HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Treisman

Noted mathematician Philip Uri Treisman was recently honored by the Harvard Foundation for his notable contributions to the teaching of mathematical skills to educationally disadvantaged youth at the annual "Advancing Minorities and Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics" science conference at Harvard's Science Center. Treisman is a professor of mathematics and executive director of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, Austin. He is widely known for creating the Emerging Scholars Program (ESP), designed to increase the number of minority and other underserved students who succeed in mathematics.

"In addition to being an excellent mathematician, Uri Treisman is the finest example of a teacher who can inspire an interest in mathematics in educationally disadvantaged students of all backgrounds," said S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation. "He is an advocate for equal opportunity in education, and we are delighted to honor him at Harvard."

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Harvard Foundation has renamed the yearly science program, "The Annual Albert Einstein Science Conference: Advancing Minorities and Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics" in honor of the distinguished Nobel Prize-winning scientist who visited historically black colleges to demonstrate his commitment to equal education and civil rights, and who spoke out against racism and anti-Semitism.

Treisman joined some 30 Harvard undergraduate students and approximately 100 boys and girls from Boston and Cambridge public schools for the foundation's annual "Partners in Science" program. This program features lectures, demonstrations, and interactive experiments at the Science Center for inner-city junior high school students conducted by Harvard science faculty and College students. The program was co-sponsored by Harvard Hillel, the Harvard Society of Black Scientists and Engineers, the Black Students Association, and the Chemistry Club.