The Chavin Prize

Purpose of the Award

The purpose of this award is to bestow an honor on one or more HMC students who have distinguished themselves through authorship of a paper in the mathematical sciences.

Description

All HMC students receive a firm grounding in mathematics as well as in the sciences which use mathematics in a significant way, and most HMC students have the capacity to undertake study projects of high quality. Thus, the College can and does encourage independent work of professional quality and most students make use of the opportunity. Very often this work culminates in a written report or paper published by Harvey Mudd College (such as Mathematics Clinic project reports or Interface), or published in technical journals (over 130 mathematical publications have appeared in the professional literature with an HMC student as an author or co-author). Most frequently, however, independent study work in the mathematical sciences by HMC students culminates in a written project report in conjunction with classroom work, or as a document computer program for the Mathematics Laboratory.

The Chavin Prize was created to recognize and encourage high quality student papers in the mathematical sciences. Any paper, project report, or documented computer program in the general area of the mathematical sciences authored or co-authored by an HMC students may be considered for this award.

Size of Award

Each recipient of this award will be granted a prize of not less than $100 from the earnings of an endowment fund established for that purpose. In case of multiple authorship of the winning paper or papers, the awards may be apportioned. This grant is not to be considered as a replacement for funds which the recipient may receive from any other source.

Selection Procedure

The selection of award recipients will be made by the Mathematics Department from among papers which have been submitted to the Department by student authors, or nominated for this award by an HMC faculty member.

Selection Criteria

The selection criteria to be used for this award have been designed and approved by the Mathematics Department, and appear overleaf. The Chavin Prize shall be awarded strictly on the basis of merit, and not on financial need.

Announcement of Awards

Chavin Prize recipients shall be officially notified of their awards by an award letter which shall set forth a brief review of the considerations leading to the award. Copies of the award letter will be furnished to the President, Vice President for Development, Dean of Faculty, Dean of Students, Director of Business Affairs, Dean of Admission, and Mr. Henry Chavin.

When No Candidates Can Be Found

Awards need not be granted in a year when worthy candidates cannot be found. In this event the money set aside for the award will be added to the corpus of the endowment fund.

Selection Criteria for Chavin Prize

Student Summary

Each paper submitted for the Chavin Prize shall include a one-page summary addressing the following points:

  1. Name of supervising faculty member (if any)
  2. What is the intended audience for the paper? Is it written, for example, only for experts in a narrow specified field? Is it accessible to the average competent mathematician? Is it written for physicists? For undergraduates?
  3. What is the goal of the paper? Does it explain known material (perhaps with examples)? Does it summarize the current state of knowledge in some specified field? Does it offer an original contribution of methods or results? What are they?

Reviewer Criteria

Individuals reviewing papers submitted for the Chavin Prize are asked to submit a brief written evaluation, including responses to the following questions:

  1. Is the presentation clear and appropriate for the intended audience?
  2. If the paper is expository, or a summary of existing knowledge, how well does it achieve this goal?
  3. Was the paper edited carefully and proofread?
  4. If the paper includes a computer program, does the program meet the usual standards of documentation and testing?
  5. If the paper contains original results or methods, how much originality has been displayed, and what is the significance of the work?