Mari-Jo P. Ruiz: Mathematician, Mentor, Leader

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

8-11-2025

Abstract

For more than half a century, Dr. Mari-Jo Panganiban Ruiz was a mathematics and management engineering professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines, where she also served as administrator in various capacities. She deeply influenced countless people, including me. Mari-Jo was my college graph theory and abstract algebra professor in the 1980s, and was instrumental in persuading me to teach mathematics. She became a dear colleague and mentor. I write this tribute of her life and work at the request of two people: her esteemed associate and friend Professor Jin Akiyama of Tokyo University of Science, with whom she collaborated fruitfully for decades in graph theory and mathematical art; and another of her mentees, Dr. Reginaldo M. Marcelo of the Ateneo Mathematics Department, my close colleague and friend, who followed in her footsteps in studying graph theory and cementing ties between Filipino and Japanese mathematicians. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

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