program Description

About this Prize

The prize was established by Edmond and Nancy Tomastik. Ed Tomastik grew up near Pittsburgh and earned a B.S. in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon in 1961. After Ed completed his PhD at Case Western Reserve University in 1965, with his dissertation, "Singular Quadratic Functionals of n-Dependent Variables", they moved to Storrs, CT, where Ed joined the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Connecticut. While at UConn, Ed conducted research in differential equations, receiving a varietyof grants for his work. He wrote several popular college textbooks and was instrumental in establishing the applied mathematics major at UConn.

Nancy was raised in Ohio, earning her bachelor's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music in conjunction with Case Western Reserve University and her Master's in music composition from the University of Connecticut. She taught music in various venues for 40 years to those aged 5 to 85, directed an active chamber orchestra for many years, composed official songs for the Town of Mansfield's 300th anniversary celebrations and for successful capital campaigns in area churches, in addititon to composing church hymns used in worship services.

The prize is awarded every three years.

Nomination Procedure:

Submit a letter of nomination, a complete bibliographic citation for the work being nominated, and a brief citation that explains why the work is important.