Congratulations to Nadine Jansen, winner of a prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Nadine of North Carolina A&T University was one of 14 participants in the Department’s 2012 Summer Program In Research And Learning.   Nadine and three other students researched the counting of restricted paths in an integer lattice in the plane. The research was conducted under the direction of Leon Woodson.

The Summer Program In Research And Learning (SPIRAL) is an ongoing collaboration of the Mathematics Department at the University of Maryland and several Historically Black Colleges and Universities with financial support from the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency. SPIRAL has been an annual event since it began under the direction of the late Dan Rudolph in the summer of 2003.

The conference is dedicated to Mark Freidlin on occasion of his birthday and is devoted to recent progress in probability and partial differential equations. It will take place at the University of Maryland, College Park,  May 20 - 24, 2013. Visit the conference web site for more information.

We are sad to note the death of Professor Emeritus Frank Olver, who passed away on April 23, 2013 at the age of 88. Frank was an expert on numerical analysis and special functions, and editor of the NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions, a great mathematical resource. His book on Asymptotics and Special Functions is still considered a mathematical classic. Frank retired from the University of Maryland in 1992, but continued to work on mathematics until his death. He received the Gold Medal of the US Department of Commerce in 2011.

Maryland sophomore Stephen Randall, a double major in mathematics and physics, is one of three University of Maryland students to win Barry Goldwater scholarships this year. The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry M. Goldwater and to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.

Professor Doron Levy, currently the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, has been named a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher for 2013-2014. The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Program, established in 1978, honors a small number of faculty members each year who have demonstrated notable success in both scholarship and teaching. Distinguished Scholar-Teachers make a public presentation on a topic within their scholarly discipline, and receive an honorarium of $5000 to support their professional activities.

Linette Berry from the Graduate Office has been awarded the 2013 President's Commission on Women's Issues Outstanding Non-Exempt Staff Award.  She was honored at a reception on April 2nd from 2:30-4:30pm in the Atrium at the Stamp Student Union.

Sharon Welton from the Business Office will receive the CMNS Exempt Employee Award.  Haydee Hidalgo from the Graduate Office will receive the CMNS Non-Exempt Employee Award. Sharon and Haydee will be honored at the CMNS Academic Festival to be held on May 10, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. in the Atrium of the Chemistry Building.

Linette, Sharon, and Haydee join a long list of other staff members who have won awards in recent years, such as Martha Hopkins from the Undergraduate Office who won the CMNS Non-Exempt Employee Award last year, Fletcher Kinne who won the President's Distinguished Service Award in 2011, and Rhyneta Gumbs who won a PCWI award in 2008.