UAF STUDENTS DO WELL ON PUTNAM MATH EXAMINATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 1996

Fairbanks, Alaska - Michael Schmahl, a 21-year-old University of Alaska Fairbanks senior with dual majors in math and computer science, has earned top honors in the international William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition.

A total of 2,468 students from 405 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities participated. Schmahl, from Anchorage, Alaska, placed in the top five percent of individually ranked students. Also participating from UAF were Elena Avilova, from Nunapitchuk, Alaska; Eric Gatterdam, Fairbanks; Jason Parsons, Virginia Beach, Va.; Gregg Rosenkranz, Fairbanks; and Neils Schoenfelder, Wasilla, Alaska. UAF's math team placed 145th in a field representing 306 institutions.

The Putnam is one of two major math competitions UAF enters each year. The other is the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM). UAF students have consistently and successfully competed against some of the nation's most prestigious universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Princeton, in both contests.

While the MCM challenges contestants to come up with a winning solution to real-life math and statistics problems, the Putnam takes a more standard approach to test mathematical ability. Putnam participants have six hours to solve 12 theoretical problems using such mathematical tactics as abstract algebra, differential equations and advanced calculus. Each problem is worth ten points. The test is difficult. This year's top scorer received 86 points. The median score was eight points.

Schmahl, who ranked 107th out of the 2,468 participating students, received a score of 45. According to Walter Tape, a professor of mathematics at UAF, Schmahl's ranking will allow him to attend virtually any graduate school he chooses. Schmahl plans to pursue graduate studies in computer science.

Total student enrollment at UAF and its branch campuses in Nome, Bethel, Kotzebue and Dillingham is just over 9,000, with about 6,000 at the main campus in Fairbanks.

UAF is the state's land, sea and space grant institution and the only university in Alaska offering classes at the Ph.D. level. Equidistant from major economic centers of Europe, North America and the Pacific Rim, Fairbanks is Alaska's second largest city, located about 160 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

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CONTACT: Walter Tape, UAF Mathematical Sciences Department, (907) 474-7332; or Douglas Sigler, UAF University Relations at (907) 474-7581, or email to fystone@aurora.alaska.edu.

DLS/4-30-96/96-73