Richard Hoshino Receives the 2017 Adrien Pouliot Award

OTTAWA — The Canadian Mathematical Society is pleased to announce that Richard Hoshino (Quest) is the recipient of the 2017 Adrien Pouliot Award for significant and sustained contributions to mathematics education in Canada.

Richard Hoshino teaches mathematics at Quest University Canada, an innovative liberal arts and sciences university located in Squamish, British Columbia. Prior to his arrival at Quest in 2013, Richard was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo (2010-2012), and was a mathematician with the Government of Canada (2006-2010), leading the mathematics and data exploration section at the Canada Border Services Agency.

He has published 28 research papers across numerous fields, including graph theory, marine container risk-scoring, biometric identification, and sports scheduling. He has consulted for the billion-dollar professional baseball league in Japan, as well as three Canadian TV game shows (Qubit, Splatalot, and Spin-Off).

As a graduate student at Dalhousie, Hoshino coached the students representing Canada at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). He was the deputy leader observer of Math Team Canada 2001 in Washington, DC, as well as the deputy leader of Math Team Canada 2003 in Tokyo.

In 2002, Hoshino founded the Nova Scotia High School Math League, an outreach program that continues to this day, reaching thousands of students each year. He also led other initiatives to reach young people for mathematics, serving as the Director of the CMS National Camp for the top Grade 9 and 10 high school students in Canada from 1999 to 2004, and leading the Dalhousie Math Circles Outreach Program from 2002 to 2004, an evening program for local high school students. This initiative, which Hoshino founded, has received nearly a million dollars of corporate funding to expand beyond Halifax to the entire province.

He has contributed problems to many competitions, including the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (2001-2002, 2004-2006, 2013-present), Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (2011-present), Asian-Pacific Mathematical Olympiad (2002-2004), and Euclid Mathematics Contest (1998-2008).

As a way to reach even more students, Hoshino penned a novel The Math Olympian aimed at young people. This inspiring work tells the story of a young woman whose dream is to represent Canada at the IMO, and encounters social, gender, and spiritual barriers in her quest. The book has received outstanding reviews from Amazon and Goodreads, and has sold over 1000 copies.

At Quest University Canada, Hoshino teaches six undergraduate courses each year, and mentors his students to serve their community through mathematics. Highlights include a roommate-matching algorithm and an automated employee timetable for a local museum, library, café, restaurant, and health clinic.

Hoshino frequently visits high schools to give public talks, and has reached thousands of students in British Columbia over the past four years. He has also led numerous professional development workshops for high school math teachers, and has organized or keynoted math education workshops and conferences throughout Canada. Hoshino is an active member of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), and will be the local organizer for the next CMESG meeting, to be held at Quest in June 2018.

Richard Hoshino holds a B. Math .from the University of Waterloo, a B. Ed. from Queen's University, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Dalhousie University.

The Adrien Pouliot Award will be presented at the CMS Winter Meeting in Waterloo, ON, December 8-11.

About the Adrien Pouliot Award

The Adrien Pouliot Award was inaugurated to recognize individuals who have made significant and sustained contributions to mathematics education in Canada. The first award was presented in 1995 and is named after the second president of the CMS. Adrien Pouliot taught at Laval and was described as a world-class ambassador for science and mathematics and a great educator.

About the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS)

Founded in 1945, the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) promotes the advancement, discovery, learning and application of mathematics. CMS funds and promotes activities including scientific meetings, research publications, education and awards. For more information visit cms.math.ca.

For more information, please contact: