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(L to R) Kailee Gerzema, Katie Kruzan |
Award Recipients for 2018
- The Raymond H. Medley, Jr. Outstanding Senior Mathematics Award
2018 Recipients: Kailee Gerzema and Katie Kruzan - The Stephen R. Campbell Mathematics and Computer Science Award
2018 Recipients: Davis Deaton - The Mathematics Problem Solving Award
2018 Recipients: Kailee Gerzema and Katie Kruzan
Award Recipients for 2017
- The Raymond H. Medley, Jr. Outstanding Senior Mathematics Award
2017 Recipient: Savannah Halliday - The Stephen R. Campbell Mathematics and Computer Science Award
2017 Recipients: Michael DeVries and Jordan Sawdy - The Mathematics Problem Solving Award
2017 Recipient: Tucker Dowell
Bruins' Choice Awards
Belmont University Athletics hosted the 2016 Bruins' Choice Awards where the athletic department celebrated the on-field and in-classroom achievements of its student-athletes. The following Mathematics majors won awards:
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| Tyler Hadden | Nick Egli |
2016 Academic Achievement Awards
(awarded to the person on each team with the highest overall GPA):| Tyler Hadden | Men’s Basketball | Mathematics major |
| Nick Egli | Baseball | Engineering Physics & Mathematics double major |
2015 Bruins' Choice Awards:
Mathematics major Kurtis Gibson won two awards:
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- Graduating Senior Academic Achievement Award
- Academic Achievement Award for Men’s Cross Country and Track & Field
(highest GPA per team)
- Graduating Senior Academic Achievement Award
Mathematics Major Receives Actuarial Scholarship
Kailee Gerzema, mathematics major and senior, was awarded the Southeastern Actuaries Conference (SEAC) Scholarship for the 2017-2018 academic year. This competitive scholarship is available to students at southeastern U.S. universities who plan to pursue a career as an actuary.
Each year the SEAC funds actuarial science scholarships for full-time students at universities and colleges in the Southeast who have demonstrated a commitment to pursuing a career in the actuarial field. In 2017, we awarded 10 scholarships totaling $10,100 to individuals attending schools in the Southeast including Florida State University, University of Alabama, Georgia State University, University of Central Florida, Middle Tennessee State University, Belmont University, Clemson University and University of South Florida.
Belmont Mathematics and Computer Science Students Compete in the International Collegiate Programming Contest
Three teams of Belmont students, nine students in all, participated in the International Collegiate Programming Contest on November 6, 2016 traveling to Tennessee Tech to compete simultaneously with 154 other teams at the eight sites in the Mid-Central Region. That matches the largest turnout ever by Belmont students, and was the culmination of 10 weeks of practice outside of class for the contestants. Dr. Bill Hooper, Computer Science, is the faculty advisor.
The students were given five hours to solve ten programming challenges. The team of Tucker Dowell, Kailee Gerzema, and Emily Cottingham solved two problems, placing 83rd in the contest. James Dickenson, Heather Flanigin and Oluwatito Ebiwonjumi took slightly longer to complete one problem, and placed 99th. Chandler Capps, Katie Kruzan and Aaron Hintz, like 50 other teams, failed to complete a single problem, and took home an Honorable Mention.
The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) provides college students with opportunities to interact with students from other universities and to sharpen and demonstrate their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills. The contest provides a platform for ACM, industry, and academia to encourage and focus public attention on the next generation of computing professionals as they pursue excellence.
Mathematics Major receives Actuarial Scholarship
Elly Fell (Mathematics major, class of 2017) was awarded the Southeastern Actuaries Conference (SEAC) Scholarship for the 2016-2017 academic year. This $1,500 award is a competitive scholarship available to students at southeastern U.S. universities who plan to pursue a career as an actuary.
Mathematics Major receives Actuarial Scholarships
Mallory White (Mathematics major, class of 2016) was awarded three competitive actuarial scholarships this summer:
- The Casualty Actuaries of the Southeast Scholarship -- $1,500 award, 2 per year are given
- The Southeastern Actuaries Conference Scholarship -- $1,500 award, the number given per year varies
- The D. W. Simpson Actuarial Scholarship -- $1,000 award, 2 per year are given
This is the fifth consecutive year that a Belmont student has won at least one of these awards. The actuarial profession is usually ranked in the top five of career choices. Actuaries work in the insurance and financial sectors and specialize in analyzing the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Belmont offers a track in Actuarial Science that includes a Mathematics major and a Business minor that will prepare you for a job in this exciting field.
Mathematics Majors Pass Actuarial Exams
Tyler Hadden (mathematics major, class of 2018) passed Actuarial Exam P/1 this summer. This is the first in a series of nine exams which are required for full status as an actuary, and has a pass rate of less than 50%. There is a series of nine exams which are required for full status as an actuary.
Mallory White (Mathematics major, class of 2016) passed Actuarial Exam FM/2 on her first try in June 2015. Exam FM/2 has a pass rate of less than 50%.
Elly Fell (Mathematics major, class of 2017) passed Actuarial Exam P/1 on her first try in July 2015. Exam P/1 has a pass rate of less than 50%. There is a series of nine exams which are required for full status as an actuary.
