Bio: We are pleased to award Omar Safi the Outstanding Graduating Award in Applied Mathematics. It was a pleasure to have Omar in my math140: Mathematical methods for optimization class during Spring 2024. Omar is a focused, enthusiastic, curious, and very hard-working student. He started to shine towards mid semester when we started to talk about linear and nonlinear programming. It was obvious that he was completely fascinated by the subject. He realized that he can apply some of the techniques we discussed to a problem that he is passionate about, namely modeling and simulation of the California High Speed Rail. You could tell that Omar enjoys working especially on mathematical projects that involve real applications. He completely “stole the show” with his project presentation. I was in particular impressed with his research abilities. In particular he did a fantastic job regarding literature review, modeling, optimization, numerical simulation as well as with his report and presentation summarizing his work. I hope Omar will continue his research in this direction and perhaps make a contribution toward improving the California High Speed Rail down the road. The entire Applied Mathematics Departments enthusiastically supports Omar Safi’s nomination for the “Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award” for his excellent academic performance.
