Category: News and Updates

Nancy D. Anderson Mathematics Research Awards

Posted on by Becky Burner
Nancy Anderson

The Nancy D. Anderson Research Award program was established in 2024 to encourage and recognize excellence in research and writing of undergraduate students in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The awards are funded by the Nancy D. Anderson Mathematics Library Endowment Fund, which was established to honor Professor Nancy D. Anderson, the Head of the Mathematics Library at UIUC from 1972 to 2000.

  • Two prizes will be awarded annually.
  • The Award is to be paid in the form of a check or direct deposit to the student’s account and must be in addition to and NOT replace or offset existing financial aid or university scholarship support from the institution. For group papers or projects, the award can be distributed among the group members.

Application eligibility:

The submitted paper or project must have been written or developed during the Spring-Fall 2025 semesters for a course within the Department of Mathematics, or as an independent study project for credit, which must be supervised by a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics. In addition:

  • The paper or project must utilize the library collections or services at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
  • All applicants must be enrolled undergraduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign during the current academic year: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026.
  • Submissions may include analytical essays, creative essays, research papers, visualizations, and digital projects.
  • Submissions from individuals or groups will be accepted.

Application Procedure:

  • Your submission must be sponsored by a faculty member, instructor, or the program director of the course or program for which the paper or project was submitted. [Please use the faculty sponsorship form which is included in the application]
  • For group submissions, all members must be listed on the application and sign the application form.
  • Email a copy of your paper as a PDF or Word Document along with the completed faculty sponsor form to Mathematics Library, at math@library.illinois.edu. For online digital projects, please include a link to your project in your email.
  • The deadline for submissions is December 22, 2025

Selection Criteria:

The selection committee will consist of two faculty members from the Department of Mathematics and two faculty members from the University Library and may include emeritus faculty. The committee members will evaluate the submitted papers or projects based on the author’s effective use of library resources, the quality of the research, as well as the following criteria:

  • Innovation and originality of the research.
  • Quality of analysis and interpretation.
  • Potential contribution to scholarship in Mathematics.
  • Excellence and clarity in writing and thoroughness of documentation.
  • Depth and breadth in the use of library resources, including library materials and databases.

 

Nancy D. Anderson Mathematics Research Awards – Application Form

This application form can be emailed along with the paper or project that is being submitted by the student or the faculty member, instructor, or program director.

Your submission is not finalized until we have received a completed copy of this form.

Anderson-Awards-Application-Form

Announcement of the Nancy D. Anderson Undergraduate Research Award Winner.

Posted on by Edmund Kwadwo Fosu

 

Nancy Anderson

On behalf of the Award Committee, I am pleased to announce the winner of the inaugural Nancy D. Anderson Undergraduate Research Award. This award celebrates excellence in research and writing among undergraduate students studying mathematics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and it aims to encourage the use of library resources and services.

Congratulations to this year’s winning team for their project, “Documenting Historical Mathematical Models.”

  •  Undergraduate Scholars: Dadi Feng, Cathy Guo, Darya Reutenko, and Eva White
  •   Graduate Student Advisor: Xinran Yu

The Award Committee reviewed multiple applications for this year’s award for undergraduate research in mathematics. While all the entries demonstrated remarkable depth and breadth, “Documenting Historical Mathematical Models” stood out for its extensive use of library resources. A committee member noted that the team “exploited well the linkage of the collection to the Mathematics Library.”

The Award Committee commends all the participants for their hard work and dedication, which made this inaugural award such a success. We want to acknowledge the faculty members and graduate student advisors who have guided these  undergraduate scholars throughout their research journey.

The Awards are funded by the Nancy D. Anderson Mathematics Library Endowment Fund, which was established in 2024 to honor Professor Nancy D. Anderson, the Head of the Mathematics Library at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 1972 to 2000. Starting in the second year, two awards will be given each year, with an application deadline set for the end of the Fall 2025 semester.

Sincerely yours,

Sarah G. Park.

 

Award Committee:

Pierre Albin, Ph.D.

Karen Mortensen, Ph.D.

Timothy Cole, Former Head of the Mathematics Library

Sarah G. Park, Head of the Mathematics Library

Current Index to Statistics

Posted on by Ellen Lechman

What Is It?

According to the CIS homepage, “The Current Index to Statistics (CIS) is a bibliographic index of publications in statistics, probability, and related fields. It includes data from approximately 160 core journals, 1,200 additional journals in related fields, and 11,000 books. The bulk of the content in CIS is from 1975-2017. CIS was developed by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the American Statistical Association.” It’s an ideal resource for finding statistics articles and books.

How To Access

You can access the Current Index to Statistics here.

How To Use

With CIS, you can search by keyword, title, author, journal, or other search terms. You can keyword search by putting your search terms directly into the search bar, like the example below.

 

 

You can also use specify your search terms by using search field abbreviations like AU for author or Y for year. You can find the full list of search field abbreviations by clicking “Search Tips” in the upper right corner. Specifying your search fields is useful if you want results from a specific journal, author, or year. Here’s an example of a search limited by author and journal.

Clicking “Refine Results” will also give you the option to narrow down your results by author, journal, volume, etc. Click on the terms you want limit your search to, then click “Apply filters.”

To access the full-text of an article through CIS, click “Article.” This should take you directly to the publisher’s page for that article using the article’s DOI.

If you have any questions about using the Current Index to Statistics or accessing books and articles, please contact us at math@library.illinois.edu.