The Department of Computational Applied Mathematics and Operations Research (CMOR) at Rice honored the achievements of eight seniors during its annual luncheon and awards ceremony on Dec. 12.
Winners of the 2024 Michael Ross Franco Award and their majors are Sol C. Kim, operations research (OPRE); Samuel H. Kwan, computational and applied mathematics (CAAM); Daniel S. Suarez Aguirre, OPRE; Yimo Wang, CAAM; Alexander G. Zalles, OPRE.
The Franco Award carries a prize of $1,000 and is named for Michael Ross Franco, who graduated from Rice with a B.A. in CAAM and mathematics in 2014. In his senior year, Franco was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Franco underwent chemotherapy for eight months, completed his course work and graduated on time.
The award was established by the Franco family to annually recognize exemplary senior undergraduate majors in CAAM/OPRE. He earned a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, and works for Cadence Design Systems in Austin.
Franco attended the 2024 CMOR awards ceremony for the first time, along with his parents.
Receiving the CMOR-Chevron Prizes for majors are Bayzhan Mukatay, OPRE; Connor P. Spears, CAAM; Grace Y. Wang, CAAM. Each won $750.