Greg Dresden Receives George Pólya Award from the Mathematical Association of America The professor of mathematics was recognized for his paper “Epitrochoids and Hypotrochoids Together Again.”

By Brian Laubscher
June 10, 2026

Greg Dresden, professor of mathematics at Washington and Lee University, recently received the George Pólya Award from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for his article “Epitrochoids and Hypotrochoids Together Again,” published in the August 2024 issue of The College Mathematics Journal.

The George Pólya Award was established in 1976 to honor the renowned teacher and writer for whom it is named. Up to two $1,000 awards are presented each year for articles of expository excellence published in The College Mathematics Journal. Also receiving the 2026 award were Mike Krebs, Angel Carrillo and Francisco León of the California State University, Los Angeles and Jonathan Cervantes from the University of California, Riverside for their paper, “A Graph Theorist Plants a Tree.”

Dresden’s article takes a fresh look at two well-known families of looping, spiral-like curves created by rolling one circle around another. He rewrites the standard equations for these curves using complex numbers, a technique that makes their inherent symmetry apparent and shows students and teachers how a change of perspective can simplify geometry. Rather than studying the two types of curves separately, Dresden examines them side by side to explore how they cross and nest inside one another. That leads to his main result, the Nesting Theorem, which identifies exactly where and when these symmetric curves touch. The takeaway is that even shapes that mathematicians have known for centuries can yield new surprises under close examination.

“It is a great honor to receive the Pólya Award,” said Dresden. “What few people know is that this paper started on a lazy Saturday afternoon a few years ago, when I was trying to write up some nice test problems for my Math 221 class here at W&L. I was playing around with some simple curves, trying to discover some interesting properties that I could give to my students and within a few weeks, I had written up most of the paper. My calculus students will definitely recognize some of these equations from their take-home exams!”

Dresden has been a member of the W&L faculty since 1997, having served as chair of the Mathematics Department from 2011 to 2015 and again in 2021. He holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Stanford University, a Master of Arts in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Founded in 1915, the MAA is the world’s largest community of mathematicians, students and enthusiasts. The organization focuses on undergraduate mathematics education and offers numerous competitions, publications and professional development opportunities for mathematics educators.

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