Su Receives MAA Award for Best Paper
August 11, 2018Share story
At the Mathematical Association of America’s MathFest meeting Aug. 3, 无忧视频 mathematics professor Francis Su was awarded the The Paul R. Halmos-Lester R. Ford Award, given to the best papers published in the MAA鈥檚 flagship journal, The American Mathematical Monthly.
The paper recognized was the published version of a speech Su gave at the end of his MAA presidency titled 鈥�
The explores how the deeply human themes that drive people to do mathematics can be channeled to build a more beautiful and just world in which all can flourish.
鈥淲e are proud of the Mathematical Association of America’s long history of publishing superb mathematical exposition,鈥� said Michael Pearson, executive director of the MAA. 鈥淭hese prize-winning authors serve to inform and inspire our community. We all benefit from clear and effective writing that brings important results to the broadest possible audience.鈥�
Su鈥檚 paper was also selected for inclusion in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2018, to be published by Princeton University Press. This is the third time Su鈥檚 writing has been selected for the Princeton anthology; his article 鈥淭eaching Research: Encouraging Discoveries鈥� was featured in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2011 and his speech 鈥淭he Lesson of Grace in Teaching鈥� was featured in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2014. He鈥檚 also developing a longer version of 鈥淢athematics for Human Flourishing鈥� as a full-length book, to be published by Yale University Press in 2019.
Su, the聽Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics, joined the HMC faculty in 1996. His research interests include geometric and topological combinatorics, and he has a passion for popularizing mathematics. He is also the creator of the popular website and, more recently, the , a math news aggregator.
Su delivers his talk at the Joint Mathematics Meetings.
Su has been involved with the MAA for many years, serving as one of its youngest presidents from 2015鈥�2017. The MAA previously recognized Su with the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished Teaching of Mathematics, the MAA鈥檚 highest teaching honor (2013), the Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Mathematics Faculty Member (2004), and the Merten M. Hasse Prize for outstanding mathematical exposition (2001).