Mathematics and Denmark

Jim Nagy and I in Copenhagen.

Looking back over the path that I've traveled in my career, I often ponder what it was that originally attracted me to mathematics, and then what it was (and is) that kept (keeps) me engaged through the good times and bad. Some things stand out. 

One is my first mathematics professor at Montana Tech, a severe and demanding, old-school Indian man named Dr. Nagendra Pandey. He's since passed away, but I've saved the link to his obituary, which I return to every now and then for inspiration. He was a simple, devoted man who lead by example. After taking his Calculus class during my first semester at Tech, I switched my major to Mathematics and never looked back.

After graduating from Tech, I went immediately to Montana State University and met another mathematician, Dr. Curt Vogel,  who shares with Dr. Pandy a certain hardness of character. As my PhD advisor, Curt has easily been my biggest influence as a mathematician. He grew up on a ranch in Eastern Montana and once told me that the ranch work in summer was so physically demanding that he would look forward to two-a-day football practices in mid-August as a relaxing break. My upbringing in Butte was, I think, also stark and demanding, though in a different way, and so I connected with Curt. I also clearly look up to, and want to emulate, individuals like Curt and Dr. Pandey. 

Through Curt, I met Jim Nagy, who can be seen in the photo above. I saw Jim (now a Professor at Emory University in Atlanta) give a math research talk at MSU in my first year of graduate school 20 years ago. I remember thinking, "That's what I want to do." And now here I am doing it. Jim was in Copenhagen this last week, where we were both giving talks in a workshop put on by Per Christian Hansen, a giant in the field of Inverse Problems, which is also Jim and my research area. Jim and I have been friends and collaborators since I obtained by PhD in 2002. 

What drew me to mathematics was, of course, a passion for the subject matter, but also, at least as much, the example of my professors. It was a long road getting to where I'm at, with eleven years of study and several kinks in the road, before I got my current job at UM in 2003. When that first spark was ignited in Dr. Pandey's Calculus class back in 1992, I never could have imagined where mathematics would take me, and I look forward to what is to come.

  

Tivoli Gardens #1

Tivoli Gardens #2.

Tivoli Gardens #3.