2017 O. L. Hughes Award Cyrus Koch, a BS STEMteach Pure Mathematics student received the 2017 O.L. Hughes Award. The award is annually presented to an outstanding senior mathematics major 
based on their math achievement, GPA, and leadership. It is given in memory of late Professor O.L. Hughes, who was the chair of the Math Department at UCA from 1945 to 1967. Cyrus will graduate at the 2017 Spring Commencement. Cyrus has accepted a teaching position at North Garland High School in Garland, TX and will also be assistant coach for the school’s competitive math team. He plans to attend UT-Dallas to work on a MS in pure mathematics so that he can be involved in teaching and curriculum development for the school’s ultra fast-track math program.
2017 Dorothy Long Award Andrea Weaver, a BS STEMteach Applied Mathematics student received the 2017 Dorothy Long Award, annually presented to an outstanding female junior. 
The award is given in honor of late Professor Dorothy Long, who was a mathematics faculty member and the Dean of Women at UCA in the 60’s. Andrea received a Noyce Scholarship last year and presented “Nonlinear Elliptical PDEs” at the 2017 AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meeting. She attended the 2017 Oklahoma-Arkansas MAA Section Meeting and participated in the Math Jeopardy Contest. Also, Andrea is a recipient of a SURF grant and will begin research on “Nonclassical Symmetries of Dispersion Equations,” this summer with Dr. Danny Arrigo.
2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Award Katie Burden, an MA Mathematics Education student, received the 2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Award by the unanimous recommendation of the 
Department of Mathematics faculty. She has worked in collaboration with Dr. Jason Martin on her thesis “Case Studies of Virtual Manipulative and Static Derivative Images” and presented her research at the 2017 Oklahoma-Arkansas MAA Section Meeting. Beginning in fall 2017, Katie will teach at Little Rock Central High School.