Two seniors earn Schafer math honors

A Princeton senior received the national Alice T. Schafer award for excellence in mathematics in January. Ana Caraiani was named the winner of the prestigious prize at the Joint Mathematics Conference in New Orleans. Tamara Broderick '07 was a runner-up.

The award is given annually to a woman based on research accomplishment, demonstration of an interest in mathematics, academic course work and achievements in mathematical competitions such as the William Lowell Putnam competition — a prominent math contest for college math majors in the United States and Canada.

When Caraiani went down to New Orleans to accept the award, she said, "It was really impressive because they presented a lot of awards to [prominent mathematicians], and I got to sit on the same stage with them."

Former roommates Alexandra Ovetsky '06 and Allison Bishop '06 were named the winner and the runner-up for the Schafer award last year.

Caraiani said she was flattered by the award. "I knew I was getting nominated, but I didn't think I'd win," she said. "I know some of the former winners, and they are amazing."

Broderick also emphasized her excitement over being recognized as one of the two runners-up for the prize.

Caraiani, an international student from Romania, is the only woman to have won the Putnam competition twice. In the history of the competition, only three women have won.

She was nominated for the Schafer Prize by Professor Joseph Gallian at the University of Minnesota Duluth, with whom she did an undergraduate research program for two summers.

"She ranks up there with the best I've had," Gallian said in a phone interview. "She's quiet and unassuming, but when she talks about math there is a noticeable change. She speaks with confidence and authority."

"[Ana] was a perfect candidate," Gallian said in an email. "It was an honor for me to make the nomination."

Professor Andrew Wiles, Caraiani's thesis advisor, said in an email that Caraiani's "quickness, her ability to see the main point, her ability to focus and her ability to work out the background to very sophisticated mathematics are all part of a remarkable talent, ideally suited to research."

Broderick was nominated by her secondary thesis advisor, Robert Schapire, a professor in the computer science department.

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"I've always liked math," Broderick said. She recalled participating in a math contest in fourth grade which covered material that she had not been taught in class. "I just had so much fun with it."

Broderick is currently writing her thesis on finding parameters of the Gibbs distribution when given a large state space.

After graduation, she plans to spend two years in England on a Marshall scholarship.

Caraiani's thesis deals with algebraic number theory. She has applied to graduate schools in the United States and will be soon deciding where to spend her next few years.

Caraiani's professors have high expectations for her future in the field of mathematics. "She has already shown great aptitude for [research]," Wiles said. "I expect to see her become a leader in whatever branch of mathematics she chooses."