Women in math to honor KU math professor with national award in Phoenix

LAWRENCE -- Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, a University of Kansas professor of mathematics, will receive the 14th annual Louise Hay Award for Contributions to Mathematics Education during the Joint Mathematics Meetings Jan. 8, 2004, in Phoenix, Ariz.

Selected by her colleagues in the Association for Women in Mathematics, Pasik-Duncan also will be honored by members of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America attending the joint meetings.

The award recognizes Pasik-Duncan's wide range of outstanding work as a mathematician, researcher and teacher in the United States and in her native Poland, particularly her efforts to connect mathematics to other fields for students of all ages.

Jack Porter, chair of KU's mathematics department, said that "her philosophy is that every student from high school senior to undergraduate to graduate will experience research that bridges mathematics with different fields -- for example, biology, physics, chemistry, economics and medicine. She has worked to make this vision come alive."

In addition to teaching mathematics, Pasik-Duncan researches stochastic processes and supports mathematics education at elementary schools as well as for women in science and engineering.

For those unfamiliar with higher mathematics, Pasik-Duncan suggests "replacing 'stochastic process' with 'random process.' Everything around me is random, so every system around me has some randomness." Her research has applications in analyzing uncertainty in fields such as the stock market, telecommunications and biomedicine.

Pasik-Duncan and her husband, Tyrone Duncan, KU professor of math, are working with Dr. Ivan Osorio, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at KU Medical Center, and with Mark Frei at Flint Hills Scientific LLC in Lawrence, to analyze brain waves. They are seeking data that will make it possible to predict seizures in epilepsy. Frei is one of Pasik-Duncan's former students.

Pasik-Duncan said, "I'm most proud of being able to build and make connections with the sciences, in engineering and technology. Crossing boundaries in research fascinates me the most. Integrating research, teaching and learning -- this is what makes my life most enjoyable."

Since joining KU's mathematics faculty in 1983, she has held visiting appointments in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Japan and China, and has held offices and served on committees and as an editor at the Polish Mathematical Society, the Society of Applied Mathematics and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Control System Society.

Pasik-Duncan has mentored KU students in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program of the National Science Foundation for 10 years. To bridge connections among high school students, mathematics and science teachers, and research groups studying control systems, she has taught NSF Control Workshops. In addition in her role as a co-investigator of projects supported by NSF and the Sprint Corp., Pasik-Duncan has involved graduate students in adaptive control discussions.

From 1994 to 1996, she built a bridge between students at Sunset Hill Elementary School and KU's mathematics department by teaching an algebra and probability class to fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders. For the past 10 years, Pasik-Duncan has organized well-attended annual workshops for fifth-graders. Her elementary students won regional and state mathematics contests.

Her numerous honors for research and teaching include an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Third Millennium Medal for outstanding achievements and contributions and a Member Distinguished Award from IEEE Control Systems Society in 2000. In 2001, she became an IEEE fellow for outstanding contributions to Identification and Stochastic Adaptive Control. She also is a National Science Foundation Career Advancement Award recipient.

At KU, Pasik-Duncan received a 1996 Kemper Award for outstanding teaching and won the 2002 H.O.P.E. award -- Honor for an Outstanding Progressive Educator -- from the senior class.

Pasik-Duncan is the second KU professor to receive the award. In 1996, Judith Roitman, KU professor of math, shared the award with a Michigan State University professor.