MASS - Honors

MASS Awards and Fellowships

MASS 2012 Award Recipients

Weston Barger: merit fellowship
Matthew Chao: for asking best questions in class
Martin Copenhaver: merit fellowship, best lecture delivered to his examiners
Yan Dai: merit fellowship, outstanding project in algebra
Andrew Hanlon: outstanding exam in algebra
Reid Harris: merit fellowship
In-Jee Jeong: merit fellowship, and for being least satisfied with the presented proofs
Joseph Kraisler: merit fellowship
Elisabeth Paulson: merit fellowship, outstanding project in geometry, best off-the-cuff answers
Jenny Rustad: merit fellowship, for deepest insight into a physical problem
Radoslav Vouchkov: for his artistic impact

MASS 2011 Award Recipients

Sean Al-Gattas: outstanding exam in geometry
Anthony Caine: merit fellowship, best analysis exam and outstanding analysis project
Eric Canton: best exam in algebra
In Jee Jeong: merit fellowship and best project in analysis
James Moody: merit fellowship and outstanding project in geometry
Travis Morrison: merit fellowship, outstanding project in geometry and outstanding project in algebra
Daniil Rudenko: merit fellowship and best project in geometry

MASS 2010 Award Recipients

Joshua Bonet: outstanding performance in final exams
Andrew Bydlon: merit fellowship and best project in algebra
Samantha Fuller: best final exam in analysis
Matthew Hom: outstanding project in geometry
Camila Ramirez: best project in analysis
Yixuan Shi: outstanding performance in final exams
Brandon Warner: merit fellowship
William Wright: merit fellowship and best examination in geometry

MASS 2009 Award Recipients

Brandon Hepola: merit fellowship
My Huynh: outstanding performance by a sophomore
Alexa Kottmeyer: outstanding "fractal" performance (2 out of 3)
Kaloyan Marinov: merit fellowship
Jacob Turner: merit fellowship
Kurt Vinhage: merit fellowship, best performance in all exams
Haining Wang: merit fellowship
Zipeng Wang: outstanding project in algebra
Adam Zydney: outstanding project in geometry, best project in analysis

MASS 2008 Award Recipients

Charles Baker: outstanding project in analysis, the most dedicated student
Stella Dong: outstanding progress made in the analysis course
Michael Harrison: best experimental projects
Sean Howe: merit fellowship, outstanding project in algebra, outstanding project in analysis
Nicole Kroeger: merit fellowship, outstanding project in algebra, outstanding project in geometry
Mukherjee Kushal: outstanding performance in the analysis course
Kaloyan Marinov: outstanding performance in the geometry course
Mathew Pancia: merit fellowship
Johathan Root: merit fellowship, outstanding project in analysis
Jonathan Taylor: outstanding performance in the analysis course
Valentin Zakharevich: merit fellowship, best performance in the analysis exam

MASS 2007 Award Recipients

Dory Deines: outstanding performance in geometry course
Bryan Gillespie: merit fellowship and outstanding performance by the youngest participant
Sara Jensen: outstanding computer project and best project in geometry course
Chor Hang Lam: merit fellowship
Vincent Martinez: best examination in mathematical analysis
Timur Nezhmetdinov: merit fellowship
Matthew Pancia: merit fellowship and best project in algebra course
Noopur Pathak: outstanding project in algebra course
Robin Tucker-Drob: merit fellowship and best examination in geometry course

MASS 2006 Award Recipients

Jesse Barbour, St.Edward's University -- Merit fellowship and award for outstanding research project in geometry
Arthur Friend, Georgia Institue of Technology -- Merit fellowship and award for the best experimental project
Jessica Jou, PennState -- Merit fellowship and outstanding Penn State participant award
John Mangual, Princeton University -- Merit fellowship and award for the best research project in geometry
Carl Sutherland, PennState -- Merit fellowship and award for outstanding research project in analysis
Bogdan Vioreanu, International University(Bremen) -- Merit fellowship and award for the best research project in algebra
Daniel Volmar, Berkeley -- Merit fellowship and award for best scholarship
Tad Whitenight, PennState -- Merit fellowship

MASS 2005 Award Recipients

Eugene Eyeson, Benedictine University -- Outstanding projects suggested by the student
Ki Chul Kim, Dartmouth College -- Excellent performance fellowship,
Outstanding performance in Analysis course
Davide Koslicki, Washington State University -- Excellent performance fellowship,
Best project in Geometry
Sarah Matz, PennState -- Outstanding project in Analysis
Karen McCready, The College of New Jersey -- Making most progress overall,
Outstanding performance in the Analysis exam
Aya Mitani, Pitzer College -- Best presentation in Geometry
Toan Phan, Northwestern University -- Best overall performance fellowship,
Best project in Algebra,
Best project in Analysis
Joseph Roberts, PennState -- Excellent performance fellowship
Frances Worek, PennState -- Outstanding performance in the Analysis exam

MASS 2004 Award Recipients

Van Cyr, University of Buffalo -- Merit fellowship, outstanding performance in Geometry, outstanding project in Algebra
James Krysiak, Alfred University -- Best project in Geometry
Jenna Hammang, Valparaiso University -- Merit fellowship
Jeremy Heffner, PennState University -- Outstanding project in Algebra
Zachary McCoy, Yale University -- Outstanding performance in Geometry
A. Naber -- Merit fellowship, best project in Analysis, best performance in Analysis

MASS 2003 Award Recipients

Nathan Collins, University of Oregon -- Merit Fellowship
Jeffrey Gin, Central Michigan University -- Most innovative project in Analysis
Russel Halper, University of CA, Santa Barbara -- Excellent performance in Analysis
Marc Horn, Penn State University -- Best effort Award
David Jordan, University of Oregon, Clark Honors College -- Merit Fellowship
John Skukalek, Grand Valley State University -- Merit Fellowship
Vivek Srikrishnan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign -- Merit Fellowship
Rebecca Swanson, Dakota Wesleyan University -- Merit Fellowship
Michael Willis, Penn State University -- Nittany Lion Award

