Co-Salutatorian
Class of 2006 Co-Salutatorian Fatima Mahmood, a physics and math major, is an aspiring teacher who cites the incredible closeness and camaraderie with faculty and her peers as a highlight of her four years at Union.
“I got really attached to these two departments, and I had a lot of fun in classes. I enjoyed being able to approach my professors,” Mahmood said.
“I will fondly remember all the time spent in the physics department, hanging out with some of the most awesome kids I will ever meet in my life. We've all grown up together. There's a student lounge where all of us gather, and the professors keep their doors open.”
Mahmood cites two faculty members, Michael Vineyard, the Frank and Marie Louise Bailey Professor of Physics, and Mathematics Professor Alan Taylor, for their continued support and encouragement.
“I've gotten to present so much because of Professor Vineyard,” she said, noting her involvement with the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and with the New York State Section of the American Physical Society, at which she won an award for best undergraduate paper.
Most exciting was presenting research in Maui last fall at the Joint Meeting of the Nuclear Physics Divisions of American and Japanese Physical Societies. Her poster was titled, “Comparison between Simulations and Data for Neutral Meson Photoproduction on the Proton.”
Last year, Mahmood was named a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, a prestigious prize that provides up to $7,500 per year to undergraduates with significant research experience who are destined for doctoral study. Mahmood heads to Cornell this fall to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics.
“They have some mathematical physicists there, so I won't be letting go of my physics totally,” she says.
Professor Taylor is, she said, “the kind of math professor I aspire to be when I grow up. He inspired me so much. When he would present a proof on the board, I would get so excited. I would think, ‘That's such a beautiful proof.' I will always remember conversations with Professor Taylor about math and life, and his elegant proofs.
“But I honestly admire all the physics and math professors under whose tutelage I have been and with whom I have become friends.”
Math comes naturally for the daughter of Sajjad & Durray Mahmood of Clifton Park, who emigrated from Pakistan in 1997 for, among other things, educational opportunities for their four children.
Now a software engineer, Mahmood's father, Sajjad, was a physics professor in Islamabad. Mahmood's mother teaches high school math. An older brother majored in math in college, and younger brother Bilal is in Union's Class of 2008 – also a physics and math major. (Only her sister has broken the math mold by studying counseling psychology.)
Mahmood shares the distinction of being salutatorian with her friend, Marisa Zarchy. Like Zarchy, she is a math and science person who enjoys art, specifically, drawing and painting.
Mahmood's sophomore project was a series of drawings that involved “putting things together from both cultures, Pakistani and American, in realistic representations.”
Mahmood was named a William Golub Presidential Scholar in 2003-04 and won the President's Commission on the Status of Women Senior Scholarly Activity Award this year. She tutored at the Physics Help Center and coordinated Math Department student seminars. She was a member of the Society of Physics Students, Golub House and the Muslim Student Association.
She cites concerts, multicultural events, quiet times with friends and “dancing around in the sprinklers by the Nott” among her cherished College memories.
“Most of all, I will never forget the kindness of everyone who had a part in bringing me to this point in my life. I am tremendously grateful.”