World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions (WFNMC) announces winners of Paul Erdös Award for 2010.

Two mathematics educators have been announced as winners of the prestigious Paul Erdös Award for 2010.

This Award of WFNMC, given for sustained and distinguished contribution to the enrichment of mathematics education, is strictly limited to at most three winners every two years and results from extensive refereeing and assessment of many nominated candidates.

The winners for 2010, together with brief citations, are:

Rafael Sanchez-Lamoneda, Venezuela

Citation

Professor Rafael Sanchez-Lamoneda was born on April 13th 1955. He graduated from the Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas, Venezuela, in 1977. His master degree in Mathematics comes from the Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela (1979) and his Ph.D. degree from Brandeis University, USA (1986). Since then he has been working for the Central University of Venezuela. He served also as:

• Chairman of the mathematics department, Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research, IVIC (from August 1992 to September 1995).
• Chairman of graduate studies, Department of Mathematics, IVIC (from 1995 to 1997).
• Vice-chairman of Graduate Studies in Mathematics, School of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Central University of Venezuela. (2004).

Professor Rafael Sanchez has an impressive record of participation in the organization and conduct of Mathematics Competitions in the last 30 years (both national and international). He has been a deputy team-leader (1981, 1982) and team leader (1989, 1998 - 2010) of the Venezuelan Team for IMO.

He founded the Venezuelan Association for Mathematical Competitions in year 2000 and the Kangaroo Contest in Venezuela (in 2002) with an amazingly big number of participants since the beginning. He is a chairman of the Organizing Commission to the Venezuelan Young Mathematical Olympiads since 2004 and member of the Organizing Commission to the Venezuelan Recreational Mathematical Olympiads (since 2002).

He has chaired the Selecting and Training Committee for the Venezuelan Team to the Iberoamerican Mathematical Olympiads for more than 20 years. Several times he has been either Vice-President or President of the Mathematical Olympiad for Central America and the Caribbean and of the Iberoamerican Mathematical Olympiads.

As an expert of the Iberoamerican States Organization he has given technical support in the organization of mathematics competitions to several countries of the area such as El Salvador, Panamá and Paraguay.

Yahya Tabesh, Iran

Citation

Yahya Tabesh was born on April 14th, 1950 in Tehran, Iran. He got a degree in Computer Engineering from Sharif (Arya Mehr) University of Technology, Tehran, in 1973 and graduated in Applied Mathematics from Syracuse University, USA, in 1977.

Yahya Tabesh has worked for Isfahan University of Technology (1977-1988) and Sharif University of Technology since 1988. He served as Chairman of the Department of Mathematical Sciences (1994 – 1998) and as a Director of Computing Center in the same institution since 1998.

Yahya Tabesh is strongly involved with competitions in Mathematics and Informatics. He was a co-organizer of the first Isfahan Mathematics Competition which paved the way for the Iranian Mathematics Olympiads and several other science Olympiads in Iran. He was the man behind designing and founding the mathematics houses in Iran. He was the co-author and editor of the first Iranian Mathematical Society expository Journal (Farhang and Andisheh Riazi). Yahya Tabesh has been involved in motivating many high school and university students to choose mathematics or computer sciences as their field of study. He was involved in the preparation of Iranian teams for IMO's for many years. He was the organizer or co-organizer of many Mathematics, Computer science and ICT workshops, seminars and at least three National Conferences in Iran. He was appointed by the Iranian Ministry of Education as Chairman of the Committee for 12th Grade Program Development (1993-1997) and Member of the Committee for Math and Computer Curriculum Development (1990-1998).

He was President of the Iranian Society for Popularization of Science (1998-2000), Member of the Iranian Mathematical Olympiad Committee (1987- present ), Deputy Leader of the Iranian Teams at IMO (1996-1999) and Leader of the Iranian Team at IMO (2000-2002). He was also leader of the Iranian Teams at IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics) during the period 1989 - 1991, Executive Director for West Asia Regional Contest (2003 - present), Director and Co-Founder of Iranian Schools Programming Contest (2007-present), Director and Co-Founder of Kangaroo Math Contest in Iran (2008-present).

Yahya Tabesh is the centre of a huge network of young Iranian scientists and engineers who were the beneficiaries of his vision and unfailing optimism in the work with higher ability school students.