Honors, Awards and Scholarships
SCHOLARSHIPS
The department has several scholarships for undergraduates available each year. Information on applying is emailed to math majors and posted around the department.
Harry Merrill Gehman Scholarship: The Gehman scholarship is awarded each spring to one or more mathematics majors who have a demonstrated interest in teaching. In 1995 Robert C. Luippold, University of Buffalo Class of 1940 and 1942, created the endowment for this scholarship in order to honor the memory of his mentor, Dr. Harry Merrill Gehman.
Dr. Gehman came to UB in 1929 where he served as chairman of the mathematics department for 33 years until 1962. He retired from UB in June of 1968 with the title professor emeritus. He died in 1981.
Hazel and John Wilson Scholarship: The Wilson Scholarship is awarded each spring to one or more outstanding mathematics majors, on the basis of financial need, academic achievement and potential. John Wilson was a 1967 University at Buffalo graduate in Mathematics. Until 2000 he was employed as a mathematician at Calspan, where he led a group responsible for numerical analysis and applications. On his death in 2006, he left half his estate to endow this scholarship in his and his mother’s names. His generous bequest was to recognize the opportunity he felt UB and the mathematics program gave him, and to help provide similar opportunities to others.
Harriet F. Montague Award: Given each year to a junior who has demonstrated "intellectual and creative promise in mathematics." It was established to commemorate the career of Dr. Harriet F. Montague, who was one of the early graduates in our own mathematics program, and who returned to chair the Department for many years.
UNDERGRADUATE HONORS
Various honors are available to mathematics majors based on grades and/or the writing of a senior honors thesis. These are described below.
Latin honors: Students earning baccalaureate degrees are eligible to receive Latin honors based on their overall or UB cumulative GPA (whichever is lower) on the following scale:
Average (based on 4.0=A)
3.20 cum laude
3.50 magma cum laude
3.75 summa cum laude
To qualify for Latin honors, students must present a minimum of 90 credit hours of graded undergraduate coursework, at least 30 of which is completed at UB.
Departmental Honors: In order to earn Departmental Honors, a student must:
- Complete an honors thesis under the guidance of a faculty advisor. Typically the student registers for MTH 499 Independent Study in the Fall semester and MTH 497 Honors Thesis in Mathematics in the Spring semester, although the timing is flexible, and honors theses are sometimes completed before the student’s senior Spring.
- Complete at least 50% of major credit hours at UB.
- Maintain a program GPA as required in the table below.
Students completing the above will receive Department Honors "With Honors and Distinction," "With High Honors and Distinction" or "With Highest Honors and Distinction," based the program GPA following the table below.
Departmental Distinction: Students not completing the requirement of the honors program can still graduate "With Distinction," "With High Distinction" or "With Highest Distinction" based on their GPA following the table below.
Program GPA Criteria for Departmental Distinction:
| # of MTH courses numbered above 309 | GPA needed for Distinction |
GPA needed for High Distinction |
GPA needed for Highest Distinction |
4 |
4.0 |
|
|
5 |
3.9 |
4.0 |
|
6 |
3.8 |
3.9 |
3.95 |
7 |
3.7 |
3.8 |
3.85 |
8 |
3.6 |
3.7 |
3.75 |
9 |
3.5 |
3.6 |
3.75 |
10 |
3.4 |
3.5 |
3.75 |
11 |
3.3 |
3.5 |
3.75 |
12 or more |
3.2 |
3.5 |
3.75 |
Remark: The GPA in the table above will be determined from all the courses used to fill the requirements of the concentration, not just MTH courses. Note that completing an honors thesis does not guarantee any form of honors for a student whose GPA is not at least high enough for "Distinction".