George Neal Raney, 92, died at home on September 13, 2015 of natural causes. Born in Portland, Oregon on October 14, 1922, he spoke most fondly of his middle childhood years in Elmhurst, Illinois. In 1952 he married Barbara Robinson. They shared a love for their good friends, art, music, and travel for 60 years. He was predeceased by his wife, Barbara, his sister Patricia Lubar, and is his brother David Raney. He is survived by his sister, Helen Gowan, his daughters Rebecca Raney and Patricia Raney, as well as two grandchildren, two nieces, nine nephews, and many dear friends. Raney served from 1944-1946 as a navy radio engineer, and drove in a truck convoy on the Burma road from India to China in 1946. With a B.A. from Queens College 1943, Raney received a Ph.D. in mathematics from Columbia University in 1954. He taught math and engineering at MIT, Columbia, Penn State, and finally settled at the University of Connecticut in 1963, becoming emeritus 1984. His contributions were in the field of lattice theory, automata, and infinite series of functions and vectors. The Raney theorem became useful in computer science decades later. Raney also enjoyed studying botany and geology, hiking, and most of all, people. He will be remembered by those who knew him as a great friend, father and teacher, who was humble, generous, and just.

Casa Matematica Oaxaca (CMO) is the new mathematics research center affiliated with the famous Banff International Research Station (BIRS). Emil Valdez is one of three organizers of a 5-day workshop on “Recent Advances in Actuarial Mathematics”. The other two organizers are Professors Jan Dhaene of Katholieke Universiteit – Leuven and Sheldon Lin of University of Toronto. The workshop will be held in Oaxaca, Mexico on October 25-30, 2015. There are about 42 participants expected to join, many of them are internationally renowned researchers and practitioners in actuarial science and financial mathematics. Guojun Gan from our department is one of the participants. A press release of the workshop can be found here.

The Department of Mathematics at the University of Connecticut, Storrs invites applications for multiple full-time, 9-month tenured or tenure-track faculty positions at the rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor in Mathematics beginning in Fall 2016.  We are seeking exceptionally well-qualified individuals with research interests in all areas of mathematics compatible with those in the department. The successful candidate will be expected to teach mathematics courses at all levels and to have a vigorous externally funded research program.

UConn has grown rapidly in the past decade to become one of the nation’s Top 20 public universities, with an ambitious goal, at this transformational time in its history, to aspire to join the ranks of the greatest universities in the world. As one of the University’s emphasized STEM programs, supported by the $1.7B Next Generation Connecticut (http://nextgenct.uconn.edu/) investment, the math department enjoys an active and dynamic academic environment. The department currently has 35 research faculty members with diverse research interests (including financial mathematics and actuarial science, algebra and number theory, combinatorics, analysis, applied math, geometry and topology, mathematical logic, math education, numerical analysis, partial differential equations, and probability) and a strong record of external funding.  Faculty members in the department participate in a range of interdisciplinary projects with Physics, Philosophy, the Life Sciences, and Statistics, and with the Neag School of Education. The department will move into a new building in Fall 2016.

Minimum Qualifications: A Ph.D. or an equivalent foreign degree in mathematics or a closely related area by August 22, 2016, demonstrated evidence of excellent teaching and outstanding research.

Preferred Qualifications: An outstanding research program in an area that complements the research activity in the department. A record of attracting external funding and a commitment to effective teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Evaluation of applications will begin on November 20, 2015 and will continue until the positions are filled. Rank and salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

To apply, submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching statement (including teaching philosophy, teaching experience, commitment to effective learning, concepts for new course development, etc.); research and scholarship statement (innovative concepts that will form the basis of academic career, experience in proposal development, mentorship of graduate students, etc.); commitment to diversity statement (including broadening participation, integrating multicultural experiences in instruction and research and pedagogical techniques to meet the needs of diverse learning styles, etc.); sample journal articles or books online at http://www.mathjobs.org/jobs, including at least four letters of reference, one of which addresses the applicant’s teaching. Questions or requests for further information should be sent to the Hiring Committee at mathhiring@uconn.edu.

Employment of the successful candidate will be contingent upon the successful completion of a pre-employment criminal background check.

All employees are subject to adherence to the State Code of Ethics which may be found at http://www.ct.gov/ethics/site/default.asp.

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The University of Connecticut is committed to building and supporting a multicultural and diverse community of students, faculty and staff. The diversity of students, faculty and staff continues to increase, as does the number of honors students, valedictorians and salutatorians who consistently make UConn their top choice. More than 100 research centers and institutes serve the University’s teaching, research, diversity, and outreach missions, leading to UConn’s ranking as one of the nation’s top research universities. UConn’s faculty and staff are the critical link to fostering and expanding our vibrant, multicultural and diverse University community. As an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity employer, UConn encourages applications from women, veterans, people with disabilities and members of traditionally underrepresented populations.

