B.S., Mathematics and Education; Rochester Hills, Mich.

Michael John Khoury, son of Michael and Rae Khoury of Greenwood Drive, Rochester Hills, Mich., was among six Denison University seniors who were honored by President Dale T. Knobel as this year's "President's Medalists" during the University's annual Academic Awards Convocation on April 11. Khoury is 1999 graduate of Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

President Knobel's presentation remarks:

"If we were to pose the question, 'Is it odd to have a hundred thousands digit when you multiply 4305836 by 23894?,' there might be one person in this audience here today who could instantly answer it. That person is Michael Khoury.

"Michael, your mathematical prowess has become legendary at Denison, both in and beyond the Mathematics Department, such that to call you a mathematics wunderkind is no hyperbole. When a member of the Math Department calls you the brightest student he's had in his 37 years of teaching, one must sit up and take notice.

"Your abilities were evident before you came to Denison when, in your junior year of high school, you competed with one million students in the International Mathematical Olympiad and, when the twelve finalists were announced, your name was among them.

While at Denison you have presented papers at the national meeting of the American Mathematics Society, right alongside mathematics professors. In 2001 you attended that society's meeting where you competed in the National Problem Solving Competition, earned a perfect score, and became National Champion. Last year you published a long article in the prestigious Mathematics Magazine - again, right alongside mathematics professors from around the world.

"You have spent three summers doing research as an Anderson and Young Scholar, and you have been the dominant force in the Five Colleges Contest, which Denison has won the past three years with scores at least twice as high as the second-place team each time.

"Currently you are working as co-author with Professor Don Bonar on a mathematics book on real infinite series, a manuscript that has attracted the attention of both the Mathematical Association of America and The Princeton University Press. While doing this you also were active as a member of the Chess Club and Gospel Choir, founder of the Denison Sherlock Club, president for three years of the math honorary, and teacher of math at several area high schools.

"Clearly your career at Denison has been a rich one in which all the numbers have added up, and as you move toward your goal of becoming a math professor, we know for certain that will always be the case."