Alumni and Alumnae Selected Profiles
Alumni and Alumnae of the Rutgers and Douglass Math Programs and Former Faculty
Interested in what you can do with, or in spite of, a degree in mathematics? The following are a few publicly-available profiles of Rutgers and Douglass math graduates and former faculty.
Selected Profiles of Alumni and Alumnae of the Rutgers and Douglass Undergraduate Math Program
Allan Borodin of the University of Toronto is "the recipient of the 2008 CRM-Fields-PIMS Prize, in recognition of his exceptional achievement. Professor Borodin is a world leader in the mathematical foundations of computer science. His influence on theoretical computer science has been enormous, and its scope very broad. Jon Kleinberg, winner of the 2006 Nevanlinna Prize, writes of Borodin, "he is one of the few researchers for whom one can cite examples of impact on nearly every area of theory, and his work is characterized by a profound taste in choice of problems, and deep connections with broader issues in computer science." Allan Borodin has made fundamental contributions to many areas, including algebraic computations, resource tradeoffs, routing in interconnection networks, parallel algorithms, online algorithms, and adversarial queuing theory. Professor Borodin received his B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University in 1963, his M.S. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science in 1966 from Stevens Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University in 1969. From http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/press/07-08/071206.borodin.html .
Simeon DeWitt "was the first math major at Rutgers. He became General George Washington's Chief Geographer in the Revolutionary War. His maps of Yorktown helped win the final battle of that war. Afterwards (1784-1834) he was the Surveyor General for New York State; he helped to plan the Erie Canal, and to develop the grid system of streets and avenues in New York City, among other things." https://www.math.uh.edu/~tomforde/famous.html
Inessa Epstein is Vice President at Morgan Stanley. She earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics at UCLA and won the Sacks Prize for recognition for the best dissertation in the field of mathematical logic worldwide in 2008. From https://www.linkedin.com/in/inessa-epstein-ph-d-b0a92914 .
Lorraine Fesq is "the Chief Technologist for the Systems Engineering and Formulation Division at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology. She leads NASA's Fault Management Community of Practice and co-leads the NASA Software Architecture Review Board. She recently spearheaded the development of the NASA Fault Management Handbook. Lorraine has contributed to over a dozen spacecraft projects and held a teaching and research position in MIT's Aeronautics/Astronautics Department. Lorraine holds two patents and has received numerous awards, including NASA's Public Service Medal and NASA's Exceptional Achievement Honor Award. She received the BA in Mathematics from Rutgers University and the MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles." https://saturn2016.sched.org/speaker/lorraine_fesq.1uuuhx7u
Milton Friedman graduated from Rutgers University in 1932 with a bachelor degree in Mathematics. Milton Friedman was awarded the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics "for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy." The year after, he retired from the University of Chicago to become a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In 1988, after joining President Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board, he was awarded the National Medal of Science and the Presidential Medal of Freedom." From https://econwikis-mborg.wikispaces.com/Milton+Friedman
Ross Guberman "is the CEO of Great Forest, a leading sustainability consultancy that specializes in sustainable waste management solutions for Fortune 500 companies and organizations nationwide. Ross really does practice what he preaches, with a hands-on type vegan lifestyle and cycling everywhere he can. Don't be surprised if you spot him digging in the trash for a waste audit. At Great Forest Ross leads a team that specializes in assisting businesses and large commercial building operators in the development and implementation of successful sustainability programs and management systems that are customized for their specific needs. He has only stepped away from his sustainable endeavors once when he joined the Peace Corps as an environmental education volunteer in the Republic of Cape Verde in West Africa. Ross holds a B.A in mathematics from Rutgers University." http://greatforest.com/about/our-staff/
Karla L. Hoffman received "her B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University in 1969, and an M.B.A. and Doctor of Science in Operations Research from George Washington University in 1971 and 1975, respectively. She is a Full Professor in the Systems Engineering and Operations Research Department and served as Chair of the department for five years ending in 2001. Previously, she worked as a mathematician in the Operations Department of the Center for Applied Mathematics of the National Institute of Standards and Technology where she served as a consultant to a variety of government agencies. Dr. Hoffman has many publications in the fields of auction theory and optimization as well as a variety of publications detailing her applied work. .... Dr. Hoffman's primary area of research is combinatorial optimization and combinatorial auction design as well software development and testing. She has developed scheduling algorithms for the airline and trucking industries, developed capital budgeting software for the telecommunications industry, and consults to the Federal Communications Commission on combinatorial auction design and software development." From https://masonspeakers.gmu.edu/speakers/
Lawrence P. Horowitz is "a Senior Advisor at Outcome Capital and brings deep corporate and strategic expertise in the medical technology space. He is also a Principal at Doremus Advisory Services where he specializes in providing valuation in support of R&D portfolio analysis and transaction structuring. His past appointments include Principal with HVA which advised private and small cap life sciences companies on their business development transactions, Vice President of Development at C.R. Bard and Senior Director Business Development at American Cyanamid Company (acquired by American Home Products and now part of Pfizer). His academic involvement includes the Rutgers Center for Management Development, Rutgers Business School, and the University of Umea (Sweden) Biotech Incubator where he has taught courses in life-science entrepreneurship and financial analysis of R&D investment. He has an MBA in Finance from Columbia Graduate School of Business, an MS in Industrial Engineering from NYU, and a BA in Mathematics from Rutgers College where he graduated with highest honors as a Henry Rutgers Scholar. He teaches Principles of Finance and Accounting for the Professional Science Master's Program at Rutgers University." http://mbs.rutgers.edu/about/faculty
Jean-Michelet Jean-Michel "was born in Petit-Goave, Haiti where he received his baccalaureat (high school diploma) in 1985. He then received his B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University in 1993 and his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Brown University in 2002. His research interests are in the fields of differential equations and dynamical systems." from http://www.princeton.edu/~wmassey/NAM03/. He is now Assistant Professor at South Carolina State University.