 

 

The following note is shared on behalf of the daughters of our late colleague, Professor Evarist Giné-Masdéau, who passed away on March 13, 2015.

 

We are very saddened by the passing of our father, Evarist Giné on March 13, 2015. Evarist was a kind and generous dad, a devoted grandfather, an accomplished mathematician, and loving husband of Rosalind Eastaway, and we miss him very much.

On September 27, 2015, from 1 – 3 pm, we will hold a memorial in his honor at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. The memorial will be open to the public, and will take place in Konover Auditorium on the Storrs campus.

We would like to invite friends and colleagues to share their memories of Evarist and speak on his life. We understand that because of distance, some of you may be unable to attend but may still want to share memories of our dad with his family, friends and colleagues. We would be happy to read these on your behalf at his memorial. If you would like to speak at this event or send a written message to be read, please email Roser Giné.

We hope to see you there,

Roser Giné and Núria Giné-Nokes, Daughters

Location:

The Dodd Center at UConn
Konover Auditorium
405 Babbidge Rd.
Storrs, CT

Date: Sunday, September 27, 2015

Time: 1:00 – 3:00 pm

We regret to announce that our colleague Gaston Hernandez, Associate Professor of Mathematics, passed away on June 13, 2015 at Windham Community Memorial Hospital, after a long and courageous battle with brain cancer. He was the beloved husband of Eliana D. Rojas, father of Alejandra and Hector Hernandez, father-in-law of Jennifer Munz and Jeremy Olen, and grandfather of Isabel Olen. Born in Curicó, Chile, in 1951, he was the son of the late Paula Diaz Marquez and late Erasmo Hernandez Diaz, and beloved brother of Ramón, Elba, Erasmo, Gloria, Silvia, and the late Jorge Hernández. In 1979, following the Chile coup d’état, Gastón fled to the U.S, where he completed his PhD in mathematics at the University of Minnesota.

He was an Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut, and before that, held visiting positions at the Universidad Católica and Universidad Federico Santa Maria in Chile, Princeton University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Iowa. He was an active advocate of brain tumor research and awareness, nationally and internationally, and touched the lives of many through his great optimism and jovial spirit. A true Renaissance man, he graciously shared his vast knowledge of the sciences, literature, history, and the arts. He greatly enjoyed poetry, unraveling a Rubik’s cube in seconds, and challenging audiences with contentious sociopolitical statements, particularly if accompanied with a good glass of Chilean wine. He also leaves behind a large family in Chile and in France, and many friends around the world, all who loved him profoundly.

Services will be held on June 27, 2015 at 11:00am at the Storrs Congregational Church in Storrs, CT. In lieu of flowers, please honor Gaston’s memory by making donations to the American Brain Tumor Association.

The department’s annual awards ceremony, recognizing the outstanding achievements of our undergraduate and graduate students, took place on April 28 in IMS 20. The event was preceded by a reception with tea and light refreshments in the math department lounge.

This year’s speaker was Leo Goldmakher of Williams College, who spoke on “Structure and randomness in the primes”.

For more information, see the full program of events, as well as the photo album on our Facebook page.

The department mourns the loss of our colleague and head, Evarist Giné-Masdéu, who passed away on Friday, March 13. Evarist received his PhD from MIT in 1973 and held positions at a number of other universities before joining UConn in 1990. He was 70 years old.

The following tribute comes from Jeremy Teitelbaum, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Evarist was a distinguished mathematician who worked on mathematical statistics and probability in infinite dimensions. He authored 2 books and over 100 articles, with many appearing in the very top journals in his field such as the Annals of Statistics. His third book, Mathematical Foundations of Infinite-Dimensional Statistical Models, written with a former UConn post-doc of his, Richard Nickl of Cambridge, will appear soon with Cambridge University Press. Among many signs of professional recognition, he was a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, and a recipient of UConn’s Alumni Excellence in Research Award.

In June of 2014, friends and colleagues of Evarist organized a 3 day conference in honor of his 70th birthday at the Center for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge University in England. The conference drew a worldwide audience who celebrated “the many areas that Evarist transformed and worked on in his distinguished career.”

Evarist was a quiet man with a dry sense of humor. When he assumed the Headship of Mathematics in 2012 after Miki Neumann’s death, he told me that he had never had the desire or ambition to take on the job, but that he felt a sense of responsibility to give back to the department. I will miss his kindness and his dedication.

I know that the department and the entire college joins me in sending Evarist’s wife Rosalind Eastaway, his daughters Roser and Nuria, and his entire family our deepest condolences.

Update (May 29, 2015). For a detailed obituary, see p. 8 of the June/July 2015 issue of the IMS Bulletin.