Titu Andreescu (born August 19, 1956) is an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is firmly involved in mathematics contests and olympiads, having been the Director of American Mathematics Competitions (as appointed 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 ...

), Director of the Mathematical Olympiad Program, Head Coach of the 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, and Chairman of the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. He has also authored a large number of books on the topic of problem solving and olympiad style mathematics.

Biography

Andreescu was born in the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n city of Timișoara in 1956. From an early age, an interest in higher-level mathematics was encouraged by his father and by his uncle Andrew, who was a retired university professor. As a high school student, he excelled in mathematics, and in 1973, 1974, and 1975 won the Romanian national problem solving contests organized by the journal

Gazeta Matematică Gazeta may refer to: in Albania-language newspapers, *Gazeta 55, daily newspaper *Gazeta Rilindja Demokratike, daily newspaper *Gazeta Shqip, daily newspaper in Polish-language newspapers, * Gazetagazeta.com, a Polish-language daily newspaper, pub ...

. After graduating with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree from the University of Timișoara, Andreescu was appointed a professor of mathematics at the Constantin Diaconovici Loga school of Mathematics and Physics. Between the years 1981–1989 he also worked as the editor-in-chief of the Periodical ''Revista mathematică din Timișoara''. In 1990, as the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

began to collapse, Andreescu emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, where he first taught at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. He earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

degree from the University of Timișoara in 2003.

Mathematics coaching and contests

During the 1980s, Andreescu served as a coach for the Romanian

(IMO) team and in 1983 was presented with the national award of "Distinguished Professor". In 1984 he was appointed as "Counselor of the Romanian Ministry of Education". After emigrating to the United States, Andreescu became involved in coaching the American IMO team. His most notable success came in 1994 when the American team obtained a perfect score at the Hong Kong International Mathematical Olympiad, the first time that any team had achieved this. In recognition of this achievement, he was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the

for "outstanding service" as coach of the United States Mathematical Olympiad Program.

AwesomeMath Program

In 2006, Andreescu established a math camp for bright and motivated middle and high school mathematicians. The first AwesomeMath summer program was very effective, with noted professors serving as instructors, and mentors and assistants who had performed well at Olympiads. The program has now been expanded to include locations at the

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...

(formerly at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

) and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, as well as the original location at the University of Texas at Dallas. The program continues throughout the year as the related AwesomeMath Year-round program, or AMY.

Metroplex Math Circle

In 2006, Andreescu founded a mathematical circle hosted by the University of Texas at Dallas. This circle continues to thrive under his leadership, serving the needs of talented middle and high school students in north Texas. Speakers come from around the world and the local community of professors and their most skilled graduate students. Notable participants in the Metroplex Math Circle include Amy Chyao, Michael Ma, and Niranjan Balachandar.

Math Rocks! Program

In 2008, the Plano Independent School District in Plano, Texas launched a Math Rocks! program, a program for kids with very high-level math skills. For two years, it was piloted successfully. Then, in 2010, PISD made a decision to open Math Rocks! to all Plano schools, not just those on the west side. Since then, Math Rocks! is at many PISD schools, such as Rice, Murphy, Schimelpfenig, Schell, Otto, Christie, and McCall. Andreescu helps to direct the program. Subjects of Math Rocks! include simple sums, nice numbers, factorials, math and chess, divisors of numbers, tangrams, magic squares, cryptarithmetic, and digits of numbers. Plano Independent School District has gotten special permission from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for students in Math Rocks! to participate in the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC.) These high level math tests include the AMC 8 (8th grade material), AMC 10 (10th grade material), the AMC 12 (12th grade material.), and AIME. Students enrolled in Math Rocks! taking the AMC tests include third graders all the way to tenth graders.

References

* Titu Andreescu, ''Mathematical Olympiad Challenges'' (2000)
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at the University of Texas at Dallas {{DEFAULTSORT:Andreescu, Titu 1956 births Living people Scientists from Timișoara West University of Timișoara alumni 20th-century Romanian mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians Romanian emigrants to the United States University of Texas at Dallas faculty 20th-century Romanian educators 20th-century American educators 21st-century American educators 21st-century American mathematicians