Alumnus Endows LaRue Mathematics Award
A $25,000 gift from a Fairmont State alumnus will ensure that a graduating senior in Mathematics will receive the James A. LaRue Mathematics Award each year for many years to come in memory of a dedicated professor.
Dr. Stephen L. Lipscomb, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., presented the generous donation to the Fairmont State Foundation to endow the LaRue Mathematics Award as a permanent remembrance of the dedication of Dr. James A LaRue, his former teacher, to his students and the Fairmont State Mathematics program. LaRue taught 5,364 students during his career at Fairmont State, West Virginia University, Morris Harvey College and Ohio State University. In the 1960s, LaRue directed a three-year National Science Foundation Cooperative College and School Science program for selected high school teachers and their students who excelled in mathematics.
On May 4, 2016, Lipscomb presented the College of Science and Technology with an artistic photo plaque based on Golden Rectangles. He credits LaRue for providing him a solid foundation in mathematics, a foundation that led to an M.A. and a Ph.D. in mathematics.
“It’s a tribute not only to Dr. LaRue but also to the entire faculty at Fairmont State for the impact they have on their students. It is obvious that Dr. Lipscomb has felt that impact throughout his life. We are forever grateful for Dr. Lipscomb’s support and the lasting legacy he has created by endowing the LaRue Math Award,” said RJ Gimbl, President of the Fairmont State Foundation.
An FSU graduating senior in Mathematics is selected yearly by the FSU Mathematics faculty to honor outstanding undergraduate work. The award was named in honor of Dr. James A. LaRue, who was the Fairmont State Mathematics Department Chair and taught Mathematics for 34 years until his retirement in 1988. In 2016, two award winners were named: Julia Oliveto and Jeff Rush.
LaRue was inspired by his math teacher Ivy Hustead to apply for meteorology school at Hamilton College when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1943. During World War II, he served as a radio gunner and flew missions from Bari, Italy. He worked at Fairmont Glass and Fairmont Machinery prior to enlisting. After his discharge in 1945, LaRue graduated from WVU and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1961. The title of his dissertation was “Relative Strengths of Regular Matrix Methods and Their Respective Submethods.” His family says that he loved math and always had an interesting problem for anyone willing to try. He taught many of the mathematics teachers in the surrounding area who have gone on to share their love of math with their students. Numerous Fairmont State graduates have completed graduate degrees, and many, including Dr. Stephen Lipscomb, have gone on to earn their Ph.D. in Mathematics.
Lipscomb earned a B.A. in Education from Fairmont State College in 1965. During his time here, he was a four-year letterman in football for the Fighting Falcons, 1962 leading scorer and 1964 All Conference (first team). In 2007, he was named a Letter Winner of Distinction by the Fairmont State Athletic Association. In 2014, Lipscomb and three other football alumni presented a statue of legendary football coach Deacon Duvall to the University to honor the accomplishments of their former coach and mentor.
Lipscomb went on to have a distinguished career in both theoretical and applied mathematics. He received an M.A. in Mathematics from WVU in 1967 and a Ph.D. in Mathematics (Topology) from the University of Virginia in 1973. He retired in June 2003 after teaching one year of high school, 20 years of full-time undergraduate courses and 16 years of half-time graduate courses. Lipscomb taught mostly topology, algebra, analysis, discrete mathematics and statistics. He learned applied mathematics at the Naval Surface Warfare Center from 1967-1983. For example, in 1982 Admiral Clark assigned him to chair a Tiger Team that included the Applied Physics Lab, VITRO, Lockheed Missiles and Space, and McDonnell Douglas. The goal, test the TOMOHAWK missile Track Control Group software.
Lipscomb was a six-time Fellow in the Navy-American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Faculty Research Program; served nine years as Department Chair, Departments of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Mary Washington (UMW); was UMW Eminent Scholar in Mathematics; an Associate Professor of Mathematics at UMW; an adjunct professor of mathematics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; and senior mathematician at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Dahlgren, Va. He received 14 UMW Faculty Research Grants, 16 NSWC contracts and six Navy/ASEE senior fellow grants.
Lipscomb authored a number of academic publications and presentations, as well as the following books: “Incipit, Art Meets Mathematics in the Fourth Dimension,” “Fractals and Universal Spaces in Dimension Theory Series: Springer Monographs in Mathematics,” “Symmetric Inverse Semigroups (Mathematical Surveys and Monographs, No. 46)” and “My Best Friend Harley.” He was editor of “Duvall Football: Winning a National Championship by Deacon Duvall.”
Within mathematics Lipscomb is perhaps best known for introducing two new concepts, namely, “Lipscomb’s Space,” a space he used to solve a half-century old problem in dimension theory, and “Lipscomb’s Path Notation” in semi-group theory. One of his Springer books is based on his space, and his American Mathematical Society book is based on his path notation. Circa 2005, Lipscomb obtained a U.S. Patent on “4-web structures” and then designed the medical “Lipscomb spine cage,” currently produced by 4web medical.
Donations to the Fairmont State Foundation can be made at https://giving.fsufoundation.org/fsu-general-donation-page. (The Math Award is not listed in the drop down designation menu, but clicking on “other” opens a new box into which donors can type LaRue Mathematics Award to show their desired designation.) For more information about the Fairmont State Foundation, Inc., visit www.fsufoundation.org or call (304) 534-8786.
For more information about the Mathematics program at FSU, visit http://www.fairmontstate.edu/collegeofscitech/academics/math-program.
About the photo:
Pictured from left to right are Dr. Stephen Lipscomb and Dr. Joe Riesen, Dr. Bob Niichel and Dennine LaRue, who are faculty members in the FSU Mathematics Department.
College of Science and TechnologyDepartment of MathematicsMathematicsSteve LipscombDr. Stephen LipscombDr. James LaRue
