Alumni Newsletter: Spring '98

Profile of a Math Major - Elizaveta Pachepsky

One of our finest math majors is Elizaveta Pachepsky, known to everyone as Leeza. She never gets less than a straight A in a Math class and it is a rare thing for her to slip to an A- in anything else. She is already a published author of a paper on convection in the Earth's mantle which appeared in Earth Planetary Science Letters and originated in her experience as a summer intern at the University of Minnesota's Supercomputer Institute.

Despite the fact that Leeza is one of most well liked students, you are advised not to mess with her. For the past four years, she has been a serious student of Akikai Akido, a form of martial arts. This is one of the ways in which she relaxes from a life filled with study, work, and the whole process of becoming an educated and cultured person. She loves classical music and loves to cook. She has a very busy life.

Leeza is the President of the Society of Undergraduate Mathematics Students (SUMS). At a SUMS meeting there is always some interesting activity , perhaps a live lecture about mathematics or some science or math oriented film. Refreshments are provided and it is a good opportunity for undergraduates to meet fellow students and faculty. Under Elizaveta's direction, these lectures and films have reached new levels of interest and just plain fun. The lectures this year, introductions to algebraic topology and fourier series, have come complete with props and videos. A film, Mindwalker starring Liv Ullmann, made people think about the relation between science and society. SUMS takes students through new and unexplored territory that would not be covered in the classroom.

Leeza is one of the best and most popular teaching assistants. Together with Professor Naomi Jochnowitz, she made the enrollment of the Quest course, Math 171, skyrocket to unprecedented levels. Math 171 is a very challenging honors calculus course. Professor Jochnowitz gives a lot of the credit for the success to Leeza.

Leeza seems to be involved in everything. This year she is a teaching assistant in Math 141, the regular calculus course. She is performing a vital role in pioneering the introduction of the computer homework program WebWork into Math 141. Leeza is the web master for Math 141. She makes the system go and is an expert bug exterminator. In anything new involving computers, someone like Leeza is absolutely necessary to avoid disaster.

Leeza is a winner of the Stoddard Prize in Mathematics. When she graduates, we will miss her, not only for her excellence in math and not only for all the ways in which she helps the department, but most of all for her warmth, humor, and fundamental seriousness.