• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Renowned Mathematics Researcher for Gifted Children Retires

Posted on: Friday, 9 February 2007, 09:00 CST

After more than five decades teaching and developing mathematics materials for precocious elementary and secondary school students, educator Burt Kaufman has announced his retirement.

Kaufman, who began his career as a teacher in Baltimore, became one of the nation's leading mathematics curriculum developers, directing national research projects targeting America's most talented young mathematicians. He moved to South Florida, first in 1963 to design the mathematics courses at the experimental Nova schools in Broward County, and again in 1981 when he established the county's Mathematics Education for Gifted Secondary School Students Program (Project MEGSSS).

In 1993 he created the Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS), a teaching and research institute based in Plantation, FL, which teaches more than a thousand mathematically-talented students in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. IMACS also has centers in Connecticut, Philadelphia, PA, Raleigh, NC, and St. Louis, MO.

One of the most significant results of Kaufman's efforts is the Elements of Mathematics (EM) series of textbooks, the product of a collaboration of mathematicians from around the globe coordinated by Kaufman. The EM series has been converted to electronic form and is now available as an online course for secondary school students.

Kaufman understood the importance of developing mathematical skills in the early school years. Together with educators from the State University of New York at Buffalo and Franklin and Marshall College, he developed a course to develop intuitive mathematical skills in elementary school students. This formed the basis of the mathematics enrichment classes now taught at IMACS centers. The research effort continues, now led by the current IMACS research director, Ted Sweet, a former student of Kaufman's who, like so many other Kaufman protégés, holds a Ph.D. in mathematics.

Kaufman's indefatigable and selfless efforts in championing the cause of quality education for mathematically-talented young people have been treasured by the multitude of those who have benefited. Since announcing his retirement, Kaufman has received over a hundred letters of appreciation from researchers, friends, colleagues, students and parents.

World-renowned mathematician Peter Hilton, currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Binghamton University, State University of New York, writes, "As I look back on Burt's massive contribution to the reform of secondary school mathematics, I cannot help but reflect on the uniqueness of that contribution."

For Kaufman, it is the letters from former students that provide the most pleasure. "The mathematics program you created changed my life," writes Cara O'Brien, MD, currently a third year resident in Internal Medicine at Duke University.

Adam Martinsek, Professor of Statistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign writes, "I owe so much of my professional happiness to Burt, because without him I probably would never have been so excited about math." US Senator-elect Benjamin Cardin, (D --MD), writes "City College [Baltimore] was where I began to develop my leadership skills, and it was under the tutelage of Burt Kaufman."

Kaufman's colleagues have compiled the letters they have received from all over the world and posted them on the company's Web site. To view a selection of the letters as well as a timeline of Kaufman's career, please visit http://www.imacs.org/kaufman.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category