2024 math student prizes

May 21, 2024

Written by Miki and the prize recipients.

The Math graduation party was on Monday, May 20, in the KT 8th floor lounge. It was wonderful to have so many of you there :)  

To all of our graduating seniors: We are very proud of you, and cannot wait to see what you will do next. Please do let us know! 

This year’s mathematics prizes were announced at the party by Professor Igor Frenkel, together with Erica Weiler ‘24 and Jack Miller ‘24 (last year’s recipients of the Stanley and Beckwith prizes). 

Each prize recipient shared an anecdote from their time at Yale at the party. For this article, they also wrote about their plans, and shared advice for new math majors.

The DeForest prizes for proficiency in pure and applied mathematics were awarded to Olivia Fugikawa ‘24 and Chris Yao ‘24.

Olivia will be working as a signal processing engineer next year at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. She hopes to spend the summer going on hikes in her hometown, spending time with family, and keeping her dog entertained. 

 

 

 
Chris will be pursuing a PhD in mathematics at UC Berkeley next year. He looks forward to spending the beginning of summer seeing family in China and traveling with friends to Southeast Asia before returning home to Iowa. In his free time at Berkeley, Chris is looking forward to hiking, playing tennis, surfing, and reading.

 

The George Beckwith prize for proficiency in astronomy or mathematics is awarded to Jorge Blanco Herrera ’24.

 
Jorge will be pursuing a PhD in Statistics at UC Berkeley next year, with a primary interest in Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics. This summer he will read a bunch of random stuff. 

 

The Anthony D. Stanley memorial prize, given out to a junior for excellence in pure and applied mathematics, is awarded to River Newman ‘25.

River is excited to be doing an independent reading project on algebraic geometry and scheme theory this summer with Professor Sam Raskin. They also hope to spend plenty of time practicing their hobby of blacksmithing, cooking some new recipes, and reading books.

 

The John Alan Lewis Summer Research Fellowship is awarded to a winning proposal by an undergraduate student majoring in mathematics who wishes to pursue their studies over the summer. This year’s fellowship is awarded to Josh Zeitlin ‘25.

Josh is a junior math major enthusiastic about almost every aspect of mathematics. During the summer Josh plans to work on a geometry project with Professor Neitzke while also doing history research in the Stanford archives during his free time. Josh eventually hopes to go to graduate school and pursue a PhD in mathematics.

 

As an additional note, Andrew Milas ‘24 was awarded the Russell Henry Chittenden Prize, a university-wide award for “the senior majoring in the natural sciences or in mathematics who ranks highest in scholarship” (quoted from the linked Yale news article).