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 Essner Final Exam is from 9:00am to 12:00pm on February 6, 2010 in Room 126 of the Cox Science Center at the University of Miami. All school winners and those who made superior scores on the Essner Preliminary Exam are invited to take the Final Exam; the names of these students are found in Competition Results 2009/2010 on this website. Those students who take the Final Exam should bring pencils and a scientific or graphic calculator to the exam. Maps and parking directions have been emailed to the school Supervisors. This will also be emailed to anyone who submits a request to p.mcdougle@math.miami.edu. 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 each school winner and others 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 exams please contact: Paul McDougle UM Math Department 1365 Memorial Drive Ungar 515 Coral Gables, FL 33146 305.284.2575 p.mcdougle@math.miami.edu