College Dean, Professor and Former Students Win Chauvenet Prize

College Dean Dennis DeTurck, mathematics professor Herman Gluck, and alumni Daniel Pomerleano, C’06, and Shea Vela-Vick, GR’09, have been selected by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) as the winners of the 2012 Chauvenet Prize for their article, “The Four Vertex Theorem and Its Converse.” The prize is given to the author or authors of an outstanding expository article on a mathematical topic.

In addition to being dean of the College, DeTurck also serves as the Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences, a professor of Mathematics, and the faculty master of Riepe College House. He received teaching honors including an SAS Ira Abrams Award, a University Lindback Award and the MAA’s Haimo Award for Distinguished Teaching. DeTurck also established the Access Science program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and aims to improve math and science teaching in West Philadelphia schools.

Gluck studies differential geometry, dynamical systems and topology of manifolds. In 2002, he was honored with the Dean’s Award for Mentorship Research, which is given to faculty members who have cultivated students’ abilities to conduct meaningful research. Gluck is also a recipient of a University Lindback Award and has been a member of the Penn community since 1966.

Pomerleano completed his undergraduate degree in mathematics at Penn in 2007. He won the Waldemar J. Trjitzinsky Memorial Award in 2004 and is a lecturer at math seminars and conferences. Vela-Vick received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the College in 2009 and is currently completing his third year as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University.