Holy Cross Professor Receives Mathematical Association of America Award

Professor John B. Little

Professor John B. Little was recognized for "expository excellence" for a recent publication

Longtime Holy Cross professor John B. Little of the mathematics and computer science department was awarded a Paul R. Halmos-Lester R. Ford Award by the Mathematical Association of America in July.

This national prize recognizes articles of expository excellence published in The American Mathematical Monthly. Little is recognized for his article, "The Many Lives of the Twisted Cubic."

In his paper, Little traced some of the history of twisted cubic curves in three-dimensional affine and projective spaces and noted that twisted cubic curves serve "as hidden underlying structures for objects in mathematics and its applications."

"It is a great surprise and honor to receive a Halmos-Ford Award for an article that was so much fun to write," says Little. "My former students might recall that I try to bring the twisted cubic curve into my courses whenever possible!"

Read more from the Mathematical Association of America here.