Matt Kohut is currently teaching mathematics at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas, California. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Rutgers University, Matt attended law school at the Rutgers School of Law - Camden. Subsequently, he clerked for the Honorable Joseph F. Lisa, Presiding Judge of the New Jersey Appellate Division, and worked as an attorney for the firm of Feintuch, Porwich and Feintuch. He then decided to return to mathematics through the Math for America fellowship program.
Carl Martin is "a pop, electronic and alternative singer/songwriter who cites George Michael and Natasha Bedingfield as his major influences. At age 17, he returned to the USA, moving to Arizona to complete his high school education. He received a BA in mathematics from Rutgers University in 2012. .... Martin is currently working with 90's Rock Music Icon Anthony Kirzan of the Spin Doctors ....." See http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/CarlMartin and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThPXVFXK268&list=PLj6N7pQVWRNCij2WMQmWAHRZkhwxUbUem&index=5"
MaryAnn Millar is "a Board Certified Gynecologist and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She is Clinical Assistant Professor, Upstate University Hospital. She has a B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University and was awarded her M.D. from the State University of New York in Buffalo. Her residency in Ob/Gyn was completed in Syracuse at Upstate University Hospital." From http://drmaryannmillar.com/about.htm
Tom Peters is "a software engineer at Ufora, Inc. He has worked on a multiple aspects of Ufora's auto-parallel, multi-host, open source Python project, Pyfora. He has a PhD in mathematics from Columbia University, where he specialized in low-dimensional topology, using Heegaard Floer homology to compute invariants of manifolds, and has a BA in mathematics from Rutgers University." http://mlconf.com/mlconf-2016-atlanta/
Elizabeth Ricci (VirMedica) is an "accomplished global software executive with a proven track record in engineering, project management and product development, with an emphasis on quality, timeliness and customer success. In her prior engagement as VP of engineering for PHT Corporation, she was responsible for all core products and was instrumental in rolling out the company's next generation technologies. Prior positions include senior VP, products at Kadient, Inc., and senior VP, global products at Authoria, Inc. Elizabeth holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University and a M.S. in Mathematics from Northeastern University." From http://virmedica.com/category/press-release/
Stephen Rosen is a "Managing Director at FTI Consulting and is based in New York. He is a member of the Insurance and Pension group in the Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment and heads the Pension practice. ..... Mr. Rosen's work includes the design, implementation, and administration of all forms of qualified employee benefit plans .... Mr. Rosen holds a B.A. in mathematics from Rutgers University. He completed coursework in business administration from the Wharton School of Business and actuarial science from the University of Iowa." from http://www.fticonsulting.com/our-people/stephen-h-rosen.
Timothy Rudderow "co-founded Mount Lucas in 1986 and is the firm's president, overseeing all of its activities. He has been in the investment business since the late 1970s, when he worked at Commodities Corporation with the late Frank Vannerson, another co-founder of Mount Lucas. Tim specializes in the design and management of technical trading systems applied to the futures, equity, and fixed income markets. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University and an M.B.A. in Management Analysis from Drexel University." https://www.mtlucas.com/OurTeam.aspx?content=BioPrincipals
Jeffrey Rubin is Professor in the Department of Economics at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research New Brunswick Campus. "His research is focused on health economics including the impact of health insurance on use of care. He also has served on a subcommittee on the Governor's Commission that examined the situation facing hospitals in New Jersey, and has published papers on the costs of mental illness and the economic consequences of spinal cord injury. Rubin received his B.A. in mathematics from Rutgers College and his Ph.D. from Duke University." http://urwebsrv.rutgers.edu/experts/index.php?a=display&f=expert&id=1465.
