David Essner Mathematics Competition
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 .
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 several 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
Department of Mathematics
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL 33124
(305) 284-2575
paulmcd@math.miami.edu