MSU math student's prize means she's number one

by MSU-Bozeman News Service

10/23/01

Like many students at Montana State University, Kay Kirkpatrick likes to climb mountains. Perhaps her biggest ascent has been figurative, for this week the Dillon native has been named co-winner of the Alice T. Schafer Prize given to the nation’s best female undergraduate mathematics student.

Awarded  by the Association for Women in Mathematics,  the Schafer prize is called a “genius” award for undergraduate math students, according to John Miller of MSU’s Computational Biology Center, one of Kirkpatrick’s mentors.

Kirkpatrick shares the award with Melanie Wood, a student at Duke University. Both winners will receive their award in January at ceremonies to be held in San Diego. The award carries a $750 cash prize.

“We’ve never had an award like this in our department, and we’ve never had anyone like Kay in our department,” said Ken Bowers, head of MSU’s Math Department who nominated Kirkpatrick for the Schafer Prize.

This is the second major award in 2001 for Kirkpatrick, who received a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for undergraduate students studying math and science last spring. Just 21, Kirkpatrick uses understatement and an infectious giggle as she describes her passions for rock climbing, classical piano and abstract mathematics.

“So far, I’m keeping my fingers in as many pies as possible,” Kirkpatrick says as she describes the different areas of mathematics that interest her.

Kirkpatrick said when she came to MSU as a Presidential Scholar; she planned to study to become a brain surgeon. However, she said she failed miserably dissecting crickets' brains in her first MSU research project with the MSU Center for Computational Biology.  Instead, she became fascinated with the Center's use of mathematical models to predict voltage traces in cricket ganglia. That, coupled with taking some "really cool" math classes, led to her deciding to become a mathematician, she said.

She spent a summer refining her skill in applied math, which is the connection between math and science, at a workshop at North Carolina State University that allowed Kirkpatrick to be a part of a team that published research that may be helpful to scientists in basic AIDS research.

Last summer Kirkpatrick worked in operator theory at a highly selective workshop at the University of Houston. Operator theory lies on the border between algebra and analysis, and has important applications to quantum physics. Her results are being published as a paper in the Houston Journal of Mathematics' fall 2001 edition.

Bowers said Kirkpatrick’s work at both workshops helped her win the Schafer Award.

“I sent e-mails to the people she worked with and they sent glowing recommendations on her behalf,” Bowers said.

Kirkpatrick says while her passion has come easily to her, she’s had to work aggressively to progress in the field of mathematics.

“I’ve been assertive in seeking out classes that challenged me, even if I didn’t have the prerequisites,” Kirkpatrick said. “I jumped through all the hoops to get into graduate classes as a junior, and I called the director of the Houston program and told him I really wanted to come to Houston.”

Kirkpatrick said she learned to be assertive in quenching her intellectual curiosity from her mother, who noticed early on that her daughter had math ability.

“She would get me to think about things that were difficult,” Kirkpatrick said. She said her father, a retired carpenter, exposed her to geometric math at an early age.

By the time Kirkpatrick was an eighth grader, she was taking a biology class at University of Montana -Western in Dillon. After graduating from Beaverhead County High School, she considered going to Whitman College or the University of Puget Sound, but opted for MSU and a Presidential Scholarship, nearly the equivalent of an academic full-ride.

“And I’m so glad I came here,” Kirkpatrick said. “I don’t think I would have had the research opportunities or the same individual instruction in math as I’ve had here.”

In addition to her work in math, Kirkpatrick is teaching an undergraduate class in the language of mathematics as well as serving as the student fellow in a freshman seminar for the Honors Program. She lifts weights to strengthen her fingers to improve both climbing and playing the piano. She lives with her sister, Bonnie, a sophomore in computer science at MSU, whom Kay says is her best friend and biggest fan. In fact, Kirkpatrick said the award means, “my sister isn’t the only one that thinks I can do whatever I want.”

Kirkpatrick said right now she is interested in abstract math  and the field of dynamics, “about how things change and evolve.” As Kirkpatrick evolves, her future plans include entering a Ph.D. program in a western state that will enable her to become a math professor at a university where she can teach and do research.

And, where there are more mountains to climb.

Photo:  Kay Kirkpatrick

Send questions or comments to Carol Schmidt: cschmidt@montana.edu. Or you can send letters to Carol Schmidt, MSU Communications Services, 416 Culbertson Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717.

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