The Mathematics and Statistics Department recognizes outstanding students in many ways:
- The Walker Awards:
- The Walker Award in Mathematics and Statistics
- The Walker Award for Leadership
- The Walker Teaching Award
- The Walker Prizes in Problem Solving, i.e. The Walker Competition:
- The Robert H. Breusch Prize
- The Five College Statistics Prize
- Honors Society: Sigma Xi
- Honors Society: Mu Sigma Rho
The Walker Awards
The Walker Awards consist of the following:
- The Walker Award in Mathematics and Statistics is awarded to a student who has demonstrated initiative, creativity, perseverance, and achievement in Mathematics and Statistics.
- The Walker Award for Leadership is awarded for outstanding leadership and for contributions to the mathematics and statistics community at Amherst.
- The Walker Teaching Award is awarded to a student for accomplishment and promise in teaching and tutoring of mathematics or statistics.
- The Walker Prizes in Problem Solving, established by William J. Walker of Newport, Rhode Island. Two prizes are awarded to members of the first-year class and two prizes to members of the sophomore class for proficiency in mathematical problem solving, determined by an examination.
The Nomination Process for Walker Awards
Nominations for the three Walker Awards can be made by all students, staff and faculty, though you may not nominate yourself. If you have any questions about the awards or the nomination process, please contact Prof Pflueger (npflueger@amherst.edu).
Recent Walker Award Winners:
The Walker Award in Mathematics and Statistics:
2023: Nico Ardila, Kevin Jin, Tessa Levenstein, Keane Ng, Masahiro Nishikawa, Andressa Silva, Min Winton
2022: Lisa Cenek '22E, Kenny Chen '22, Anna Dietrich '22, Bobby Innes-Gold '22, Leah Johnson '22, Jonathan Paul '22, Audrey Rosevear '22, Wenzhi Tseng '22
2021: Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse '21, Dana Frishman '21, Maria-Cristiana (Kitty) Girjau '21, Lianbi Ji '21, Tyler Marshall '21, Breanna Richards '21
2020: Camille Blum '20 , Mia Nicholson '20, Shashank Sule '20
2019: Bonnie Lin '19, Margaret A. Medina-Pena '19, Katherine A. Mendoza '19, Joseph (Joe) M. Schneider '19
2018: James Corbett, Jocelyn Hunyadi, Jamie Tucker-Foltz
2017: Jonathan Che, Hui Xu, Bowen Yang
The Walker Award for Leadership:
2023: Leandro Arcos Román, David Metacarpa, Nika Jafar Nia, Angelica Sang, Wenche Tseng
2022: Tessa Levenstein '23, Alan Li '24, Michael Liu '24, Xander Schwartz '23, Kathy Xing '24, Phillip Zhou '24
2021: Jonathan Paul '22, Audrey Rosevear '22, Jessica Yu '22
2020: Andrea Boskovic '21, Maria-Cristiana (Kitty) Girjau '21, Noah Solomon '22, Andrew Tawfeek '21E
2019: Sean Y. Gao '22, Elizabeth Pratt '22
2018: Katherine Finnerty, Jennifer Halbleib, Obinna Ukogu, Bowen Yang
2017: Yen Nhi Truong Vu
The Walker Teaching Award:
2023: Aidee Hernandez, Admire Madyira, Ellerman Mateo, Ali Sbeih, Elizabeth Zhang
2022: Nicolas Ardila '23, Henry Bassett '23, Helen Feibes '23, Karime Hernandez '24, Daksha Pathak '23
2021: Anna Dietrich '22, Luka Duranovic '22, Leah Johnson '22, Sophia Koh '22, Samantha (Min) Winton '23
2020: Shu Amano '21, Lisa Cenek '21, Sirig Gurung '21, Seamus Lawton '21, Juhyun (Julie) Lee '22
2019: Michael N. Bakshandeh '21, Camille Blum '20, Sai Chauhan '20, Enoch Y. Shin '21
2018: Fengling Hu, Denise Noriega
2017: Yariana Diaz, Obinna Ukogu
The Walker Competition
The Walker Problem-Solving Competition is held annually, usually in mid-April. The competition consists of roughly 10 math problems. No advanced mathematical knowledge is required. (If you have taken Math 121 or equivalent, then you have all the necessary background.) However, the problems are meant to be challenging and thought-provoking. [You can see some of the questions from previous years.]
