Prof. Gordon and Students Win National Math Research Award

Gary Gordon, Marshall R. Metzgar Professor and head of mathematics, recently led a group of students, including Charles Vincent ’14, on a research project to study how random subsets of connections behave inside a network where everyone is connected to everyone else. Their collaboration resulted in new and exciting findings that they describe in their paper entitled “Pick a Tree – Any Tree.” Their paper, published in The American Mathematical Monthly in 2015, was selected earlier this year to receive the Paul R. Halmos – Lester R. Ford Award that recognizes “… authors of articles of expository excellence” published in the journal. The award citation reads “…in just a few pages, the authors lead us through the counting and limiting arguments needed to provide an estimate to the answer. The conversational tone and well-chosen examples make this enjoyable article highly readable.” Gordon also is co-author of a recently published book, The Joy of Set: The Many Mathematical Dimensions of a Seemingly Simple Card Game, with Liz McMahon, professor of mathematics, and their two daughters, Hannah and Rebecca Gordon.