Four local Indiana University of Pennsylvania students have been awarded a scholarship that honors a former IUP mathematics professor and co-founder of the IUP Computer Science Department.
Philip Christensen, Port Matilda; Justin Fleming, Indiana; Hannah Neumann, Export; and Zachary Zajdel, Saltsburg, are the recipients of the James H. Maple Scholarship Fund for Computer Science at IUP.
The scholarship was established in 2011 by James E. Maple, of Purcellville, Va., son of James H. Maple and a 1986 graduate of IUP, and other family members and friends.
Christensen, a computer science-cybersecurity major at IUP, is the son of Ruth Christensen and Joel Christensen. He is a 2016 graduate of State College Area High School and is a Sutton Scholar and Board of Governors Scholarship recipient. He is a member of the Association of Computing Machinery group and the IUP Cybersecurity Club.
Fleming, a computer science and applied mathematics major in IUP's Cook Honors College, is the son of Jeff and Julie Fleming. He is a 2013 graduate of Indiana Area Senior High School. He is a dean's list student and recipient of the Ida Z. Arms Scholarship and S-COAM (Scholarship-Creating Opportunities for Applied Mathematics). He is a member of the Programming Team and the Tennis Club.
Neumann, a computer science and English writing major, is the daughter of Tom and Kareen Neumann. She is a 2013 graduate of Kiski Area High School. She is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery group, Women in STEM, and the Programming Team.
Zajdel, a software engineering major, is the son of Beverly Zajdel and Robert Zajdel. He is a 2016 graduate of Saltsburg Middle-High School. He is a member of the Computer Science Club.
The James H. Maple Scholarship fund offers two scholarships: one for a junior or senior computer science major at IUP in good academic standing and one for an incoming freshman majoring in computer science at IUP who is a graduate of Indiana Area Senior High School or an Indiana County resident.
Maple, who died in January 2008, began work at IUP (then Indiana State College) in 1964. He was a faculty member in the IUP Mathematics Department until 1971, when he cofounded the Computer Science Department. He taught in that department until his retirement from IUP in 1994.
Before working at IUP, Maple was a mathematics teacher in Ohio and Connecticut. He was a 1951 graduate of California Community High School and attended Purdue University from 1951 to 1954, when he was drafted by the Army. He served in the military from 1954 to 1955.
Maple received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from California State Teachers College and his master's degree in mathematics from Bowling Green University in Ohio. He continued his education at Penn State University, Kent State University in Ohio, and the University of Pittsburgh, where he took graduate courses in computer science and did other graduate work.
He was a member of Ingjald Lodge 65 Scandinavian Fraternal Organization, American Veterans, and Lakewood Rod and Gun Club in New York. During his spare time, he enjoyed woodworking and bird watching and was a volunteer at the Chautauqua County Humane Society in New York.
In May 2016, the IUP Council of Trustees voted to honor Maple's memory and recognize philanthropic gifts for scholarship support given in his memory and honor by naming the cybersecurity lab at IUP as the James H. Maple Cybersecurity Laboratory. Family members, along with the scholarship recipients, recently visited the laboratory, which is located in Stright Hall.
Signage for the laboratory includes the following information: James Maple joined the university's Mathematics Department in 1964. In 1971 he cofounded the Computer Science Department where he taught until his retirement in 1994. His son, James E. Maple '86, and the Maple Family Foundation established a scholarship in his memory in 2011 and have committed to continue to support scholarships for computer science students.
IUP's Computer Science Department is designated by the National Security Agency as a Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, and the department's cybersecurity lab is a key component of that designation.
Group photo information: front row, from left: scholarship recipients Zachary J. Zajdel, Hannah Neumann, Philip Christensen and Justin Fleming
Back row, from left, Jim Maple and Kathy Maple, Professor Maple's son and daughter; Nancy Maple, Professor Maple's widow; David Smith, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science; and William Oblitey, professor of computer science.