Recent Walker Prize in Problem Solving Winners:
2023
First-Year Students: 1st place: William Han; 2nd place: Yvan Grinspan
Sophomores: 1st place: Dhyey Mavani; 2nd place: Kevin Dai
2022
First-Year Students: 1st place: Jovan Markovic '25; 2nd place: Dhyey Mavani '25
Sophomores: 1st place: Alan Li '24; 2nd place: Andrew Ni '24, Derek Zhang '24
2021
First-Year Students: 1st place: Andrew Ni '24; 2nd place: Alan Li '24
Sophomores: 1st place: Ethan Spingarn '23; 2nd place: Keane Ng '23, Shixiong (Leo) Xu '23
2020
First-Year Students: 1st place: Yee-Lynn Lee; 2nd place: Ethan Spingarn, Shixiong (Leo) Xu
Sophomores: 1st place: Subin Manandhar; 2nd place: Elizabeth Pratt
2019
First-Year Students: 1st place: Subin Manandhar; 2nd place: Zhengyu (Albert) Jing, Holden T. Lee, Elizabeth Pratt
Sophomores: 1st place: Shu Amano, Kieran L. Brookes; 2nd place: Lianbi Ji, Enes Kristo
2018
First-Year Students: 1st place: Kieran Brookes, 2nd place: Enes Kristo
Sophomores: 1st place: Alex Mangiafico, 2nd place Elizabete Mezinska
2017
First-Year Students: 1st place (tied): Alex Mangiafico, Ralph Skinner, Elizabete Mezinska
Sophomores: 1st place: Jamie Tucker-Foltz, 2nd place: Gregory Carroll
2016
First-Year Students: 1st place (tied): Alex Santos, Jamie Tucker-Foltz, Gregory Carroll
Sophomores: 1st place: Bowen Yang, 2nd place: Hui Xu
2015
First-Year Students: 1st place: Bowen Yang, 2nd place: An Thu Hoang, Tobias Schwed
Sophomores: 1st place: Fan Hao Yang, 2nd place: Yen Nhi Truong Vu
Recent Walker Exams:
The Robert H. Breusch Prize
Each year, the Robert H. Breusch Prizes are awarded to the seniors who, in the opinion of the faculty, have presented the best honors theses in mathematics and statistics.
Recent Breusch Prize Winners:
2023: Keang Ng '23, Clara Page '23, Samantha (Min) Winton '23
2022: Lisa Cenek '22E, Kenny Chen '22, Anna Dietrich '22, Baz Pratt '22, Audrey Rosevear '22, Noah Solomon '22
2021: Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse '21, Andrew Tawfeek '21E, Jasper Flint '21
2020: Gregory Carroll '20, Max Fox-Jurkowitz '20, Joseph Lupo '20, Shashank Sule '20
2019: Katherine (Kate) S. Finnerty, Fengling Hu, Eleanor (Ellie) Thieu and Robert (Robbie) J. Zielinski
2018: William (Jack) Wesley and Hui Xu (in math), Jonathan Che (in statistics)
2017: Yen Nhi Truong Vu
2016: Rebecca Danning and Hannah Goodwillie
2015: Dvij Bajpai, Eddie Kim, and Darius Onul
The Five College Statistics Prize
The Five College Statistics Prize is awarded to one student at each of the Five Colleges based on their outstanding independent research, thesis, or capstone course project in statistics.
