The Department of Mathematics bestowed honors on five students.
The Jon A. Bucsela Prize in Mathematics, given in recognition of distinguished scholastic achievement, professional promise and enthusiasm for mathematics, has been given to two seniors in mathematics: Ethan G. Cotterill from Silver Spring, MD and Joshua Sussan from Bronx, NY. The prize was created as a memorial by the parents of Mr. Bucsela, a member of the Class of 1984 from Atlanta, who died as a result of congenital heart problems during his senior year.
The Housman Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching, given to graduate students in mathematics for skill and dedication in undergraduate teaching, was awarded to Federico Ardila from Bogota, Columbia and Donald Yau from Hong Kong. These awards are supported by the Charles L. and Holly Housman Fund.
The Charles W. and Jennifer C. Johnson Prize, established by Mr. Johnson (BE '55) and his wife, is given to a graduate student in mathematics for an outstanding research paper accepted for publication in a major journal. This year's recipient is doctoralstudent Adam Klivans from Pittsburgh, who with Rocco Servedio of Harvard University, wrote "Learning DNF in Time 2���{n���{1/3}," to appear in the 33rd Annual Symposium on the Theory of Computing, 2001.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 6, 2001.
