Photos from the Isenberg Scholarship Celebration

This evening, we had the pleasure of attending the Isenberg Scholarship Celebration at the Marriott Center at UMass Amherst.  There was some competition this evening since Jack '56 and Suzy Welch were also on campus promoting their new book.

I was not going to miss the scholarship celebration since it was the second time that The Nagurney Scholarship was being given to a very deserving student and there were many other students recognized with scholarships and other awards.

This year's recipient of The Nagurney Scholarship, which my husband and I endowed,  is a double major in Computer Science plus Operations and Information Management!

I also got to see some faculty and several of our PhD students, including my doctoral student, Sara Saberi, who was again recognized with the Isenberg Scholar Award (which she received twice) and today we heard other great news that Sara is also a recipient of the 2014-2015 Outstanding Doctoral Researcher Award.  Now is certainly the time of the year in academia in which we recognize great students and what a pleasure this is!

It was terrific to see several award-winning Operations and Information Management majors at this event.

The food was delicious and the conversations lively.  Associate Dean Linda Shea did a great job as an announcer and moderator with each student being recognized individually.

 

 Two highlights were the speeches by Vinnie Daboul '87, who was the alumni speaker, and whose daughter is graduating this year from the Isenberg School, and by Marty Boyle '15, who spoke on his great 4 years at Isenberg.

Finally, it was wonderful to see Andrew Clendinneng, a fellow Canadian, who is our Executive Director of Development, and who  closed the lovely evening with his remarks.

Congratulations to all the remarkable students and thanks to the donors for their support. Mr. Daboul had several quotes from Kahlil Gibran on the importance of giving back - well said!

UMass Rising -- A Special Event to Mark a Great University

Yesterday was a very special day for the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Not only did we inaugurate Dr. Kumble Subbaswamy as UMass Amherst's 30th Chancellor at the Mullins Center with many dignitaries, faculty, administrators, and special guests in attendance. but we also celebrated UMass Amherst in a gala event last evening.

The theme was that of UMass Rising.

The venue was our new recreation center which was transformed, complete with a red carpet, into a beautiful room with lights, white draperies, flowers, and a delicious dinner due to the UMass Amherst award-winning chef, Ken Toong.

The masters of ceremony were 2 nationally renowned UMass alums -- attorney  Kenneth Feinberg and the astronaut Cady Coleman Both spoke eloquently on the role of the education that UMass Amherst provided in their success. Feinberg was an undergraduate at UMass whereas Coleman received her PhD at UMass. She took a Minuteman (UMass mascot) statue with her to outer space where she spent 6 months and it traveled 93 million miles with her. Feinberg singled out faculty that he had had as a student who were his mentors and also noted his dear friend, Bob Epstein, who was also present at the gala.

We heard from President of the UMass system, Dr. Caret, our new Chancellor, and the Chair of the UMass Board of Trustees, .Henry Thomas III.

We were entertained by musical groups and a student group acting out some highlights of the 150 year history of UMass Amherst that we are celebrating this year.

A video with music highlighted the impact that UMass Amherst has made on students' lives and the importance of supporting this great institution.

A college degree transforms a life and accessibility and affordability are essential.

UMass Rising is the theme of the ambitious campaign to raise $300 million for schol;arships, endowed professorships, enhanced infrastructure, research support and more.

The evening was magical.

Perelman Rejects Million Dollar Math Prize

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the speculation as to whether (or not) Grigoriy Perelman would accept the $1,000,000 math prize from the Clay Institute. According to the Clay Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts (and this news was even reported in our local paper), Dr. Perelman, of St. Petersburg, Russia, has decided to decline the Millennium Prize for his contribution to solving the Poincare conjecture.

The Institute President, Jim Carlson, was quoted as saying that Perelman's decision was not a complete surprise, since he had declined some previous math prizes.

Dr. Perelman told Interfax that he considered his contribution to solving the Poincare conjecture no greater than that of the Columbia University mathematician, Richard Hamilton.

"To put it short, the main reason is my disagreement with the organized mathematical community," Perelman, 43, told Interfax. "I don't like their decisions, I consider them unjust."

In our local paper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, it is stated that the Clay Institute officials will meet this Fall to decide what to do with the million dollars with Carlson saying,"We have some ideas in mind." "We want to consider that carefully and make the best use possible of the money for the benefit of mathematics."

May I suggest that the money be used for scholarships and fellowships for deserving students and researchers in mathematics and associated technical subjects?