Inaugural Sue E. Goodman Award

At the May 17 commencement ceremony, Jason Metcalfe was honored with the inaugural Sue E. Goodman Award. The award was presented by Professor Jeremy Marzuola, who, in his commencement address expressed his honor in “awarding someone who so embodies her devotion and passion for the craft of teaching.”

Jason graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2003, writing a thesis under Chris Sogge, then spent time at Georgia Tech and Berkeley before coming to UNC in 2007, where is now a full Professor. Jason’s research fopcuses on Partial Differential Equations, especially in areas related to nonlinear wave equations and General Relativity.

During his time here, Jason has taught many undergraduate courses, and worked on several successful research projects with undergraduates. He has received great praise for his ability to take difficult concepts and through a combination of thoughtfulness, care, and examples, explain them in ways that seem to connect with a remarkable number of students.

Jason has received multiple comments such as, “that is by far the most accessible a professor has ever been for me at UNC and my time with him was incredibly helpful,” and “if I could take every math class at UNC with Jason, I would.” Also, “Professor Metcalfe is amazing. He goes above and beyond for his students. His course is difficult but fair and if you put the work in it definitely shows. He works so hard, which is greatly appreciated. The plethora of material he endows us with really helps too!!”

If it were just one student saying such things, it would be an honor to have made such an impact. However, sentiments such as these are echoed by numerous students over numerous classes, which is truly remarkable.

Congratulations Professor Metcalfe on this well deserved honor!