Alumnus Awarded
Purdue Honorary Degree

Andrew J. Majda returned to the West Lafayette campus on May 13 to receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Majda is the Morse Professor of Arts and Sciences at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. Born and raised in northwest Indiana, he studied mathematics at Purdue as an undergraduate in the late sixties and fondly remembers two of his math instructors, J. J. Price and former Purdue pr ofessor Dale Thoe.

In retrospect

Casper Goffman came to Purdue in 1957 as a visitor and never left. His research and vigilance were important in guiding the transition of the Department of Mathematics during the 60's from a largely service-oriented department to the vigorous and active group that has made Purdue an important center of mathematical research as well as serv ice and education. Felix Haas, who served as Department Head during that period and la ter as Executive Vice-President (Provost), recently commented, "When I tried to attract young mathematicians here from the major centers, Goffman's reputation was a major ass et." Goffman's research included Fourier analysis, potential theory, and geometric mea sure theory. Since receiving his doctorate in 1942, he has published in every decade u p to this one! He has written several books, the most recent in 1997 with T. Nishiura and D. Waterman.