Interdisciplinary Scholarship in Mathematics

Dr. Kazumi Nakano was a member of the Department of Mathematics faculty at SUNY Brockport from 1970 to 2002, rising to the rank of professor and serving several years as department chair in the mid-1980s. She also served as director of Asian Studies. After her retirement, she received the professor emerita distinction.

Recalled as kind, gentle, and uplifting, and as a steadying influence in her department, Dr. Nakano came to the United States from Japan in 1962, following her parents who immigrated here several years earlier. She earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Japan. Her master’s degree was from Hokkaido University, and she earned her bachelor’s degree from a small college begun by missionaries, one of whom was a graduate from the Brockport Normal School in the 1870s.

In the United States, Dr. Nakano earned her doctorate degree from Wayne State (MI) University. She said she decided to stay in the United States after she received her doctorate because she saw that women here had opportunities to achieve without having to follow “unwritten laws.”

She enjoyed her colleagues on the faculty of the Department of Mathematics and believed they were close because they all arrived at Brockport at about the same time. She also taught Japanese at Brockport in the mid-1990s.

She received acclaim for her knowledge of math and her abilities as an educator. She was invited to participate on the Steering Committee for the National Summit on Mathematics Assessment in 1992. The National Summit was an initiative of then U.S. Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander. She also was a co-author of a book on algebraic geometry published in 1985. Dr. Nakano passed away in 2016.

She established the Interdisciplinary Award in Mathematics to underscore her belief that mathematics crosses all subject areas of academic endeavors either in theory or in practice, rather than as a specialized body of information.

Qualified students must have an interest in the applicable nature of mathematics, but do not need to be mathematics majors. Students must be in their freshman or sophomore years when they apply. They must show an interest in the applicable nature of mathematics as an interdisciplinary tool, have completed at least two mathematics courses at Brockport, and have a minimum GPA of 3.0 as well as a minimum GPA of 3.0 in math courses. Applicants also must submit a paragraph describing their interest in the applicable nature of mathematics, and obtain the endorsement of two members of the Department of Mathematics faculty.