2003 Oct 06
On Sunday, October 6th, 2003, UW's School of Computer Science's youngest PhD graduate student Erik Demaine was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowships in the United States.
Erik's academic career began when he toppled Dalhousie University's age barrier by being admitted at 12, and was admitted to the University of Waterloo at 14. After earning his PhD, Demaine became something of a Boston celebrity when he was hired at MIT at the age of 20, one of the youngest assistant professors to set foot on campus.
Prof. Erik Demaine, now 22, will receive $500,000 US in "no strings attached" support over the next five years, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced Sunday. In an overview of recipients, the MacArthur Foundation describes Demaine as a "computational geometer tackling and solving difficult problems related to folding and bending—moving readily between the theoretical and the playful, with a keen eye to revealing the former in the latter."
Several hundred nominators assist the foundation in identifying people who should be considered for a MacArthur Fellowship. Nominators, who are appointed each year and serve anonymously, are chosen from many fields of endeavour and challenged to identify people who demonstrate exceptional creativity and promise.
The foundation is named for John D. MacArthur (1897-1978), who developed and owned Bankers Life and Casualty Company and other businesses, as well as considerable property in Florida and New York. His wife Catherine (1909-1981) held positions in many of these companies and served as a director of the foundation.
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Tel: 519-888-4567 x33293
Fax: 519-885-1208
Contact | Feedback: newseditor@cs.uwaterloo.ca | David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science | Faculty of Mathematics
Last modified: Thursday, 06-Oct-2005 14:30:26 EDT