Larry Sher is "a member of the actuarial consulting team and part of the senior leadership for October Three. Larry also is head of [their] dispute resolution practice, which provides support to clients in disputes related to their retirement plans, both in litigation and otherwise. .... Larry received a B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University. He has been a Board Member and Vice-Chair of the Actuarial Standards Board, the group that establishes actuarial standards of practice for all US actuaries. Larry has also been on the Boards of the American Academy of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and was recently President of the Conference. Larry has written several articles on cash balance and other defined benefit plan issues and is a frequent speaker at industry and professional seminars." from http://www.octoberthree.com/who-we-are/larry-sher
Robert L. Strawderman, joined Cornell in 2000, and previously a faculty member in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan. "His major research area is survival analysis, a branch of statistics that deals with characterizing the time until an event, such as the death of an organism or the failure of a machine, occurs. Professor Strawderman's particular research interests lie in the study of events that can recur, such heart attacks or epidemics. He collaborates extensively with subject matter specialists in applying these and other statistical methods to problems in health services, cardiology, epidemiology, demography, and veterinary medicine. Strawderman is on the faculty of two departments at Cornell, Biological Statistics and Computational Biology (BSCB) and Statistical Science..... Strawderman has a BA in Mathematics from Rutgers." https://www.orie.cornell.edu/news/index.cfm?news_id=62175&news_back=category%3D62137
Jeffrey E. Steif Professor and winner of the Eva and Lars Gardings prize in Mathematics. Department of Mathematics Chalmers University of Technology. http://www.chalmers.se/CV/steif.pdf
Michael Yatauro is on the faculty at PSU-Brandywine. He earned "a B.A. in mathematics from Rutgers University, an M.A. in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Stevens Institute of Technology. Dr. Yatauro views mathematics as a form of artistic expression and a scientific tool of great utility. His primary research is in the field of graph theory. In particular, he is interested in determining structural aspects of a graph by studying its degree sequence. ...." from http://brandywine.psu.edu/person/michael-yatauro
Tony Trongone joined Pemberton Township Schools as Superintendent [of Schools] in July, 2015. Before coming to Pemberton he served as superintendent of schools for Berlin Borough and Gibbsboro Public Schools, a post he held for five years. His previous experience includes serving as district supervisor of curriculum and instruction for Cherry Hill Public Schools, supervisor of mathematics for Gloucester City School District, and secondary mathematics teacher at Northern Burlington Regional High School in Columbus, NJ. Trongone earned his master's degree in Educational Administration from Wilmington University and his BA in Mathematics from Rutgers University. He prescribes to the theory of high challenge with high support, believing all students can learn and it is the responsibility of educators to support students in reaching their fullest potential. He is committed to providing Pemberton students with a rigorous instructional program and multiple pathways to college and career readiness. He is currently a Trustee for the New Jersey School Board Insurance Group and has served as president-elect of the Association of Mathematics Teachers of New Jersey. His other professional memberships include the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Staff Development Council and the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, among others." From http://www.pemberton.k12.nj.us/administration/
Emily Sergel has been included in the inaugural class of winners of the Dissertation Award of the Association for Women in Mathematics. Emily completed her PhD at UC-SD in 2016 and now enjoys an NSF Postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated from SAS-Rutgers in 2009.
Selected Alumni/Alumnae of the Graduate Program
Roy Goldman is former Chief Actuary at Humana Inc. http://press.humana.com/press-release/current-releases/humana-names-roy-goldman-vice-president-and-chief-actuary.
William "Brit" Kirwan is Chancellor Emeritus of the University System of Maryland. He is a nationally recognized authority on critical issues shaping the higher education landscape. Prior to his 13 years as chancellor of the University System of Maryland, Kirwan served as president of Ohio State University, president of the University of Maryland, College Park, and as a member of the University of Maryland faculty. He is a sought-after speaker on a wide range of topics, including access and affordability, cost containment, diversity, innovation, higher education's role in economic development, and academic transformation. Along with his national and international presentations on key issues, he has authored many articles on issues in higher education and has been profiled and cited in academic and mainstream publications. Currently, he chairs the National Research Council Board of Higher Education and Workforce and is past chair of the boards of the Business-Higher Education Forum, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU), the American Council for Education (ACE), and the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Among other honors, he is the recipient of the 2009 Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award and the 2010 TIAA Theodore Hesburgh Leadership Excellence Award. He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. From http://agb.org/bios/william-e-kirwan .
