Professor chosen as chairman of math, statistics program
Dan Pompili ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: News
Dr. Jacek Fabrykowski of the Youngstown State University Department of Mathematics and Statistics has been chosen to chair the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad for a three-year term beginning in January of 2010.
Fabrykowski was nominated for the position by his peers in the program at the close of the last director's tenure.
As chairman of the program, Fabrykowski will direct the board that composes and selects the problems students will be asked to solve.
"We are talking about the best in the country," Fabrykowski said. He explained that 1 percent of students from grades 10-12 nationwide are invited to participate.
He said many of the students have received free-ride scholarship letters from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton and Harvard as early as their sophomore year of high school.
Of the nearly 500 students selected, 20 to 30 will advance to a training camp for the international Olympiad, and six will be selected to represent the United States at the event.
Fabrykowski said such students could be compared to the characters portrayed by Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting" and Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind."
He said many students have developed into careers with the CIA and state department, calling them "pure mathematicians."
Fabrykowski has been involved with such academic programs for more than 30 years, since achieving his doctorate at the Polish Academy of Science.
He spent 16 years teaching at the University of Manitoba, during which he worked on the Putnam competition committee. The North American competition, held annually on the first Saturday in December, challenges students with 12 problems. Fabrykowski says 50 percent of students who qualify for the competition score 0, and that the average score is just over two problems correct.
In 2008, Fabrykowski was asked to set problems for the state mathematics competition in Iowa, and did the same for Michigan in 2009.
Fabrykowski will work with 20 other committee members in the USAMO, which began in 1972.
Fabrykowski was nominated for the position by his peers in the program at the close of the last director's tenure.
As chairman of the program, Fabrykowski will direct the board that composes and selects the problems students will be asked to solve.
"We are talking about the best in the country," Fabrykowski said. He explained that 1 percent of students from grades 10-12 nationwide are invited to participate.
He said many of the students have received free-ride scholarship letters from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton and Harvard as early as their sophomore year of high school.
Of the nearly 500 students selected, 20 to 30 will advance to a training camp for the international Olympiad, and six will be selected to represent the United States at the event.
Fabrykowski said such students could be compared to the characters portrayed by Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting" and Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind."
He said many students have developed into careers with the CIA and state department, calling them "pure mathematicians."
Fabrykowski has been involved with such academic programs for more than 30 years, since achieving his doctorate at the Polish Academy of Science.
He spent 16 years teaching at the University of Manitoba, during which he worked on the Putnam competition committee. The North American competition, held annually on the first Saturday in December, challenges students with 12 problems. Fabrykowski says 50 percent of students who qualify for the competition score 0, and that the average score is just over two problems correct.
In 2008, Fabrykowski was asked to set problems for the state mathematics competition in Iowa, and did the same for Michigan in 2009.
Fabrykowski will work with 20 other committee members in the USAMO, which began in 1972.
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