Syracuse University Graduate School to honor candidates at doctoral dinner and hooding ceremony

Syracuse University Graduate School to honor candidates at doctoral dinner and hooding ceremonyMay 06, 2002Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s Graduate School will honor approximately 90 doctoral degree candidates during the annual Doctoral Dinner and Hooding Ceremony May 10 in the Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium. The reception will begin at 6:45 p.m., followed at 7:30 p.m. by dinner, the presentation of awards and the hooding ceremony.

In addition to honoring the doctoral candidates, the 2001-02 William Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching in The College of Arts and Sciences will be presented to Tadeusz Iwaniec, professor of mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences. The Wasserstrom Prize is awarded in memory of Professor William Wasserstrom, a former member of the Department of English.

Acting Dean John Mercer will present welcoming remarks. Assistant Dean Stacey Lane Tice will present the awards and Certificates in Teaching.

Twenty doctoral degree recipients will be honored with prizes for outstanding dissertations: Richard C. Burrell, John S. McAleer, Marie Sauro, Josh A. Stenger and Badis Ben Saad Ydri in The College of Arts and Sciences; Kristin L. Barnes, Lesley M. Bogad, Rapti M. Desilva and Srimathi Lakshminarayanan in the School of Education; Joohan Lee, Wonwoo Lee and Adam Medd in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science; Leslie J. Couse in the College of Human Services and Health Professions; Silvia B. Southwick in the School of Information Studies; Jinliang Li in the School of Management; Eric S. Reed, Mark W. Hauser, Pamela Herd, Janelle A. Kerlin and Neddy Matshalaga in The Maxwell School; and Elizabeth Skewes in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

The William Wasserstrom Prize is awarded annually to a faculty member from The College of Arts and Sciences who produces original and distinctive work as a scholar, and who has an outstanding record of effective training of graduate students, including the advising and mentoring of thesis students.

This year’s recipient, Professor Iwaniec, is noted as an enthusiastic and incredibly productive researcher in mathematics.

Since his first research paper in 1974, Iwaniec has written over 80 papers, and this research has led to numerous lecture invitations all over the world, including invitations to address the International Congress of Mathematicians and the American Mathematical Society. He has had research grant support from the National Science Foundation continuously since 1988 and has been referred to by the anonymous evaluators of his last NSF proposal as “the most influential person in the geometric function theory in recent years.”

He has a reputation for collaborating, especially with young people. According to Philip T. Church, professor of mathematics, he sees potential in his young students and “he furnishes encouragement, infectious enthusiasm, inspiration and knowledge of how one goes about doing research in mathematics.” Many of his students have gone on to be noted by the international community as well.”

Graduate students rank Iwaniec as an outstanding teacher and mentor. Graduate student Leonard R. Budney declared that Iwaniec “reaches out to students, whether they are his advisees or not, both personally and professionally. With his warmth and concern, he helped unite graduate students and faculty into a close community.”

The William Wasserstrom Prize winner is selected by the college’s Committee on Instruction from professors nominated by the faculty and students in the college. The award, which carries a cash prize, will be presented at the May 10 dinner and hooding ceremony.