University at Buffalo (UB)
Miller and Scilla win the 2023 Montague Awards
Published October 6, 2023
The UB Department of Mathematics is pleased to announce that Alexandra Miller and Giacomo Scilla are the winners of the 2023 Harriet F. Montague Award. The award was established to commemorate the career of Dr. Montague, who was one of the early graduates the UB mathematics program, and who returned to chair the department for many years. The annual award is presented to one or more UB mathematics majors who have demonstrated intellectual and creative promise in mathematics. Of note, Giacomo Scilla is the recipient of the 2023 Summer Math Scholarship.
Alexandria Miller is presented with the 2023 Harriet F. Montague Award by Dr. Daniel Sage, Professor and Department Chair.
Giacomo Scilla is presented with the 2023 Harriet F. Montague Award by Professor Gino Biondini.
About the donor
Dr. Harriet F. Montague served as a professor of mathematics at the University of Buffalo for fourty-four years. She was nationally recognized as an educator She was active in community organizations and the Presbyterian Church. Montague died on March 19, 1997, in her Town of Tonawanda home. She was 91.
Dr. Montague, a Buffalo native, attended Lafayette High School and earned her bachelor's degree in 1927 at UB. She received her master's degree from UB in 1929 and her doctorate in mathematics from Cornell University in 1935.
Dr. Montague had served as director of the National Science Foundation Institutes for Teachers and was widely known as an educator and was active in many professional organizations. She had served as president of the UB chapter of the American Association of University Professors and was a member of the Mathematical Association of America.
Selected publication: The method of infinite descent and the method of mathematical induction
Abstract: The purpose of this paper may be found in the following quotation. Whenever an argument can be made to lead to a descending infinitude of natural numbers the hypothesis upon which the argument rests becomes untenable. This method of proof is called the method of infinite descent;.... It would be interesting and valuable to compare this method with the method of mathematical induction.