JACKSON, Tenn. — May 13, 2008 — Matthew Dawson is not your typical college senior.
He鈥檒l graduate on Saturday at age 18 鈥� the youngest 51社区 graduate in recent history -- and head to Louisiana State University, where he has secured a fellowship that will pay for the next three and a half years of his education 鈥� with no teaching duties.
He鈥檚 also one of the youngest students to have a paper published by The Harvard College Mathematics Review. Dawson presented his paper, 鈥淏ridging the Group Definition Gap,鈥� during Union鈥檚 Scholarship Symposium May 9.
Dawson joined about 75 other Union students who presented their research findings during the annual event. Sponsored by the university鈥檚 Undergraduate Research Program, the symposium is open to undergraduate and graduate students who have completed a collaborative, innovative scholarly project during the current academic year.
The program鈥檚 goal is to provide students with the opportunity to work with a faculty mentor on a research project. About 25 faculty members participated with students in this year鈥檚 symposium.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an expository type of paper,鈥� Dawson said about his project. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the history of mathematics.鈥�
Dawson鈥檚 paper focuses on the work of Evariste Galois, an early 19th century French mathematician. Galois laid the foundations of 鈥済roup theory鈥� in mathematics, although he never precisely defined 鈥済roups.鈥�
In his paper, Dawson examined Galois鈥� thinking and compared it to the modern way of thinking about Galois鈥� concepts.
Dawson is the first Union student to have a paper published by Harvard.
鈥淚 was really excited,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was looking for a place that would accept papers from undergraduates, and my adviser for the project and my dad suggested that I try to submit it there. I really didn鈥檛 think I had a chance of getting it published there, but it seemed to fit the type of article that I had written.鈥�
Math professor Matt Lunsford was Dawson鈥檚 adviser for his research project.
鈥淚n his paper, Matthew develops new mathematical definitions, theorems and proofs to demonstrate the relationships that exist between the concepts formulated by Galois in 1830 and the expression of those same concepts today,鈥� Lunsford said. 鈥淗is achievement, in my opinion, is at the level of a master鈥檚 degree thesis and is clearly beyond what I envisioned possible for an undergraduate student in mathematics.鈥�
In addition to his excitement about his paper being published by Harvard, Dawson was especially pleased with the way the paper was edited.
鈥淚 was really surprised that they let me keep the word 鈥榞roovy鈥� in the paper,鈥� he said.
At LSU, Dawson will pursue a Doctor of Philosophy degree in mathematics. He鈥檚 tentatively planning to pursue a career as a college math professor.
Dawson is the son of Bryan and Martha Dawson. Bryan is a math professor at Union.