January 11, 2002 UNT Inhouse publication: TAMS student, team place fourth in national competition

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TAMS student, team place fourth in national competition

Charles Hallford, a Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science student from Brady, was part of a team of students placing fourth in the finals of the 2001 Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition. He received a $10,000 scholarship.

Hallford, a second-year TAMS student, was part of a three-student research team competing in the finals Dec. 1-2 in Washington, D.C. The team advanced to the finals by winning the Southwestern Regional Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition in November.

Established in 1999 and funded by the Siemens Foundation, the Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition recognizes high school research in mathematics and science. Students may submit individual projects or projects conducted with one or two other students.

math kites Hallford's project, "The Generalization of the deBruijn Edge Sums," focuses on examining different mathematical graphs. He conducted the research with Cynthia Chi, a senior at William P. Clements High School in Sugar Land, and Rebecca Williams, a senior at North Lamar High School in Paris. The three students began the research last summer while attending a math honors camp at Southwest Texas State University.

The team found different properties in a class of graphs, called deBruijn interconnection networks. Hallford says these graphs are used in building highway and subway systems, computer networks and telecommunication networks.

He explains that graphs are basically vertices — the points of intersections of the two sides of angles — and edges that connect the vertices.

"If you're designing a highway system, houses and buildings would be the vertices, and roads and telegraph wires would be the edges," he says.

Richard Sinclair, dean of TAMS, says Hallford's team's selection as part of one of six national finalists is the highest level a TAMS student has reached in the Siemens competition.

"I am always astounded at the energy and initiative of the academy students," Sinclair says.

Hallford attended Brady High School before entering TAMS in August 1999. He is secretary of the Junior Engineering Technical Society, a committee head of Mu Alpha Theta math club and a member of the Academy Ambassadors. He is also a volunteer math tutor for UNT and is active in UNT's Eagles for Life organization and TAMS Bible study.

A National Merit semifinalist, Hallford plans to attend Princeton University after graduating from TAMS in May, majoring in mathematics.