickly started to enjoy the computer Contributing Writers emotional at the time, upon hearing I programming aspect of my education University Communications was chosen as the inaugural Christopher too.