The Allen Medal in mathematics was originated by John Mebane Allen in 1890 and has since been presented annually. It is noted to be one of the oldest awards given by the University of Tennessee. The Allen Medal is given to recognize freshman students who demonstrate, upon testing, the best knowledge of Algebra, Plane Geometry, Trigonometry, Analytic Geometry, Single Variable Calculus, and/or any other areas of mathematics as may be determined by the department head and select faculty members. Presented by Dr. Vellis, this year’s winners are Austin Newman (1st place) and Junyan Lin (2nd place).

The John H. Barrett Prize tradition began in 1970. It is an annual memorial award given to outstanding undergraduate seniors who have a concentration in mathematics or are mathematics majors.
Presented by Dr. Vellis, this year’s winners are Ashleigh Clark, Jack Peltier, and Michael Rice.

The Mary K. Cook Mathematics Scholarship was established by her sons in 2024 to support promising undergraduate students. Mary Cook was one of two women studying computer science in the Department of Mathematics at the time of her graduation in 1967.

Presented by Dr. Yang, this year’s winner is Kristen Joyner.

This award is funded by the faculty and staff of the mathematics department. It is awarded to an undergraduate in the Math Honors program who has demonstrated excellent academic performance.

Presented by Dr. Yang, this year’s winners are Matthew Bales and Brendan LeStrange.

The Dr. Warren L. & Kyleen D. Franz Endowed Mathematics Scholarship was established in 2015 to support mathematics majors who demonstrate successful academic performance.

Presented by Dr. Nicoara, this year’s winners are Daniel Blackston, Junyan Lin, Mark Jacob Mealey, Regan Rhyne, and Mallory Veith.

The James A. Cooley Memorial Scholarship was established to honor the memory of James A. Cooley and to help qualified and deserving mathematics students secure a college education. Professor Cooley was Head of the Department of Mathematics from 1942 until he returned to full-time teaching in 1961. Preference is given to students interested in a teaching career.

Presented by Dr. Nicoara, this year’s winner is Eleanor Wood.

This scholarship helps support a future mathematics teacher. Applicants must be fourth-year undergraduate students pursuing a major in mathematics, with intent to become a high school mathematics teacher. Polly Anna Harris, a former UTK math major, taught at Bearden High School for many years before she retired. She was a recipient of the UT Alumna and Presidential Award for outstanding teaching. This scholarship is sponsored by her family, son, David Harris, MD, who is also a former UTK math major, and his wife Patricia, son, Frank Harris and wife Abby Avery, daughter, Paula Morrison, also a former UTK math major, and her husband G. Grainger Morrison.

Presented by two of Polly Anna Harris’ children, Paula Harris Morrison and David Harris, this year’s winner is Kirsten Checolo.

The Lucille and Herbert Lee Scholarship Awards were established in 1986 by a generous endowment from the Lee estate, and are awarded to sophomore and upperclassmen mathematics majors with outstanding records of academic achievement. Herbert E. Lee, who received his Ph.D. from Duke University, taught mathematics at UTK for three decades until his retirement in 1969. He and his wife Lucille were cheerful, friendly, outgoing people who always kept students’ welfare in mind.

Presented by Dr. Zhao, this year’s winners are Macy Fagler, Adam Krcal, Abigail Larson, Robert Lawrence, and Jacob Lund.

J. P. and Gladys Maples set up their scholarship endowment fund to encourage scholastic excellence.

Presented by Dr. Zhao, this year’s winner is Kevin Jaimes-Villagomez.

The April Marie Memorial Scholarship was established in 2021 by Mrs. Sharon Morton in memory of her daughter April, who was a Mathematics graduate student. The scholarship supports students who are studying Applied Mathematics and have demonstrated financial need.

Presented by Dr. Salgado, this year’s winner is Kristen Joyner.

The Cooper D. Schmitt Endowment was established in 1987. The goal of this fund is to provide undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, and appropriate awards to outstanding students in the Department of Mathematics at The University of Tennessee.

Presented by Dr. Salgado, this year’s winners are Ava Cutshaw, Porter Dosch, Austin Newman, Greyson Roy, Natalie Schlitt, John Squires, and Ben Turner.

The Simms Foundation Scholarship was created through a generous gift from Carol Sue Simms in 2014. The Simms Foundation Scholarship is a 4-year merit scholarship awarded to an incoming freshman with an excellent high school record who will major in math and has an interest in teaching.

Presented by Dr. Cartwright, this year’s winners are Isaac Channing and Joseph North.

This is the first year the Sisk Scholarship is being given. Karen L. Sisk Scholarship is a 4-year award given to incoming students from outside of the four largest metropolitan areas in Tennessee.

This year’s winner is still to be announced.

Pi Mu Epsilon is dedicated to the promotion of mathematics and the recognition of students who successfully pursue mathematical understanding.

