Melanie Wood: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 19:48, 13 December 2005

Melanie Eggers Wood, born 1981 in Indiana, was the first, and until 2004, the only female American to make the U.S. Math Olympiad Team, receiving silver medals in the 1998 and 1999 International Mathematical Olympiad.

Melanie's mother, Shirley, began teaching her mathematics at age three, in order to instill in Melanie the spirit and memory of her father Archie (a middle-school math teacher), who died of cancer when Melanie was only six weeks old. By age four, she was learning linear algebra as a result of being "bored walking around the mall".

Melanie's incredible mathematical ability would emerge in seventh grade. She entered a national contest, MathCounts; she finished first in city, first in state, and 40th in the entire nation, having no prior preparation or knowledge of the contest itself. The following year (having the ability to prepare ahead of time) she finished 10th in the nation. Her success brought with it a "sense of isolation"--neither her friends nor her mother could understand the complex mathematics Melanie was able to solve with relative ease nor the importance they held in young Melanie's life, and the one person who could have, her late math teacher father, was not there to share in her triumphs. Over time, she came to accept her loss, and in doing so gained the spirit and memory of her father, as her mother had hoped when she first started teaching Melanie mathematics.

She won a Gates Cambridge Scholarship in 2003, in addition to becoming the first American woman and second woman overall to be named a Putnam Fellow. In 2004, she won the Morgan Prize. After an undergraduate career at Duke University as an Angier B. Duke Scholar, she now studies mathematics at Princeton University.

In 2005, she was named the Deputy Leader of the U.S. team for the 2005 International Mathematical Olympiad.

Trivia

Melanie's mother, a foreign language teacher, tried to teach Melanie both French and Spanish along with math; those attempts were unsuccessful and she elected to allow Melanie to concentrate on mathematics.
Melanie is one of a handful of Duke math team students to have her number "retired". Unlike many math students who choose irrational numbers, Melanie's number was the simple "2".
In addition to mathematics, Melanie has an interest in theater, having been involved in several Duke University productions. She sees the two having commonality, both requiring a degree of technical and creative abilities.

External links

A Conversation with Melanie Wood (Math Horizons magazine)
The Girl Who Loved Math (Discover magazine)

Template:Mathbiostub

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 '''Melanie Eggers Wood''', born [[1981]] in [[Indiana]], was the first, and until [[2004]], the only female American to make the U.S. Math Olympiad Team, receiving silver medals in the [[1998]] and [[1999]] [[International Mathematical Olympiad]].
-Melanie's mother began teaching her mathematics at age three, in order to instill in Melanie the spirit memory of her father, Archie (a middle-school math teacher), who died of cancer when Melanie was only six weeks old.  By age four, she was learning linear algebra as a result of being "bored walking around the mall".
+Melanie's mother, Shirley, began teaching her mathematics at age three, in order to instill in Melanie the spirit and memory of her father Archie (a middle-school math teacher), who died of cancer when Melanie was only six weeks old.  By age four, she was learning linear algebra as a result of being "bored walking around the mall".
-Melanie's incredible mathematical ability would emerge in seventh grade.  She entered a national contest, [[MathCounts]]; she finished first in city, first in state, and 40th in the entire nation, having no prior preparation or knowledge of the contest itself.  The following year (having the ability to prepare ahead of time) she finished 10th in the nation.
+Melanie's incredible mathematical ability would emerge in seventh grade.  She entered a national contest, [[MathCounts]]; she finished first in city, first in state, and 40th in the entire nation, having no prior preparation or knowledge of the contest itself.  The following year (having the ability to prepare ahead of time) she finished 10th in the nation.  Her success brought with it a "sense of isolation"--neither her friends nor her mother could understand the complex mathematics Melanie was able to solve with relative ease nor the importance they held in young Melanie's life, and the one person who could have, her late math teacher father, was not there to share in her triumphs.  Over time, she came to accept her loss, and in doing so gained the spirit and memory of her father, as her mother had hoped when she first started teaching Melanie mathematics.
 She won a [[Gates Cambridge Scholarship]] in 2003, in addition to becoming the first American woman and second woman overall to be named a [[Putnam Fellow]]. In 2004, she won the [[Morgan Prize]]. After an undergraduate career at [[Duke University]] as an Angier B. Duke Scholar, she now studies mathematics at [[Princeton University]].
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Trivia==
+*Melanie's mother, a foreign language teacher, tried to teach Melanie both French and Spanish along with math; those attempts were unsuccessful and she elected to allow Melanie to concentrate on mathematics.
 *Melanie is one of a handful of Duke math team students to have her number "retired".  Unlike many math students who choose irrational numbers, Melanie's number was the simple "2".
 *In addition to mathematics, Melanie has an interest in theater, having been involved in several Duke University productions.  She sees the two having commonality, both requiring a degree of technical and creative abilities.