- Citation for 2017 Meritorious Service Award
Scott Hochwald, University of North Florida
Florida Section
Mathematical Association of America
Citation for 2017 Meritorious Service Award
Scott Hochwald joined the MAA in 1974 while a high school senior at Brooklyn Tech. He first joined the Florida Section in 1984 when he accepted a position in the Mathematics Department at the University of North Florida. Since then, he has served as our Governor (2007-2010), twice serving as our President (2004-2005 and 2014-2015), as our Vice-president for Programs (1994-1995), and twice serving as our Vice-president for Site Selection (2002-2003 and 2012-2013). Even when not holding a formal office, Scott has been a member of our Executive Committee serving annually on either the Awards Committee or the Nominations Committee. Scott received the Section’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2011.
The Florida Section is divided into six geographic regions and Scott has been a guiding catalyst in the First Coast Region (Jacksonville area). Each year Scott oversees the coordination and staging of a one-day regional meeting that brings together local area mathematicians from the public and private institutions in northeast Florida. Scott often presents at these meetings. In fact, at our annual sectional meeting, held each February, Scott is one of our most popular speakers and the Programs Committee must always ensure that Scott’s talk is scheduled into a big classroom so as to accommodate the size of his audience.
For over twenty years, the University of North Florida has hosted an annual Mathematics Olympics competition for community college students. Scott has run this competition almost single-handedly for most of this time; he develops problems for the tests, grades student solutions, and coordinates a myriad of logistical details each year. This competition is quite popular in the state and is attended by teams of students from as far away as the Miami area, the Tampa Bay area, and the Florida Panhandle.
Within the inner workings of the Executive Committee of the Florida Section, Scott is the keeper of our sectional history. He can recall from memory actions and initiatives we have taken in the past and the outcomes that they achieved. He is the voice of reason within our deliberations and keeps us focused and on track. We, in the Florida Section, are most proud that Scott Hochwald will receive this award this year and we are looking forward to all the contributions he will make to our section in the future.
The Mathematical Association of America is pleased to award Professor Scott Hochwald with a Certificate for Meritorious Service.
Biographical Note
I joined the MAA in 1974 when I was a high school senior at Brooklyn Tech. At that time you needed two people to sponsor you. I earned a B.S. degree in mathematics from Caltech in 1978 and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Berkeley in 1984. I was hired by the University of North Florida in 1984. I became involved in the Florida Section of the MAA in 1986. Showing up was enough to get noticed by current officers and I ended up on the nominating committee shortly thereafter. Over the years I’ve held many section offices and given many talks at section meetings. Actually, it doesn’t take much to get me to talk about mathematics. I’ve given such talks at high schools, math meetings, and at teacher conferences. Other than being section governor, my national contributions are limited to being a member of COMET and serving on Trevor Evans Award Committee. I became Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UNF in 2001 and continue in that role to this day. UNF started a mathematics completion for community college students in 1996, called the Mathematics Olympics. I took over running the completion when I became Chair in 2001. I’ve published articles in Operator Theory, Linear Algebra, and Number Theory.
Response from Scott Hochwald
I want to thank the members of the section who selected me to receive a 2017 MAA Meritorious Service Award. This is a great honor and it is nice to get an award for doing something I enjoy doing. The MAA is a great organization and the Florida Section has been my MAA home since 1986.