Samuel Kendrick Vandervelde (born 12 February 1971) is a mathematician who, along with Sandor Lehoczky and Richard Rusczyk, is most notable for creating the

Mandelbrot Competition Named in honor of Benoit Mandelbrot, the Mandelbrot Competition was a mathematics competition founded by Sam Vandervelde, Richard Rusczyk and Sandor Lehoczky that operated from 1990 to 2019. It allowed high school students to compete individually ...

, and being listed first under "Thanks" in the mathematical

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

'' The Art of Problem Solving''.

Contributions to mathematics

Vandervelde contributes problems to the

USA Math Olympiad The United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) is a highly selective high school mathematics competition held annually in the United States. Since its debut in 1972, it has served as the final round of the American Mathematics Com ...

. He was a member of the 1989 United States

International Mathematical Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except i ...

team. He was a grader at the

Mathematical Olympiad Program The Mathematical Olympiad Program (abbreviated MOP, formerly called the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program, abbreviated MOSP) is an intensive summer program held at Carnegie Mellon University. The main purpose of MOP, held since 1974, is to selec ...

, an intensive summer camp that prepares top high school students for the International Math Olympiad. Vandervelde founded the Stanford

Math Circle A math circle is a learning space where participants engage in the depths and intricacies of mathematical thinking, propagate the culture of doing mathematics, and create knowledge. To reach these goals, participants partake in Problem solving, pro ...

. He was on the math faculty at St. Lawrence University from 2007 to 2015, and is currently the Head of School and math teacher at

Proof School Proof School is a secondary school in San Francisco that offers a mathematics-focused liberal arts education. Currently, 118 students in grades 6–12 are enrolled in Proof School for the academic year (2022-2023). The school was co-founded by Den ...

, a private day school in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

for kids who love math. He is also a regular instructor at and board member of

MathPath MathPath is a mathematics enrichment summer program for students ages 11–14 (middle school age in the US). It is four weeks long, and moves to a different location each year. MathPath is visited by mathematicians such as John H. Conway and Fran ...

, and has published two books, ''Bridge to Higher Mathematics'' and ''Circle in a Box''. His educational work has been recognized by the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

Edyth May Sliffe Award {{no refs, date=March 2017 The Edyth May Sliffe Award is given annually to (roughly) 20 teachers in the United States by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The awards are funded by a bequest from a retired high school mathematics teache ...

for high school teaching (2000) and the Henry L. Alder Award for collegiate teaching (2011).

Interests

His other interests include playing soccer, spending time with his two sons, and cooking. He attended

Amherst County High School Amherst County High School is a hood public high school, grades 9–12, serving Amherst County, Virginia, United States. As the only high school in the county, it offers a comprehensive program from advanced (AP) classes to classes offered through ...

. He received his undergraduate degree from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

and doctoral degree from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in June 2004. He currently resides in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

. He is married to Eunice Cheung.

References

External links

MandelbrotArt of Problem Solving
1971 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians {{US-mathematician-stub

Contributions to mathematics

Interests

See also

References

External links