Zoltan Szabo is a Professor of mathematics at Princeton University. With Peter Ozsvath he created Heegaard Floer homology, a homology theory for 3-manifolds. For this contribution to the field of topology, Ozsvath and Szabo were awarded the 2007 Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry. They received Ph.D.'s from Rutgers University in 1994. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ozsv%C3%A1th and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Szab%C3%B3_(mathematician).
Camelia Pop "received her Ph.D. in mathematics from Rutgers University in 2012. She was a Hans Rademacher Instructor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania from 2012ÂÂ-15. Her research interests are in partial differential equations and stochastic processes, including applications to population genetics and mathematical finance." From https://cse.umn.edu/r/new-college-of-science-and-engineering-faculty-for-2015-16/.
Emilie Purvine "completed her B.S. in Mathematics from University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2006 and Ph.D. in Mathematics from Rutgers University, New Jersey, in 2011. Emilie then joined PNNL as a Postdoc doing work on semantic knowledge systems and graph theory. She became a permanent staff scientist in November of 2012 and continues to work on graph theory and discrete math applied to cyber security and the power grid. Recently, Emilie has also begun work on applying methods from algebraic topology to information integration and evolution of cyber systems." From http://cybersecurity.pnnl.gov/principalinvestigators.stm.
Noriko Yui is "a professor of mathematics at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. A native of Japan, Yui obtained her B.S. from Tsuda College, and her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Rutgers University in 1974 under the supervision of Richard Bumby. Known internationally, Yui has been a visiting researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute in Bonn a number of times and a Bye-Fellow at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. Her research is based in arithmetic geometry with applications to mathematical physics and notably mirror symmetry. Currently, much of her work is focused upon the modularity of Calabi-Yau threefolds. .... Professor Yui has been the managing editor for the journal "Communications in Number Theory and Mathematical Physics" since its inception in 2007. She has edited a number of monographs, and she has co-authored two books." from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noriko_Yui.
Select Former Faculty of the Rutgers Mathematics Department
Daniel E. Gorenstein (January 1, 1923 to August 26, 1992) was an American mathematician. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1950 under Oscar Zariski, introducing in his dissertation a duality principle for plane curves that motivated Grothendieck's introduction of Gorenstein rings. He was a major influence on the classification of finite simple groups. After teaching mathematics to military personnel at Harvard before earning his doctorate, Gorenstein held posts at Clark University and Northeastern University before he began teaching at Rutgers University in 1969, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was the founding director of DIMACS in 1989, and remained as its director until his death. Gorenstein was awarded many honors for his work on finite simple groups. He was recognised, in addition to his own research contributions such as work on signalizer functors, as a leader in directing the classification proof, the largest collaborative piece of pure mathematics ever attempted. In 1972 he was a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar; in 1978 he gained membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 1989 won the Steele Prize for mathematical exposition." from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gorenstein.
Helmut Hofer is "a German-American mathematician, one of the founders of the area of symplectic topology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the recipient of the 1999 Ostrowski Prize and the 2013 Heinz Hopf Prize. Since 2009, he is a faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He currently works on symplectic geometry, dynamical systems, and partial differential equations. His contributions to the field include Hofer geometry." From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Hofer
Jane Scanlon "received her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1949 under the direction of Erich H. Rothe. After two postdoctoral fellowships, from the Office of Naval Research and the University of Michigan, she worked as a mathematician in the Air Force and for the American Optical Company, and as an instructor at Wheaton College and Stonehill College. In 1957, she moved to the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and in 1965 took a position as professor at Rutgers University. She became professor emeritus in 1991. She was awarded a Visiting Professorship for Women from the National Science Foundation to spend the 1984-1985 year at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. At the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boulder in August 1989, she presented the Pi Mu Epsilon J. Sutherland Frame Lecture. Scanlon's research has focused on mathematical biology, singular perturbation theory, and nonlinear analysis. She has published more than fifty papers, two research monographs (Fixed Points and Topological Degree in Nonlinear Analysis and Mathematical Aspects of Hodgkin-Huxley Neural Theory), as well as a textbook (Differential Equations: Introduction and Qualitative Theory)." From http://www.awm-math.org/noetherbrochure/Scanlon85.html
Thomas Spencer is Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He "has made major contributions to the theory of phase transitions and the study of singularities at the transition temperature. In special cases, he and his collaborators have proved universality at the transition temperature. Spencer has also worked on partial differential equations with stochastic coefficients, especially localization theory. He is presently developing a mathematical theory of supersymmetric path integrals to study the quantum dynamics of a particle in random media. His other interests include random matrices, chaotic behavior of dynamical systems, and nonequilibrium theories of turbulence." https://www.ias.edu/scholars/spencer.
