The Karl Menger Award

Menger

The Karl Menger Award, first given in 1989, is a cash prize awarded annually by the Department of Mathematics for outstanding performance in mathematical competitions. The selection committee is appointed by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Main prizes are awarded to top three Putnam participants and members of Outstanding MCM teams. Secondary prizes to members of Finalist MCM teams.

Karl Menger (1902-1985) was a distinguished twentieth century mathematician who made major contributions to a number of areas of mathematics, including dimension theory, logic, lattice theory, differential geometry, and graph theory. Menger, who held academic positions in Europe and the United States, was widely published. The Karl Menger Award was established by a gift to Duke University from George and Eva Menger-Hammond, the daughter of Karl Menger.

2023
Putnam Competition: Harry Chen, Yijia Liu, Nguyen (Nathan) Nguyen
MCM Outstanding Team: Enzo Moraes Mescall, Nicolas Salazar, Erik Novak

2022
Yijia Liu, Nguyen (Nathan) Nguyen, Zeyu Shen

2021
Nguyen (Nathan) Nguyen, Kevin Tu, Haoyang Yu

2020
Alex Damian, Jung Hwang, Yi Li

2019 
Putnam Competition: Alex Damian, Jerry Liu, Shicheng (Samson) Rao
ICM Outstanding Team: Vinit Ranjan, Junmo Ryang, Albert Xue

2018
Feng Gui, Jung Hwang, Yikai Wu, Zhenhua Liu

2017
Trung Can, Alex Damian, Tony Qiao, Cheryl Xueying Wang, Vinit Ranjan, Junmo Ryang, Kelly Zhang

2016
Alex Milu, Trung Can, Feng Gui, Tony Qiao

2015
Trung Can, Alex Milu, Tony Qiao

2014
Daniel Vitek, Leslie Lei Lei, Tony Qiao

2013
Daniel Vitek, Michael Banaszek, David Builes, Alexandru Milu

2012
Daniel Vitek, Michael Banaszek, Vivek Bhattacharya

2011
Misha Lavrov, Vivek Bhattacharya, Siyang Chen, Vivek Bhattacharya, Alan Guo, Misha Lavrov

2010
Misha Lavrov, Wutichai Chongchitmate, Matthew Rognlie, Peng Shi, Vivek Bhattacharya, Veronica Ciocanel, Alan Guo, Yingyi Shen, Daniel Vitek, Jiaqi Yan

2009
Jason Ferguson, Misha Lavrov, Aaron Pollack, Wutichai Chongchitmate, Matthew Rognlie

2008
Joonhahn Cho, Brian Choi, Tirasan Khandhawit, Aaron Pollack, Lingren Zhang

2007
Jason Ferguson, Tirasan Khandhawit, Peng Shi, Lingren Zhang

2006
Kshipra Bhawalkar, Nikifor Bliznashki, Lingren Zhang

2005
Nikifor Bliznashki, Oaz Nir, Lingren Zhang

2004
David Greig Arthur, Nikifor Bliznashki, Oaz Nir

2003
David Greig Arthur, Matthew Atwood, Melanie Eggers Wood

2002
David Greig Arthur, Kevin David Lacker, Melanie Eggers Wood

2001
John Joseph Clyde, Jonathan Greely Curtis, Kevin David Lacker, Carl Alexander Miller

2000
John Joseph Clyde, Michael James Colsher, Kevin David Lacker

1999
John Joseph Clyde, Jonathan Greely Curtis, Jr, Kevin David Lacker

1998
Jonathan Curtis, Andrew Dittmer, Noam Shazeer

1997
Andrew Dittmer, Robert Schneck, Noam Shazeer

1996
Johanna Miller, Noam Shazeer, Tung Tran

1995
James Harrington, Robert Schneck, Noam Shazeer

1994
Andrew Dittmer, Craig Gentry, Jeffrey Vanderkam

1993
Craig Gentry, Alexander Hartemink, Jeffrey Vanderkam

1992
David Bigham, David Jones, Jeffrey Vanderkam

1991
Jeanne Nielsen, William Schneeberger, Jeffrey Vanderkam

1990
William Schneeberger