We are saddened to report that our former colleague Eugene Spiegel passed away earlier this week.

Gene obtained his PhD from MIT in 1965. After a post-doc at Caltech he joined UConn in September 1967 as an Assistant Professor. Gene supervised six doctoral dissertations at UConn and, along with some other colleagues, built up the Mathematics Scholars Program. He served the department and the university for nearly four decades, including as Department Head from 1981 to 1986. He retired in July 2007.

Gene will be missed by family, friends, and all who came to know him.

On Saturday, February 9, the Department of Mathematics will host the Eastern Chapter of the MathCounts competition. For many years this competition took place at the Coast Guard Academy, but the recent government shutdown made it impossible. UConn came to rescue and hope to host up to 230 mathletes this week. One of the teams is from the Mansfield Middle School whose MathCounts club has been helped by Professors Gan, Gordina and Sidney for numerous years. The event will be organized with participation of three student chapters (AMS, AWM and SIAM).