The H. Roy Brahana Prize is awarded to the student with the most exceptional undergraduate mathematics career. The award is not restricted to mathematics majors. The Brahana Prize is named in honor of H. Roy Brahana, a distinguished former professor of mathematics.
H. Roy Brahana was born in Lowell, Vermont in 1895. He received his bachelor's degree at Dartmouth College in 1916 and a Masters degree from Princeton in 1917. After a year and a half of service in the U. S. Army in World War I, he got his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1920, writing his thesis in the emerging field of topology under the direction of Oswald Veblen. He joined the mathematics department of the University of Illinois immediately after getting his Ph.D. and remained on the staff until his retirement in 1963. At Illinois his interests turned to the theory of finite metabelian groups and related geometrical structures, and he supervised many Ph.D theses in that area. He served as acting head of the department of mathematics during the academic years 1947-1948 and 1954-1955. He served as editor of the works of G. A. Miller Professor Brahana was a very popular teacher and generously gave of his time to students at all levels. He and his wife were friendly people and helped create a warm atmosphere in which new faculty could flourish.
Recipients of the H. Roy Brahana Prize
2022 Jun Loo
2021 David Brewster
2020 Xiaomin Li
2019 Jared Krandel
2018 Boyan Xu
2017 Haidong Gong
2016 Boris Xu
2015 Yiwang Chen
2014 Daniel Hirsbrunner
2013 Brian Freidin
2012 Sakulbuth Ekvittayaniphon
2012 Jinjie He
2011 Meng Guo
2011 Yi Zeng
2010 Yi-Wei Chan
2010 Brent Nelson
2009 Richard A. Moy
2008 Jack Scheff
2007 David Edward Grayson
2006 Simina Maria Boca
2005 Wing Ho Ko
2004 Noah Prince
2003 David Deuber
2002 David Smyth
2001 Michael Geline
2000 Eiji Aoki
1999 Brad Aaron Friedman
1998 Christopher Francisco
1998 Matthew Rodriguez
1997 Ivan Ivramovic
1996 Tsz Ho Chan
1996 Patrick J. Keenan
1995 Thomas A. Insel
1994 Christine Heitsch
1993 David P. Nicholls
1992 Howard Ding
1991 Jeffrey Ho
1990 Jeffrey Douglas
1988 David Bryce Secrest
1987 Reid Charles Huntsinger
1987 Brian Scott Pilz
1986 Michael D. Hollander
1986 Jackson L. Kilpatrick
1985 Michael William Bell
1984 Debra K. Borkovitz
1983 Jerome V. Walsh
1982 Oscar F. Hernandez
1981 Craig Smith
1979 Christopher Bowen
1979 Richard La Sota
1978 Michael Stillman
1977 Paul Hriljac
1976 Allen Moy
1976 Bruce Hajek
1975 Jerome Coonen
1974 Marlies Gerber
1973 William van Melle
1972 Mark Ephron
1971 Michael W. Jamieson
1971 David Reiner
1969 Stanley Paul Kerr
1969 Robert Edwin Olson
1969 Daniel Eaton Putnam
1968 Eric Douglas Bedford
1967 Edward Paul Culp
1966 Paul Harvey Cox
1965 Hugh Montgomery
1964 William Alan Edelstein
The H. Roy Brahana Prize was not awarded in 1970, 1980, 1989.