MASS 2002 Award Recipients

Patrick Barrow, North Carolina State University
Mark Branson, University of Oklahoma
Justin Fitzpatrick, Penn State University
Stacey Hubbell, Penn State University
Brady McCary, Texas A&M University
Michael Rowell, University of San Diego

MASS 2001 Award Recipients

Sharon Chuba, Penn State University
Patrick Rault, College of William and Mary
Yakov Shapiro, Boston University
Braden Soper, UCLA

MASS 2000 Award Recipients

Benjamin Chan, University of Rochester
Rachel Lash, Alfred University
Carmen Lefever, The College of New Jersey
Vakhid Masagutov, New Mexico State University
Alice Medvedev, University of California Institute of Technology

Awards and achievements by MASS participants outside of MASS

X. Faber (MASS 1999, 2000 and REU 1999, 2001) and A. Naber (MASS 2004) were Awarded NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships.
G. Mullen's and B. Vioreanu's paper "Explicit formulas for permutation polynomials over finite fields" based on Vioreanu's MASS 2006 research project (class taught by G. Mullen) is published in Bull. Inst. Combin. Appl., 57, 2009, 107-117.
N. Pathak's paper "A computational aspect of the Lebesgue differentiation theorem" based on her MASS 2007 research project (supervised by S. Simpson) is published in J. Logic and Analysis, 1, 2009, 1-15.
K. Marinov, a MASS 2008 and 2009 participant, was awarded the first Michael Brin MASS Fellowship.
E. Larson (REU 2007) won a $100,000 award in 2009 Intel Science Talent Search. Previously he won a $50,000 award in the 2008 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Eric's paper is co-authored with D. Jordan, a MASS and REU 2003 participant (now at MIT). This summer, Eric won Gold Medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad (Bremen, Germany).
A. Friend, MASS 2006, was awarded NSF Graduate Fellowship.
J. Holmer, MASS 1996, was awarded Sloan Fellowship.
The paper "Isoperimetric inequalities for wave fronts and a generalization of Menzin's conjecture for bicycle monodromy on surfaces of constant curvature" by S. Howe, M. Pancia and V. Zakharevich, based on their REU and MASS 2008 research projects, is posted at arxiv. The paper is accepted for publication in Advances in Geometry.
Eric Larson (REU 2007) won a $100,000 award in 2009 Intel Science Talent Search for "The Classification of Certain Fusion Categories". Previously he won a $50,000 award in the 2008 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Eric's paper on the subject is co-authored with D. Jordan, a MASS and REU 2003 participant (now at MIT).
Eric Larson, REU 2007 participant, received a Third-Place AMS Menger Award at the 2008 International Science and Engineering Fair for his work done at the REU. Larson's paper is posted here

A paper published in "Analysis and Applications" based on research projects in the MASS 2006 analysis course by A. Bressan
Dmitry Vaintrob, (REU 2004) was the winner of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology (prize of $100,000), he won the third place in the Intel Science Talent Search (prize of $50,000) and he received the first-place AMS Menger award (prize of $1,000).
Eric Larson, REU 2007 participant, was a member of the USA team at the 48th International Mathematical Olympiad, July 2007, Hanoi, Veitnam, and was awarded a silver medal.
Beth Morgan, MASS 2002 participant, is among the first Newton Fellows of the Math for America Program established by Dr. James Simons of Renaissance Technoology Crop. See the article in DAILY NEWS.
Rebecca Swanson has won an award at the Undergraduate Poster Session at the Phoenix AMS Conference for her poster Polygonal Ponderings.
Yakov Shapiro (Boston University, MASS 2001) was awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship.
Elizabeth Thoren, a MASS 2001 participant, has been chosen as an honorable mention in the competition for the Alice T. Schafer Prize for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics.
Patrick Rault (College of William and Mary, REU and MASS 2001) has been awarded the Barry M. Goldwater scholarship.
Sharon Chuba (Penn State, REU and MASS 2001) is a winner of the Undergraduate Student Poster Session in San Diego, January 2002.
James Kelley (MASS 1998), currently a mathematics graduate student at UC Berkeley, has been awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Jaclyn (Kohles) Anderson (University of Nebraska, Lincoln, MASS 1998) is a winner of the Alice T. Schafer Prize for Excellence in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Woman, 2001.
Benjamin Chan (University of Rochester, REU and MASS 2000) is a winner of the Undergraduate Student Poster Session in New Orleans, January 2001. His poster was among three very highly ranked posters.
- Poster Title: Estimation of the Period of a Simple Continued Fraction
  Advisors: Robert Vaughan, Penn State and Misha Guysinsky, Tufts University
James Kelley (MASS 1998) ranked #59 in the 1999 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and won an Honorable Mention among individuals.
Jaclyn Kohles received an honorable mention in the Alice T. Schafer Prize competition for Excellence in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Woman, 2000.
Noah Salvaterra, Brian Wickman, and Jayadev Athreya (MASS 1999) are winners of the Undergraduate Student Poster Session in Washington D.C., January 2000.
- Noah Salvaterra and Brian Wickman (REU and MASS 1999)
  The Growth of Generalized Diagonals in a Polygonal Billiard
  Advisors: Anatole Katok, Penn State and Misha Guysinsky, Tufts University
- Jayadev Athreya (MASS 1999) and Lukasz M. Fidkowski
  Number Theoretic Balls in Boxes
  Advisor: Anant Godbole, Michigan State University