Graduates Honored with Mathematics Distinguished Service Award

The Mathematics Department awarded the 2024 Mathematics Distinguished Service Award to three graduates. This award has been established to recognize students who, through their service, have made outstanding contributions to the department, their fellow students, and the University as a whole. This year's recipients are Shaunak Bhandarkar, Shuli Chen and Jake Hofgard.

Shaunak, graduating with Bachelors in Mathematics with honors, is recognized for his service as a Math Peer Advisor for the past two years, providing helpful guidance to current and prospective majors. He was also the Speaker Series Coordinator for SUMO, the Stanford University Mathematical Organization, the by-students-for-students math club on campus.

Shuli is a graduating PhD student and is being recognized for her work creating mathematical pictures for our in-house textbook for Math 53, one of our large introductory courses. This work greatly contributed to the success of the new version of the course, benefiting hundreds of Stanford students every year. In addition, Shuli has served on the board of SWIMM, Stanford Women in Math Mentoring, as well as mentoring undergraduate students through the program. She is also a great TA and has mentored first-time TAs in the department.

Jake, also graduating with Bachelors in Mathematics with honors, has served as the Tutoring Coordinator for SUMO for the past two years. SUMO tutoring provides support for students in our introductory courses and Jake’s expert coordination has ensured that the program has been able to serve many students across campus.

The three students were recognized and celebrated at the Mathematics Commencement ceremony, on Sunday, June 18, 2024.