2007 IU Mathematics Department Awards Ceremony

There was almost no wind at all this afternoon - the semester is winding down, and I walked through Dunn Woods to see what's been going on in there. It's teeming with these little blue wildflowers that look great. About 100 yards away in Rawles Hall, Mathematics faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and a smattering of family members and parents gather in the Rothrock Auditorium for the annual awards ceremony that started at 3:15. The thing I like best about these awards is the rather simple and homely garb of the average mathematician. Just kidding.
Jim Davis, Chair, and Master of Ceremonies kicked off the afternoon and introduced Kent Orr who gave out the undergraduate awards.

One of Kent's comments had to do with the wide range of activities undergraduate mathematics students seem to have. At least two award winners in math are here at IU studying piano, and many others are involved in activities across the campus.
Below we see Director of Graduate Studies Kevin Zumbrum handing out the Glenn Schober Memorial Travel Awards. These go to advanced PhD graduate students and the recipients are selected by the Chair of Math and the Director. Pictured here (left to right) are Tuyen Trung Truong, Alexander Basyrov, Jennifer Franko, Kevin Zumbrum (handing out awards...and he's wearing a tie), Michael Bateman (by the way, congratulations Michael on passing your Tier 3 oral exam today), and Shantia Yarahmadian. Congratulations to everyone.
There was a particularly nice portion of the awards where Professor Peter Sternberg, editor of the IU Math Journal, honored Elena Fraboschi and recognized her 3o years of service to the IU Math Dept. and the IUMJ. Bill Ziemer wrote a detailed letter that Peter read to everyone. I didn't realize that the IU Math Journal was the first independent math journal to fully embrace TeX years ago (thanks to Elena).

April 2007 Spring Quiz - Can You Identify These Six People?

If you can name these people, enter their names in the "COMMENTS" for this post and give your e-mail. The first person to do so, and also identify what they have in common, will win a hand-made coffee mug that I have labored over in the Union pottery studio.

Do you need a hint? It may be more likely that people with offices in Rawles Hall will recognize at least some of these people....