UF Mathematics

Kermit N. Sigmon

Kermit N. Sigmon (1936-1997)

Kermit N. Sigmon was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina, and attended Appalachian State University and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, for his bachelor's and master's degrees, respectively.

Sigmon became a member of the Gainesville community in 1963 when he began his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Florida. He received that degree in 1969 with a dissertation, Topological Means, under the direction of A. D. Wallace. Later his research interests shifted to numerical analysis, numerical linear algebra and parallel computing.

Sigmon gained a national reputation for his MATLAB Primer which he wrote to help students and faculty to use the scientific computing software MATLAB. He also conducted National Science Foundation workshops to train university instructors in using the computer to teach linear algebra.

Sigmon was a gifted teacher who received both a Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) Award and a University of Florida Teaching Award in 1995.

He developed the course MAS 3300: Numbers and Polynomials which is a transition from computational courses like calculus to conceptual mathematics.

He refined and systematized the undergraduate programs in mathematics, and was an Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. He had an eye for talent in mathematics and nurtured it both among undergraduates and among the many engineering graduate students that took his graduate course in numerical linear algebra.

In addition, Sigmon served for twenty years on the citizens advisory committee to the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization of Gainesville/Alchua County, and served on many committees in the university.

His memory is commemorated on campus with a rammed earth sculpture near the sinkhole behind Little Hall, with a shumard oak planted on Union Drive in front of University Auditorium where it will grow to shade future generations of bicyclists, and with the Kermit Sigmon Scholarship.

Please report problems to: www@math.ufl.edu

This page was last modified on April 17, 2000.