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Date: June 2, 1998
Andrew M. Neitzke Named Princeton Valedictorian for 1998,
Jacob A. Rasmussen is SalutatorianMathematics Majors Received Top Academic Prizes over Four Years
Princeton, N.J. -- Two mathematics majors who shared top academic honors throughout their four years at Princeton today represented the Class of 1998 as the valedictorian and Latin salutatorian. Andrew M. Neitzke, of Narberth, Pa., delivered the valedictory; Jacob Andrew Rasmussen of Barrington, R.I., gave the Salutatory oration, which at Princeton is given in Latin.
Neitzke and Rasmussen were selected by the Committee on Examinations and Standing and confirmed by a vote of the Princeton faculty in late April.
At commencement, Neitzke and Rasmussen shared the Middleton Miller ’29 Prize, given by the Department of Mathematics for the best independent work. Neitzke and Rasmussen previously shared the Class of 1939 Princeton Scholar Award, given each fall to seniors who have achieved the highest standing in all prior college work at Princeton. They also shared the George B. Wood Legacy Sophomore Prize and the Freshman First Honor Prize, given for outstanding work in the second and first years of study, respectively. Both are recipients of the Goldwater Scholarship.
Valedictorian
Neitzke, 21, completed a senior thesis in the area of mathematical physics under Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics Elliott H. Lieb. Neitzke described his senior project as a primer on the Atyah-Singer Index Theorem, which combines the fields of mathematics and physics. "It created a whole new field of research," Neitzke said, "but it is not very accessible to undergraduates. I wrote the kind of textbook I wished I had had."
The son of Susan Neitzke of Narberth and Frederick Neitzke of Melbourne, Fla., Andrew Neitzke is a graduate of Harriton High School in Lower Merion, Pa.
In the fall, Neitzke received a prestigious Marshall Scholarship from the British Embassy, which pays for two years of study in Great Britain. Neitzke will spend the next two years at Cambridge University. In the first year, he will pursue a one-year master’s program, Part Three of the Mathematical Tripos. In the second year, Neitzke plans to do independent research. He hopes to later earn a Ph.D. in mathematical physics.
Salutatorian
Rasmussen, 22, the son of Dr. Steven and Frances Rasmussen of Barrington, completed a senior thesis in the field of manifold topology under the direction of Assistant Professor of Mathematics Zoltan Szabo. In mathematics, the term manifold refers to a surface, which can be of one or more than one dimension, that can be bent or stretched but retains certain properties called "invariants." Rasmussen’s research concerned the Seiberg-Witten Invariants, which these two physicists discovered in 1994 at the Institute for Advanced Study. Rasmussen used the Seiberg-Witten Invariants to examine aspects of certain four-dimension manifolds, whose differences in smooth structure distinguish them from common two-dimensional surfaces, such as the skin of a donut.
Next fall, Rasmussen will begin a Ph.D. program in topology at Harvard. At Princeton, he has been president of the Badminton Club, a member of the Bridge Club and a member of Habitat for Humanity. In 1995, he received the Class of 1861 Prize from the Mathematics Department.
He is a graduate of Barrington High School in Barrington.
As required of all Princeton salutatorians, Rasmussen has studied Latin, including a Classics course on slander and a course on Vergil while at Princeton.
Photographs available at:
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pictures/98/valsal.html