This year’s Mathematics Department awarded memberships to the Pi Mu Epsilon Honors Society to the following students: Matthew Bales, Tyler Morgan Hall, Arthur Jacob Hawkins, Adam Krcal, and Regan Nichole Rhyne.

The Kenneth Vann Scholarship is a 4-year award for an incoming student with a promising high school record and an intention to study math.

This year’s winner is Devin McLaughlin.

The Dr. Glenn R. and Elise I. Young Scholarship was established in 2010. Its purpose is to support Physics or Mathematics majors who demonstrate successful academic performance.

Presented by Dr. Clark, this year’s winners are Anirudhha Harsha and Austin Newman.

The Putnam exam is an annual exam in mathematics for college students across the country.

Dr. Freire recognized our participants: Arthur Hawkins, John McGuigan, Jonah Weston, and Thomas Williamson.

The Math Department hosts the UTK Puzzler, which is a problem solving challenging consisting of roughly 12 Puzzler problems over the academic year. ​ This award recognizes the top two UT students who have submitted complete solutions to the most Puzzler problems.

This year, there was a tie for first place. Dr. Lind presented the award for 1st place to Nicolette Abate and Daniel Blackston.

This year’s UT Jeopardy team at the 105th Annual MAA-SE Section Meeting was Nicolette Abate, Justin Brentwood, Adam Krcal, and Nathan Whittington.

Presented by Dr. Wu, Ashley Burger, Sean Kampas, and Grant Jarrell Waggoner received the Actuarial Science Excellence Award for passing Actuary exams.

This award was established by friends and colleagues in memory of Dr. Randall E. Cline. It is to provide student aid for scholarly activities associated with graduate student work in the University of Tennessee Department of Mathematics. Currently enrolled and prospective math graduate students are eligible for the award.

Presented by Dr. Lenhart, this year’s winners are Jeccica Kingsley and Bingzhou Wang.

The Dorothea and Edgar D. Eaves Awards were established in 1977 in order to recognize outstanding teaching among graduate teaching assistants.

This year’s junior-level winner is Ethan Olcott, and the senior-level winner is Jessica Kingsley.

This award was established in 2019 to recognize excellence in teaching, as well as significant contribution to the undergraduate education mission of the Department of Mathematics. The award is designed to encourage Math GTAs to deepen their involvement in the educational mission of the department.

Presented by Dr. Jameson, this year’s winners are Shipra Baranwal, Emily Blevins, Ethan Olcott, and Gavin Stevens.

The goal of these awards is to recognize outstanding academic achievement among graduate students. It was established several years ago to parallel the award for outstanding teaching among graduate students.

Presented by Dr. Wise, this year’s winners are Miriam Abbate, Dominic Bair, Anusrika Datta, and Caden Farley.

The Yueh-er, Hong-hsu and Clarence Cheng Kuo Fellowship Endowment was established in 2003 by Dr. Yueh-er Kuo to promote Masters’ degree education in the Department of Mathematics. Yueh-er Kuo was a professor in the Department of Mathematics since 1964. She was an expert in educating Masters’ degree students in addition to her own research. She had 56 thesis and project students and many of them are very successful in their careers. Hong-hsu Kuo was the husband of Yueh-er Kuo and was a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Clarence Cheng Kuo was the son of Yueh-er and Hong-hsu. He was a brilliant model student of University Nursery School. This award is given to graduate students with outstanding academic merit.

Presented by Board of Visitors president Jeremy Mitchell, this year’s winners are Tibor Burdette, Ehren Dolan, Solomon Huang, and Philip Pampreen.

The Spike Tickle Fellowship was established by Mr. John D. “Spike” Tickle to recognize students who have an outstanding academic performance and desire to use their talents and education in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). The award is given to a graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences to focus on teaching and/or research efforts in mathematics.

Presented by Dr. Mengesha, this year’s winners are John McAlister, Calvin Wong, and Amber Young.

This award goes to a professor who has done an exceptional job teaching a course for graduate students this school year. A generous gift from Mrs. Ann S. Keith Rea helps to support the award. Voted on by the graduate students, this award is meant to recognize the work and dedication a professor has given to help students understand the course material.

Presented by Vinnie Jodoin, this year’s winner is Dr. Frazier.

This award goes to a professor or staff member who goes above and beyond to mentor, advise, or in general help graduate students this year in a non-teaching capacity. Again, the winner is chosen by a vote of graduate students.

Presented by Vinnie Jodoin, this year’s winner is Ben Walker.

The SIAM UTK Graduate Student Research Showcase is a presentation competition established in 2021 that showcases the research of current graduate students and their advisors. Presentations are 20 minutes in length with 5 minutes for questions and are judged by a panel.

Presented by Shipra Baranwal, this year’s 1st place winner is Asir Intesar Tushar, 2nd place winner is Margaret Knight, and 3rd place winner is Jessica Kingsley.