Recent Five College Statistics Prize Winners:
2023: Beth Williamson '23, Alex Brandfonbrener '23
2022: Shu Amano '22E, Kenny Chen '22
2021: Maria-Cristiana (Kitty) Girjau '21, Breanna Richards '21
2020: Enoch Shin '21, Emily Ye '20
2019: Jocelyn V. Hunyadi and Cassidy W. Maher
2018: Sarah Teichman
2017: Azka Javaid, Caleb Ki, and Muling Si
2016: Christina Wang
2015: Jarvis Sill
Honors Societies
Sigma Xi
All mathematics and statistics senior thesis writers are elected to Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. See our list of recent thesis writers in Mathematics and Statistics.
Mu Sigma Rho
Amherst nominates outstanding students in Statistics to membership in Mu Sigma Rho, the National Statistics Honorary Society.
Mu Sigma Rho INDUCTEES:
2023: Abbey Elizabeth Skinner, Alastair Poole, Angelica Sang, Bridget Cassata, Dasha Muyanzi Cherono Asienga, Elizabeth Zhang, Justin Papagelis, Kevin Dai, Kevin Jin, Lucas Romualdo, Xinya Selena Hong
2022: Beth Williamson, Brandon Kwon, Daniel Dachille, Eric Michael Ingram, Helen Feibes, Henry Bassett,
Isabelle Rose Lobo, Jack Dove, Kalidas Shanti, Lorraine Oloo, Masahiro Nishikawa, Michael Pitts,
Miruna Elena Vlad, Robert Innes-Gold, Siyi Li, Stephanie Eliza Masotti, Yajie Wan
2021: Ainsley Mackenzie, Alexandar Ristic, Breanna Richards, Dennis Mawira Mbae, Jacob Frank,
Jemima Park, Jessica Yu, Kenny Chen, Konstantin Larin, Leah Anne Johnson, Maggie Wu, Ng Yao Hua Keane, Wilson Sithole, Zachary Ostrow
2020: Oliver Baldwin Edwards, Andrea Boskovic, Graham Chickering, Claire Dennis, Jasper Alfred George Flint, Maria-Cristiana Girjau, Sirig Gurung, Ziad Kaddouri, Natalia Khoudian, Jung Hoon Andy Ki, Liubou Klindziuk, Emily Lachtara, William Niklas Lonnquist, Tyler Andrew Marshall, Sabir Meah, James Melican, Mark Nathin, Bodhi Nguyen, Tony Ni, Arnav Parikh, Chae Young (Clara) Seo, Enoch Shin, and Audrey Stromberg
2019: Shu Amano, Erika Rose DeAngelis, John Festa Jr., Max Fox-Jurkowitz, Dahyun Jessica Jeong, Rebecca Silva, Christopher Stone, Brandon Wang, Emily Ye, and Shukry Zablah.
2018: Zack Brown, Maggie Chien, Kendall Codey, Patrick Frenett, Kaitlyn Haase, Chase Henley, Jasmine Horan, Fengling Hu, Jocelyn Hunyadi, Siqing Liu, Cassidy Maher, Grace Montoya, Brendan Routh, Leonard Yoon, and Robbie Zielinski
2017: Megan Adamo, Jordan Browning, Pei Gong, Jennifer Halbleib, Caleb Ki, Andrew Kim, Timothy Lee, Harrison Marick, Brendan Seto, Syed Abbas Shah, Margaret Shea, Olivia Xu, and Leonard Yoon
2016: Jonathan Che, Stephany Flores-Ramos, Paul Gramieri, Connor Haley, Azka Javaid, Rishi Kowalski, Levi Lee, Amanda Rosenbaum, Muling Si, Sarah Teichman, and Alex Titelbaum
2015: Johannes Ferstad, Jason Premo, Thomas Savage, Jarvis Sill, and Ningyue (Christina) Wang
2013: Russell Chen and David (Hao) Zhang
Last Updated: 16 May 2022 TLR