Math major earns prestigious fellowship
Another math major has earned recognition for his outstanding work in the classroom – the third student honored in the last few months.
Radoslav Vuchkov has been selected for the Mathematics Advanced Study Semesters (MASS) Program at Pennsylvania State University. He’ll spend the fall semester in State College, Pa.
The program consists of three core courses especially designed for MASS students, a weekly lecture by visiting and resident mathematicians, a weekly seminar, and individual projects, both theoretical and computer-related.
According to program director Sergei Tabachnikov, “It is in Penn State’s tradition to care about talented young mathematicians and to provide special conditions for their development.” He added that, for many students, the program serves as a springboard to graduate school in math.
Vuchkov, who will be a senior, received a fellowship that reduces tuition to the in-state level, a National Science Foundation award that covers room and board, a travel allowance and a $2,000 stipend.
It seems like quite a leap for a student who started in remedial math as a freshman. But, he quickly jumped to calculus, where he completed the series of three classes, and was on his way.
Dr. Hongde Hu, chair of CSUMB’s math department, says it’s not unusual to see students make such progress. “At this time,” he said, “about 30 percent of our math majors come from the remedial math classes.”
Two other math majors were recently honored for their accomplishments.
• Christina Depweg, who graduated in May, was awarded a Math for America fellowship to pay for graduate school at USC and to supplement her salary as a math teacher for the first four years of her career. The fellowship is worth $100,000, plus the cost of tuition.
• Kim Margosian is spending her summer at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base through the CSU’s Science Teacher and Researcher (STAR) program. The aspiring math teacher is working on math-based modeling and simulation to better understand physical phenomena.