1998-99 Events
Commencement
WPI's one hundred thirty-first commencement took place on May 22. Graduates receiving a BS in Mathematical Sciences were Brian Kenneth Burwick, Bruce A. Cox, Gil Cunha Campos Eris, Adam Troy Howes, Steven T. Lord, Peter Roger Minear, Adriano Palombizio, Barry John Posterro, Shelby Brooke Woods, and Xiaolong Ron Yu. Those receiving a BS in Actuarial Mathematics were Jessica April Buffone, Michael Fitzgerald Bugbee, Melissa Ann Garrell, Aaron Ken Korthas, Karen Melissa Lee, Melissa Marie Pitzen, and Richard Patrick Scaife. Korthas, Minear, Woods, and Yu graduated with distinction; Lee and Posterro graduated with high distinction. The MS in Applied Mathematics was awarded to Henry A. Fink, Yan Huang, Richard R. Malloy, William David Montbleau, and Michael Edward O'Brien. Those receiving the MS in Applied Statistics were Gideon Ngu Aweh, Brian Roger Charest, Julie A. Fondurulia, and Rodney P. Sleith. In addition, there was recognition of the following, who were awarded the Master of Mathematics for Educators in either October 1998 or February 1999: Whitney Camp Biafore, Steven Elliot Blinder, Rhonda J. Goonan, Dianne Kathryn Kelly, Michael Robert Kraemer, Arlene Ann Sousa, and James Stanley Tidswell. Congratulations and best wishes to all! Click here for more photos.
Pi Mu Epsilon Banquet and Initiation
The annual Pi Mu Epsilon banquet and initiation of new members was held on April 30, 1999 in the Higgins House library, with an excellent turnout of students, parents, and faculty. Shown at right are PME officers Steven Lord, Isaac Rutel, and Peter Minear, who presided over events. New members are Brian Ball, Jovanna Baptista, Alison Bailey, Nathaniel Ferraro, Seth Hardy, Surachate Kalasin, Megan Lally, and Casey Richardson. In addition to Lord, Minear, and Rutel, present members include Adam Howes, Aaron Korthas, Joseph Laws, Jin Tao (Justin) Lin, Adriano Palombizio, Jason Sardell, and Xiao-Long (Ron) Yu. Music for the evening was provided by Irma and Mary Servatius, daughters of Brigitte and Herman Servatius. Homer Walker gave a short after-dinner talk entitled "Big Problems," which addressed some of the issues driving the development of increasingly powerful supercomputers.
Cleve Moler Inaugurates Presentation Classroom
Cleve Moler, chairman and chief scientist of The MathWorks and a member of our department advisory board, was the featured speaker in the official inauguration of our presentation classroom, Stratton Hall 203, on April 23, 1999. His talk was also the keynote address for the 1998-99 Mathematical Sciences Awards Ceremony. Moler spoke on "How Math Might Save Your Life," discussing how automobile manufacturers use mathematics and computers to design the safety systems in their future models. He is shown here using the online presentation system in SH203, with a simulated Mercedes automobile projected from his laptop onto the screen in the background. The simulation was done using the Matlab computing environment produced by The MathWorks and involved automatic control, numerical solution of ordinary differential equations, and computation of matrix eigenvalues.
Mathematical Sciences Awards Ceremony
The 1998-99 Mathematical Sciences Awards Ceremony was held on April 23, 1999. Shown at right is Xiao-Long (Ron) Yu receiving a "tavern puzzle" from Brigitte Servatius in recognition of his strong performance on the Putnam exam. Jin Tao (Justin) Lin was similarly recognized for his Putnam performance. The Senior Math Award, given for outstanding performance and valuable contributions by a senior Mathematical Sciences major, was shared by Barry Posterro and Ron Yu. Barry Posterro was also recognized as the department nominee for the Salisbury Award, given by the university to 14 highly meritorious seniors, and was the department's winner of the Provost's MQP Competition. Ron Yu received honorable mention in the Provost's MQP Competition and also received the CIMS MQP award, sponsored by Morgan Construction. Other participants in the Provost's MQP Competition were Peter Minear, Jessica Buffone and Michael Bugbee, Steven Lord, Gil Eris, Brian Burwick, Samuel Lehane-Abraham, Melissa Garrell and Karen Lee, Aaron Korthas and Shelby Woods, and Bruce Cox. Sharad Bhojnagarwala was the recipient of the Olson Award, which recognizes excellence in freshman and sophomore mathematics courses and outstanding overall academic achievement. This award was established to honor the memory of mathematics professor Richard V. Olson, who taught at WPI from 1963 until his death in 1983. Brian Ball and Matt Doller were recognized for their contributions to maintaining and solving the bulletin board problems.
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