The Department was awarded a $20,000 grant from the New Mexico Eisenhower Foundation. The funds will be used to hold a workshop for New Mexico teachers of the visually impaired and teachers of mathematics on the use of the materials developed by the Mathematics Accessible to Visually Impaired Students (MAVIS) project within the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

For more information contact: sgeiger@nmsu.edu (575) 646-2337

Reinhard Laubenbacher was awarded a $98,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for work in biodiversity.

For more information contact: reinhard@nmsu.edu (575) 646-2835

Five graduate students from the Department presented talks on their research at the annual Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference held in Atlanta, GA in October 2000.

For more information contact: jalvarez@nmsu.edu (575) 646-2717

The Department of Mathematical Sciences fielded one of the 378 teams in the Math Quiz 2000, earning 14th place. This was a millennium celebration with a mathematical competition that lasted for 24 hours and it took place via the Internet with considerable support from their team which consisted of graduate students Omar Colon-Reyes, Luis Garcia, Michael Kmetz, Luis Martinez, Parag Mehta, Brandy Stigler, and Chris Weaver as well as faculty members K, N. Raghavan, Susana Salamanca-Riba, Caroline Sweezy, and George Voutsadakis.

For more information contact: ssalaman@nmsu.edu (575) 646-2305 or csweezy@nmsu.edu (575) 646-2129

John Harding will be awarded The International Quantum Structures Association Research Award in April 2001. The ceremony will take place at the IQS conference in Cesenatico Italy.

For more information contact: jhardingavidp@nmsu.edu (575) 646-4315

David Pengelley has been asked to deliver an hour Invited Address for the Mathematical Association of America at the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings in January, 2002, in San Diego.

For more information contact: davidp@nmsu.edu (575) 646-2723

Josefina Alvarez and Joseph Lakey (Mathematical Sciences, NMSU) and Cristina Pereyra (Mathematics and Statistics, UNM), received $20,941 from the National Science Foundation to organize the next three sessions of the New Mexico Analysis Seminar. This seminar is an annual three-day meeting, now in its fourth year. Its principal goal is to provide an opportunity for scientific exchange among mathematical analysis students and faculty in the Southwest region and beyond. The conference site alternates between New Mexico State University and The University of New Mexico. The centerpiece of the seminar is a series of one hour lectures given by a first rate mathematician who is also a first rate lecturer. This year's session is held March 2-4, 2001, in Albuquerque.

For more information contact: jalvarez@nmsu.edu (575) 646-2717 or jlakey@nmsu.edu (575) 646-2417