News and Events, 2009

• Math Dept Fall 2009 Awards
  Prof. Mike Starbird and James Vick won Regents' Outstanding Teaching Awards. Natasa Pavlovic won the first John R. Durbin Teaching Excellence Award in Mathematics. Zachary Miner won Math Dept Outstanding Teaching Award. John Meth, Allison Moore and Rory Rother won Frank Gerth III Teaching Excellence Awards. Hector Chang, Keenan Kidwell and Travis Mandel won Frank Gerth III Graduate Excellence Awards. Congratulations to all!
• Prof I. Gamba Receives NFS awards
  Professor Irene M. Gamba, together with chemical engineering Professor Charles Mullins and chemistry Professor Allen Bard have received about $2.5 million grants to identify new materials that will efficiently absorb sunlight and split water into clean hydrogen fuel, which could power cars and be used to generate electricity.
• Math New Faculty 2009
  The Department of Mathematics would like to welcome all of our new faculty and students. Thirteen new faculty members, Andrew Blumberg, Chia-Cheih Chu, Mirela Ciperiani, Alessio Figalli, Andriy Goglyev, Ronny Hadani, Michael B. Henry, Mark Maxwell, Andrew Neitzke, Timothy Perutz, Stephanie Somersille, Ravi Srinvasan, Guoliang Wu have joined the department this fall.
• Frank Gerth III Dissertation Awards
  The Frank Gerth III Dissertation Awards were announced on Wednesday, May 13, at the Graduate Reception. Renato Calleja, Emanuel Carneiro, Russell Schwab, and Michelle Swenson are this year's winners. Congratulations to these graduates.
• Sean Simmons won a Goldwater Scholarship
  Sean Simmons, a student of mathematics, won a Goldwater scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year. The one- and two-year scholarships support educational expenses up to $7,500 per year. Mr. Simmons is doing research on the algebraic aspects of 'abelian sandpile model.' He has also been taking graduate level mathematics courses since the first semester of his sophomore year.
• Colab Workshop 2009
  The Workshop on 'Mathematical Aspects of Imaging, Modeling and Visualization in Multiscale Biology' took place at the ICES, UT Austin, from March 31st to April 4th, 2009. The workshop featured talks involving cross-themes on mathematics, medical imaging, biomechanics, biology, and bioengineering, given by leading United States and Portuguese researchers. The interdisciplinary and broad audience, enjoyed presentations covering a wide range of areas, such as mathematics, computer and electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, computer sciences, molecular biochemistry, biology, and neurobiology.
• Luis Caffarelli Receives Steele Prize
  Professor Luis Caffarelli receives the 2009 AMS Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement. Presented annually by the American Mathematical Society, the Steele Prize is one of the highest distinctions in mathematics. The prize was awarded on Tuesday, January 6, 2009, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC.
• Jennifer Duthie receives Fred Burggraf Award
  Dr. Jennifer Duthie and Professor Travis Waller from UT civil engineering received the Fred Burggraf Award for excellence in transportation research. Their paper 'Incorporating Environmental Justice Measures into Equilibrium-Based Network Design.' won the best paper by authors 35 years of age or younger.