Ivan Portilla and Kris Pruitt Awarded the Marinus Smith Award
Applied Math is thrilled to acknowledge faculty Ivan Portilla and Kris Pruitt, each a recipient of this year's Marinus Smith Award. The Marinus Smith Award recognizes faculty and staff members who have had a particularly positive impact on students. Honorees are nominated by those they teach, mentor, support and serve. With just twelve Marinus Smith Award winners this year, Ivan and Kris’ recognition make Applied Math extraordinarily proud.
Ivan Portilla
Ivan has spent his career working in AI groups at IBM Watson and Microsoft and is passionate about passing on what he’s learned from 25+ years in the industry. He is currently a senior consultant engineer at Ricoh working with Robotics and AI and a lecturer in Applied Math.
Ivan Portilla comes from a family of educators and says teaching feels like a natural extension of his work. He’s proud to also teach at the SVVSD Innovation Center and serve as an industry mentor for Computer Science students at Colorado School of Mines.
Ivan writes “I am honored to receive the Marinus Smith Award from the University of Colorado Boulder!. This recognition is especially meaningful because it comes from the students and families we support. I am grateful to be part of a community that believes in empowering students to grow, lead, and thrive — inside and outside of the classroom. Thank you to everyone who makes CU Boulder such a special place!
Kris Pruitt
Dr. Kris Pruitt is an award-winning educator with over 19 years of teaching experience at the undergraduate level. He has a diverse technical background that spans pure and applied mathematics, statistics, data science, operations research, and quantitative economics. Kris is an innovative researcher and author of technical publications. He is also a 20-year military veteran dedicated to inspiring future leaders with a focus on the principles of inclusivity and character.
Currently, Kris is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado - Boulder. He is the faculty sponsor for the student chapter of the American Statistical Association and coordinates courses in statistics and data science. Kris regularly teaches the Capstone course for Statistics and Data Science majors. In addition to teaching, his research interests include topics in sports analytics and human performance.