Three PhD students and three undergraduate mathematics majors were honored with the Founders Award of Excellence at the Honors Convocation in October 2025. The Founders Award of Excellence recognizes students who embody scholarship, creativity, discovery, and leadership. About 1% of the RPI student population are honored each year. These students have not only demonstrated strong academic performance (top 10% of their class), but also leadership skills, originality, and imagination. They have demonstrated pride and responsibility in all aspects of their life at RPI, good judgment, and the ability to solve problems and develop new ideas. The 2025 Founders Award winners from mathematics, together with a summary of their notable accomplishments based on their nominating letters when available, are as follows:
Sixth year PhD student Molly Noel showed remarkable leadership in rebuilding community engagement and fostering inclusion during her service as President of RPI’s Association for Women in Mathematics and Vice President of the SIAM chapter. As a mentor in the Graduate-level in Industrial Projects for Students (G-RIPS) program, she guided international teams with both technical insight and empathy
Third year PhD student Chanaka Mapa Mudiyanselage developed a transformative solution to a decades-old computational mathematical challenge in quantum many-body theory through deep theoretical insight and practical algorithmic implementation.
First year PhD student Gabriel Weredyk had just received his undergraduate degree from RPI with a 4.0 GPA and brilliant performance in his coursework, and was part of a team of undergraduate students selected for the Mathematical Association of American prize for their paper submitted to the Mathematical and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling. Gabriel also reinvigorated the Math Club while serving as its president.
Senior math/physics dual major Ezekiel (Zeke) Gentchos demonstrated remarkable originality and a talent for innovative problem-solving both through his enthusiastic engagement in classes and in his imaginative and elegant application of concepts to simplify a complex research problem on hypergraph theory pursued under the supervision of Xiangyi Meng (physics).
Senior math/physics dual majors Alexander Chenevert and Megan Schlogl were also recognized with the Founders Award of Excellence.
