Lillian Pierce '02 and Abbie Liel '02 received the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize at the alumni luncheon and awards ceremony at Jadwin Gym on Saturday.
The Pyne Prize is the highest award the University bestows on undergraduates. Every year since 1921, two recipients have been selected, one in the humanities and one in the sciences.
It carries a monetary award equivalent to the current undergraduate fee for one academic year. Recipients are selected for upholding standards of excellence in scholarship, character and supporting the University's best interests.
This year's honoree in the sciences, Liel, is majoring in civil and environmental engineering with a certificate in public policy from the Wilson School.
Liel's thesis examines dam systems of the Columbia and Snake rivers, exploring how they affect the environment and the political context surrounding structural engineering under adviser Professor David Billington.
Liel has received many awards recognizing her academic excellence. Both sophomore and junior year, she won the George Wood Legacy Prize for her academic performance those years.
She also has won the President's Award for Academic Achievement and has received the Van de Velde award for her Wilson School task force.
She is vice president of the engineering honor society, a freshman adviser in the Engineering School and plays bassoon in the University orchestra.
During her acceptance speech, Liel thanked her professors for giving her "nuggets of learning that intrigue, question or amuse" and said her experience at the University has made her "more intellectual, more worldly and more whimsical."
The winner of a Marshall Scholarship, Liel will attend University College in London for two one-year master's programs. She plans to pursue a career as a professor.
At the ceremony, President Tilghman commended Liel for "intellectual curiosity," "exceptional academic achievements," "generous contributions to the life of the University" and "passion for building safe structures that are respectful of the natural world."
Pierce excelled in what Tilghman referred to as "one of the most rigorous and demanding majors in the University" — mathematics.
Her record includes the Freshman First Honor Prize and the President's Award for Academic Achievement twice. She was co-winner of the 1939 Princeton Scholar Award for the most outstanding academic record after three years at the University.
Additionally, she was named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic Team and was one of Glamour Magazine's Top 10 College Women.
In the summer of 2000, Pierce conducted classified research at the National Security Agency on mathematical problems important to national security. Her thesis, under adviser Professor Elias Stein, examines the Riemann Hypothesis, one of the great mathematical problems remaining unsolved.
Pierce is an accomplished violinist, playing with numerous groups on campus. This winter, she organized a series of concerts for people affected by Sept. 11.
Pierce also founded a mentoring program for underclass women interested in studying math at the University.
Pierce won a Rhodes Scholarship and will pursue a master of science degree in pure mathematics at Oxford University. She eventually plans to become a professor. Pierce was home-schooled in Fallbrook, Calif.
Tilghman said to Pierce, "We honor you for your exceptional gifts as a scholar and an artist, which you have shared with this community with great generosity of spirit, for your integrity of purpose and for your relentless yet graceful pursuit of perfection."
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