Savannah Halliday (Mathematics major, class of 2017) passed Actuarial Exam P/1 in September 2015 and Actuarial Exam FM/2 in August 2016.
Belmont University's Belmont Actuarial Students Society is an organization for students interested in pursuing the Actuarial profession. Dr. Daniel Biles is the faculty advisor for this student organization.
Geoff Gross Finalist for Nashville Technology Council's Technology Student of the Year
Geoffrey Gross, a senior computer science major and mathematics minor, was recently selected as a finalist for the Nashville Technology Council’s (NTC) Technology Student of the Year. Each year, the NTC seeks to recognize the individuals throughout the Nashville community that are leading the charge on technology and pushing the boundaries on what has previously been done.
The Technology Student of the Year is one of many awards that will be announced on January 22, 2015 at the NTC’s Annual Gala.
A student leader on campus, Gross is involved in many things outside of the classroom. During his time at Belmont, he has been a member of Alpha Tau Omega, a national fraternity known for community service and leadership, the vice president of Belmont’s Mathematical Association of America and Association of Computing Machinery chapter and a Young Life leader, a Christian outreach organization that works with high school students.
In his nomination submission, Mathematics and Computer Science Professor Dr. Glenn Acree said, “[Geoff] is a caring and curious young man with a strong mind and a bright future. Geoff is equally talented in mathematics, as he is in computer science. This combination, along with his ease of communication, creativity and work ethic, will serve him well for a successful future in our technology community. I cannot imagine a better representative for the technology students in Nashville.”
For a full list of NTC’s awards and nominees, click here.
Belmont Seniors Present at Computing Sciences Conference
Belmont seniors Andrew Trask and David Gilmore each had papers accepted to the 12th Annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) Mid-South Conference. They presented their papers at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, TN on April 5, 2014. The CCSC Mid-South Conference seeks to provide a forum for the exchange of information on computing and computing education.Andrew Trask graduates in May with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Discrete Mathematics and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. His paper, "Distributing a Fully Connected Neural Network: A Novel Approach," describes a novel approach to distributing artificial neural networks, which reduces their evaluation time by an order of magnitude.
David Gilmore graduates in May with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. His paper, "Online-Analytical Processing: RDBMS vs Hadoop," describes a way to speed up a common business query task from seven hours to 12 minutes.
Belmont Students and Alumni Get a 'Jump Start' for Poliana
A group of Belmont students and alumni are working to increase civic responsibility through a web application that explains United States government and politics. Funded through a $15,000 investment, the app, Poliana, aggregates millions of data points on a wide range of government activity, including voting records, financial contributions, lobbying, bills and industry influence.
Nashville business incubator Jump Start Foundry awarded Poliana founders with the start-up cash during a 14-week process. Throughout the process the founders–Belmont students David Gilmore and Patrick Cason along with alumni Grayson Carroll, Kenny House and Seth Whiting– were guided and mentored by Nashville’s most influential business people, designers, developers, lawyers, marketers and entrepreneurs. From May to August, Poliana’s staff worked 60-hour weeks at The Jump Start Foundry, located in the Nashville Entrepreneurship Center on Second Avenue South, developing software, the website and business leads, preparing for investor day, listening to academic lectures from Nashville-area business executives and learning about accounting and marketing.
Their entrepreneurial jump start culminated with “investor day,” where Poliana presented a 10-minute business pitch to hundreds of potential investors from all over the country.They created Poliana as a way for Americans to get objective information about their elected officials and government. What makes Poliana different from other website and news sources, Cason said, is that it leverages big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning to compile information about the country’s political system. Poliana is working towards its beta release in spring 2014.
Grayson Carroll -- CEO at Poliana
Belmont Student Develops Popular iOS Photography App
While interning at local app development company Aloompa, Belmont senior Bryn Bodayle partnered with photographer Jeremy Cowart as the primary developer on OKDOTHIS, an iOS app that provides an idea community for photography. The app has been steadily climbing the Apple App Store charts since its launch in late November. Aloompa, which was co-founded by two Belmont alumni, specializes in mobile apps for music, food, conference and community events.
OKDOTHIS allows users to share both their favorite photos and the creative ideas (“DOs”) that led to it. Users can connect with other photographers, become inspired by their DOs, and watch as their DOs spark the creativity of others. Recent examples of inspiring “DOs”include “Use car headlights to light a subject” and “Show off a piece of art that a friend made.”
Bodayle, an honors student majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Design Communications, began studying the development of iOS apps when he was a freshman at Belmont.“I had never programmed before coming to Belmont, but even before the first smartphones, I was captivated by the potential for mobile phones,” Bodayle said. “After my first introductory programming course, I was hooked.”
The first smartphone app Bodayle created was for a project with fellow Belmont student Andrew Trask. The two were recruited to build an iPhone app for a charity fashion show at Belmont. Although Apple never approved the app, the experience earned Bodayle an internship at Aloompa.
Bodayle has been at Aloompa for almost three years and has worked on dozens of apps including OKDOTHIS for the iPhone, iPad and Mac along with working on apps for clients such as John Mayer, Kenny Chesney, Coachella and Bonnaroo. He will graduate from Belmont in May 2014.