image: This is Levent Alpoge, winner of the 2015 AMS-MAA-SIAM Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research by an Undergraduate Student in Mathematics. view more
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Levent Alpoge will be awarded the 2015 AMS-MAA-SIAM Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research by an Undergraduate Student in Mathematics. A graduate of Harvard University, Alpoge is currently at Cambridge University undertaking Part III of the Mathematical Tripos as a Churchill Scholar. The Morgan Prize, jointly sponsored by the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, will be awarded at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in January in San Antonio, Texas.
Alpoge is honored "for several contributions in the fields of number theory, probability, and combinatorics."
Although he has yet even to begin graduate studies in mathematics, Alpoge has already authored or co-authored seven research papers and has established a substantial record of proposing innovative solutions to difficult problems.
His senior thesis, on a topic in number theory, received the Captain Jonathan Fay Prize. Harvard presents this prize to the student who has produced the most outstanding imaginative work or piece of original research in any field. In addition, Alpoge received Harvard's Sophia Freund Prize, which is given to a student who is graduating summa cum laude and has the highest grade point average. Harvard also gives prizes for excellent work by undergraduates, and Alpoge won two of these, namely, the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for outstanding scholarly work or research and the David Mumford Undergraduate Mathematics Prize.
While an undergraduate, Alpoge also worked as a course assistant for mathematics courses at Harvard, obtaining certificates for distinction in teaching, and he gave talks at various conferences. In addition, he taught mathematics to 8-10 year olds in the longstanding Math Circle run by Bob and Ellen Kaplan.
As a high school student, Alpoge attended the legendary Ross Program at the Ohio State University, where he first learned about number theory. In the summer of 2011, while an undergraduate, he participated in Harvard's Program for Research in Science and Engineering (PRISE). Over the next couple of summers, he participated in two Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs, one at Williams College and the other at the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Several of his publications resulted from projects first initiated in these REUs. In fall 2016, Alpoge will enter the PhD program in mathematics at Princeton University.
Presented annually, the Morgan Prize recognizes an undergraduate student who has done outstanding research in mathematics; the student must be in a college or university in Canada, Mexico, or the United States or its possessions. The prize will be awarded at the Joint Mathematics Meetings, Sunday, January 11, 2015 at 4:25 PM, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.
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Find out more about AMS prizes and awards at
http://ams.org/prizes-awards/prizes.
Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, today the nearly 30,000 member American Mathematical Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.