Apr 03, 2007 - Claremont, Calif. - Harvey Mudd College students and recent graduates reaped rewards for their academic excellence with the announcement of several prestigious scholarships and fellowships in March. The HMC Putnam Mathematical Competition team continued its streak of stellar performances with a 10th place showing.

Churchill Scholarship 
Rosalind Beckwith ‘07 was awarded the Churchill Scholarship, which offers American students of exceptional ability and outstanding achievement the opportunity to pursue graduate studies in engineering, mathematics or the sciences at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge.

The Churchill Scholarship provides support for one year of study and research at the University of Cambridge and covers all university and college fees, a living allowance at Churchill College of £10,000-£12,000, a grant for travel to and from the United States of up to $1,000, and a new special research grant of up to $2,000. The scholarship is currently worth between $44,000 and $50,000, depending on the student's program. After review at the local campuses, the applications for Churchill Scholarships are vetted and ranked by former Churchill Scholars, most of whom are academic scientists.

From Tempe, Ariz., Beckwith is majoring in engineering and has a special interest in fluid dynamics. She has done internships and research projects for Boeing, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and Honeywell Engines. President of Tau Beta Bi at HMC and a winner of a scholarship from the Department of Homeland Security, she plays French horn, was a member of the varsity swim team and has completed two triathlons. 

Beckwith was recommended by Mary Cardenas, assistant professor of engineering and director of the Engineering Clinic Program. In her letter to the Churchill Foundation, she wrote:

“Harvey Mudd College is one of the few liberal arts colleges of engineering, and Rosalind Beckwith is our best example of what we wish to produce. She is not only one of the brightest students I’ve ever had, in terms of academic accomplishments and technical skills, but she is also the most well-rounded student I ever had. This can be seen in her deep interest in application of her work to human problems, as well as her appreciation of beauty in fluid dynamics.”

Previous Churchill scholars from HMC are: Carl Yerger '05, Christopher (Kit) Rudolfa '04, Joel Miller '00, Nathaniel Brown '98, Nikolaus Loening '97, Jon Sorenson '95, Peter Bogdanoff '94, Michelle Mathys '86, Alan Middleton '84, David Matsumoto '82, Roger Oba '82 and Mark McKinstry '73. HMC’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Daniel Goroff received a Churchill Scholarship in 1978.

The newest of the colleges at the University of Cambridge, Churchill College was built in tribute to the late Sir Winston Churchill, the former prime minister of England.

The National Science Foundation announced recipients of its prestigious fellowships for graduate study. Harvey Mudd College has 10 fellows among current and recent graduates, along with five honorable mentions:

NSF Fellows:

• Sara Al-Beaini ‘06, mechanical engineering, University of California-Berkeley
• Laurel Fullerton ‘07, mechanical engineering, Stanford University
• Elaine Hart ‘06, materials engineering, Stanford University
• Nan Jiang ‘07, electrical and electronic engineering, Stanford University
• Christine Kalcic ‘06, analytical chemistry, Michigan State University
• James McDonough ‘07, polymer chemistry, Stanford University
• Katherine Perdue ‘05, bioengineering and biomedical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Gwen Spencer ‘05, mathematical sciences – operations research, Cornell University
• Daniel Walton ‘07, mathematical sciences – probability and statistics, University of California-Berkeley
• Andrew Wetzel ‘05, physics and astronomy – astrophysics, University of California-Berkeley

Honorable Mention:

• Audrey Sederberg ‘06, physics and astronomy – theoretical physics, Princeton University
• Tommy Leung ‘05, electrical and electronic engineering, California Institute of Technology
• Allison Hutchings ‘07, mechanical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Sean Fogarty ‘06, life sciences – animal behavior, University of California-Davis
• Stephanie Chan ‘03, bioengineering and biomedical engineering, University of California-Davis

More information is available at the NSF website.

Three HMC juniors have been awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for study during their senior year. They are:

• Karen Brown ‘08, a chemistry major whose career goal is to earn her Ph.D. in organic chemistry and conduct cutting-edge and intellectually demanding research that directly promotes human welfare through synthetic organic chemistry either in a biotech company or academia.
• Brian Rice ‘08, a mathematics major whose career goal is to earn his Ph.D. in pure mathematics, conduct research in discrete mathematics and teach at the university level.
• Peter Scherpelz ‘08, a physics major whose career goal is to earn his Ph.D. in physics, conduct research in quantum optics or a related field and teach in a university setting.

The one- and two-year scholarships will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year. The Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,110 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide.

The Goldwater Foundation, established in 1986, is a federally endowed agency honoring the late Senator Barry M. Goldwater. The foundation was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

2006 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
Harvey Mudd College students reinforced their reputation as among the nation’s brightest by finishing 10th among 508 teams nationwide in the 2006 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, it was announced recently.

Fifty-two HMC students spent Saturday, December 2, 2006, taking the challenging six-hour exam, which requires a unique blend of cleverness and problem-solving skills. Nationwide, 3,640 students competed, and this year the median score was 0 (zero) out of a total of 120 points.

This year, the HMC team of Brian Rice '08, Greg Minton '08 and Theodore Spaide '09 earned honorable mention in the team category by finishing 10th place among 508 schools.

The top five teams in the competition were (in order): Princeton, Harvard, MIT, the University of Toronto and the University of Chicago. In the Honorable Mention category with Harvey Mudd College were the University of British Columbia, Brown, Duke, Stanford and Washington universities.

In the individual category, two HMC students made the top 100 list, four made the top 200 list and 13 made the top 500 list. Only six of the 508 schools that competed could claim more students than HMC in the top 500.

Special honors go to the following participants:

• Brian Rice '08, score 59, rank 56, honorable mention
• Theodore Spaide '09, score 50, rank 92.5, top 100 list
• Jonathan Azose '07, score 40, rank 140, top 200 list
• Peter McLarnan '09, score 38, rank 166, top 200 list

In addition, the following students all made the top 500 list: Steven Ehrlich '09, Alex Izsak '07, Fred Johnson '10, Kenji Kozai '08, Greg Minton '08, Maria Pavlovskaia '09, George Tucker '08, Daniel Walton '07 and Jason Winerip '08.

Mathematics professors Andrew Bernoff and Francis Su served as Putnam Seminar coaches. This year’s challenging problems and scores can be found on the math department bulletin board. Data on HMC’s past performance is available at: http://www.math.hmc.edu/putnam/hmc_results.html.