Professor Eddie Cheng completed his doctorate in Combinatorics and Optimization in 1995. His Ph.D. research, supervised by Bill Cunningham, was on polyhedral aspects of the optimal stable set problem. After holding an Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) postdoctoral fellowship at Rice University, he joined the Mathematics and Statistics Department at Oakland University in 1997. In 2011, Eddie was designated a Distinguished Professor at Oakland University.
Eddie is active in promoting mathematics competition among high school students in Michigan, in particular, the Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition (MMPC), which is an event operated by the Mathematical Association of America (Michigan Section). It is a state-wide competition given every year to thousands of high school students in Michigan. He served as the Director of MMPC from 2005 to 2008, and received a Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition Service Award in 2011.
Eddie is also the Director of the Oakland University Summer Mathematics Institute (OUSMI), a position he started in 2002. The OUSMI provides a free opportunity for bright and gifted pre-college students to interact with university faculty and each other, to take some challenging math classes that earn college credit, and have fun in an academic setting. Eddie also mentors a selected group of OUSMI students every year via research projects, an activity that he enjoys very much.
Over the years, Eddie has mentored over 40 high school students resulting in about 25 publications. He is recipient of the 2007 Mathematical Association of America (Michigan Section) Distinguished Teaching Award and a recipient of the 2009 Professor of the Year Award from the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan. He also received a Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Scholastic Award from the School of Engineering at Stanford University in 2016 for his contributions to the education of high school students.
Eddie will receive his award at the Alumni Achievement Awards luncheon at 12:30 pm on June 13. At 3:15 pm on June 13, he will deliver a lecture "Working with bright high school students; in the Faculty of Mathematics' Recognizing Excellence Lecture Series.