Adam Shull, a senior mathematics major, recently won a 2009 Richard V. Andree Award.  This award is presented by the Pi Mu Epsilon honorary mathematics society to authors of the best undergraduate articles in its publication, the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal.  Adam won the award for the paper Properties of Ideal-Divisor, which he co-authored with John Holmes.  In this technical paper, the two authors investigate properties of ideal-divisors of rings, which are mathematical structures that have some forms of addition and multiplication defined on them.  Adam and John worked on this project at Wabash College as part of a National Science Foundation sponsored undergraduate research program.

The Richard V. Andree Awards are given annually to the authors of the papers, written by undergraduate students, which have been judged by the officers and councilors of Pi Mu Epsilon to be the best that have appeared in the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal in the past year.  Visit http://www.pme-math.org/organization/andree.html for a list of past winners. Two or three Andree Awards are selected per year from among the 15-20 papers published in the PME Journal per year.  The journal typically published about 30% of the articles submitted to it each year.

Rick Gillman, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, says that “this award is an excellent finishing touch” to Adam’s undergraduate career during which he engaged in mathematical research during all four years.  Adam, who also has a major in computer science and is a member of Christ College, is planning to attend graduate school in mathematics next year.