2003 Adrien Pouliot Award Recipient
Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu, University of Alberta

The Adrien Pouliot Award is for individuals, or teams of individuals, who have made significant and sustained contributions to mathematics education in Canada.

Citation

In 1980 Andy Liu joined the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Alberta. Since that time he has had a profound effect on mathematics education at the University, in the Secondary Schools, in the City and in the province. His passionate commitment to the study of mathematics and to innovative techniques allows him to share his knowledge with students of all ages; and his unique ability to present difficult concepts in a clear and logical manner helps his students to learn and understand rather than to simply memorize. Without a doubt, Dr. Liu, with his remarkable talent and devotion has made truly significant and sustained contributions to mathematics education in Canada and around the world for over a quarter of a century.

If there is a mathematical activity taking place in Edmonton, you can be sure that Andy is somewhere nearby. He is a regular speaker at schools of all levels as well as at conferences on mathematics education; and he has served as a resource person for the Edmonton Association for Bright Children. He is a devoted supporter of mathematics competitions using them as a way to motivate and promote interest in mathematics at the local, provincial, national and international levels. Andy has founded and edited six issues per year of a newsletter, Postulate, for high school students and their teachers; he has prepared teaching materials for a number of Mathematics Olympiad courses; and he has conducted training sessions for the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) teams from several nations, including Canada. In July, he led the Canadian Team to the 2003 IMO in Japan where the team tied for 12th out of 83 countries. The team received two Gold and three Bronze medals, including the first female Canadian student to win a Gold medal and the youngest ever Canadian team member to win Gold. His impact is indeed felt around the world and in 1995 he received the IMO Certificate of Appreciation and the David Hilbert International Award for the promotion of Mathematics Competitions.

Andy Liu's expertise extends to the publishing world well beyond Postulate. He is on the editorial boards of several international journals, including CRUX Mathematicorum, the problem-solving journal of the Canadian Mathematical Society; and he is a contributor to international journals such as Mathematics Digest, Function, and Excaliber. Since 1992, Andy has won 11 University national and international teaching and education related awards including 3M Teaching Fellowships, the Canadian Professor of the Year Award, the 2002 Distinguished Teaching Award from the Mathematical Association of America, and now, most recently, the 2003 Adrien Pouliot Award of the Canadian Mathematical Society.

[LINK: Validate CSS] [LINK: Validate XHTML]