From left to right: Rita and Gene Essner, Parents of David; Brian Gill, UM Student and Essner Top Ten Winner; Dr. Paul McDougle, UM Assoc. Prof. of Math (2000) TIMELINE The 2011-2012 Essner Preliminary Exam was held on December 1, 2011. The 2011-2012 School Winners and Students with Superior Scores are posted in Exams/Results. The 2011-2012 Essner Final Exam for students with Superior Scores will be held on January 28, 2012 at the University of Miami Cox Science Center. (Map and Directions) The David Essner Mathematics Competition was established as a memorial to David Essner and is sponsored by the Essner Family and the University of Miami Department of Mathematics. Since the academic year 1981-1982 it has been an annual competition among the secondary school students of Miami-Dade County in Florida. The competition is open to all Miami-Dade County secondary schools. Prior to November 1, each participating school is to have a Supervisor who determines the students to participate and arranges for the Preliminary Exam given at the individual schools on the first Thursday of December. The Supervisor also acts as a liaison between the Administrator of the Competition and the participating students. The Final Exam will be in late January or early February each year, and is open to those students who make a superior score on the Preliminary Exam. David Essner graduated from South Miami High School in 1975. While in high school he participated in a college level mathematics program, and by means of this and self study he was prepared for graduate study in mathematics when he entered the University of Miami in 1975. David enjoyed mathematics problem solving and mathematics competitions, and as an undergraduate student at Miami he participated in the Putnam Mathematics competition four times; in fact he delayed his graduation so that he could participate the fourth time. One year David was the top scorer on a three person University of Miami team that ranked 28th on the exam; normally about 300 university teams, including one from each of the prestigious universities, compete in the Putnam exam. In 1979 David graduated from Miami with majors in mathematics and physics. He then entered graduate study in mathematics at Miami and was awarded a University Fellowship. By reason of his advanced coursework as an undergraduate he was at the beginning virtually ready for the Ph.D qualifying exam which he passed at the end of his first year of graduate study. During his second year of graduate study, in Spring 1981, he was fatally injured in a motorbike accident. For further information about the competition please contact: The David Essner Mathematics Competition Department of Mathematics University of Miami 1365 Memorial Drive Ungar 515 Coral Gables, FL 33146 305.284.2575 essner@math.miami.edu The Essner Competition Administrators are Dr. Paul McDougle, Dr. Subramanian Ramakrishnan, and Dr. Kenneth Baker.

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