Mathematics Major to Receive Top CSUF Scholastic Award

Suzanne Soroya Sindi, a Cal State Fullerton President’s Scholar and one of the nation’s most outstanding collegiate mathematics students, has added the President’s Associates Scholastic Award to her many accomplishments and perfect 4.0 grade point average.

The 21-year-old graduating senior from Placentia will receive the university’s highest accolade for scholastic achievement at the university’s annual Honors Convocation Thursday, May 24. The 7 p.m. event in the Titan Student Union is held on the eve of commencement ceremonies.

Sponsored by the President’s Associates university support group, the President’s Associates Scholastic Award is CSUF’s top honor for academic achievement, and also recognizes leadership involvement in university activities and contributions to Associated Students-sponsored activities. Honorees receive $1,000 and a commemorative plaque.

Sindi will be the speaker at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics commencement celebration Friday, May 25. The NSM event, to be held on the lawn west of the tennis courts, will follow the 8 a.m. universitywide commencement ceremony on the nearby sports fields north of Titan Gym.

Sindi, who is graduating summa cum laude, has been honored as the university’s "Outstanding Math Scholar" and received NSM’s Special Recognition for Undergraduate Research Award. She has been named a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, Phi Beta Delta Honor Society, Golden Key National Honor Society and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

She was a runner-up in a national competition for the prestigious Alice T. Schafer Prize for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics and scored an honorable mention in USA TODAY’s All-USA College Academic Team.

Since 1998, Sindi has served as editor-in-chief of the college’s Dimensions: The Journal of Undergraduate Research in Natural Sciences and Mathematics and has participated in several research projects in applied mathematics. She has co-authored two papers with faculty members and gained valuable work experience through an internship at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has done "more research than any previous undergraduate math major in CSUF history," according to Dr. Mario U. Martelli, professor of mathematics and Sindi’s mentor.

The National Science Foundation recognized her scholarly efforts and has awarded her an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, which includes a stipend of $18,000 a year for three years, plus $10,500 per year to cover tuition and other educational expenses. This fall Sindi — who has been accepted to several graduate schools, including Caltech — will attend the University of Maryland, where she has been invited by internationally renowned mathematician Dr. James Yorke to join his group of researchers. There she will begin her doctoral program in chaos and nonlinear dynamics.

As president of the President’s Scholars, Sindi has helped organize many community activities, such as walkathons to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Orange County and National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Other activities include preparing Thanksgiving dinner for residents at Orange County’s Ronald McDonald House, adopting a family of 10 during the holiday season and assisting the Orange County registrar of voters.

"Suzanne Sindi is a truly amazing and wonderful young woman," said Dr. James O. Friel, chair and professor of mathematics. "She is a once-in-a-lifetime student for many of us."