Listed mostly in chronological order of the person's first year of
attendance at the Program.
-
Frank-Joseph Papp
-
I was a participant in Dr. Ross' lectures (our famous "Sunday School")
sessions in the Nieuwland Science Building on the Notre Dame Campus
during the fall and spring semesters from (probably) fall 1957 to
my last semester of high school (spring of 1960). During the
summer months, we participated in the summer school classes in
various topics. Foundational, of course, was Dr. Ross' course
on Number Theory (I still have, and treasure, my copy of Elementary
Number Theory by J. V. Uspensky and M. A. Heaslet -- amazing book).
I don't know how many times in my high school years I heard Dr.
Ross' admonition to us to "think deeply of simple things".
Great advice that has served me well throughout my mathematical
and teaching career. We also had the opportunity to take the
Abstract Algebra course with Prof. H. Zassenhaus, Geometry with
Prof. A. Goetz, Foundations with Prof. S. Drobot (his son Vladimir
Drobot was one of the counselors in the summer of 1963). The summer
of 1964 was my last opportunity to serve as a counselor in the summer program.
Following high school graduation, I was invited to live on campus
during the summer session and serve as a counselor, adviser, someone
to encourage and prod the new group of high school students who came
to the program (I think someone said that the job description was a
bit vague -- it was but it was also delightfully rewarding and stimulating).
My career choice and teaching style were directly and very strongly
influenced by Dr. Ross. Following graduation from Notre
Dame with a B.Sci. in Mathematics in 1964, I studied at the University of
Delaware and earned an M.Sci. in Mathematics in 1966 and a Ph.D. in 1969.
After Delaware, I became an assistant professor at the University of
Lethbridge (Lethbridge Alberta) in 1969 and remained there until 1979.
While there I was promoted to associate professor (1974) and served one
year as chair of the department -- administration is not
my favorite, I'd much rather be "doing" mathematics and teaching highly
motivated students -- especially number theory. For the years 1979-1981, I served as one of the
associate editors of Mathematical Reviews. A position at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn opened in 1981 and I have been there
to the present. I was promoted to full professor in the department in 1990.
Please give my greetings and very best wishes to all the attendees at
the upcoming reunion. Those of us who had the blessing and honor
to know and learn from Dr. Ross have been given a very special
treasure that has deeply changed us -- for the better. The most
profound way we can honor the memory of this great teacher is to
pass on to others the love of learning, the love of mathematics,
and the beautiful admonition to "think deeply of simple things".
-
Jack Hirschfelder
website:
http://j2hirschfelder.home.comcast.net
-
I was in the Ross Program at Notre Dame in 1959 and 1960.
After enrolling at Notre Dame in 1961, I worked as a counselor
in the program at Notre Dame in 1962 and 1963, then also in
1964 and 1965 after the move to Ohio State. I receive my
Ph.D. in mathematics at Notre Dame in 1968, then went to
the University of Washington as an Assistant Professor.
In 1975, I left academia for industry, where I worked first
in software development and later in engineering project
management and business development. I retired from industry
in 2003, and am now an Adjunct Associate Professor at
University of Maryland University College, teaching mathematics
and computer science online from my home in Seattle. After a long absence,
I have returned to my mathematical roots.
It is a bit overwhelming to see that the Ross Program is alive
and well after fifty years, and very little changed at that.
Looking back over 48 of those, including six years of association
with the program, I see that one of the key benefits, in addition
to acquiring habits of abstract and precise thinking, is developing
skill in precise communication. Years ago, a non-mathematician friend
remarked that "mathematicians. . . always say exactly what they mean."
A quarter-century in industry has shown me how rare, and how valuable,
that skill is -- and it is applicable far beyond mathematics.
-
Jim Swinger
-
I attended the program in the summers of 1961 and
1962 at the University of Notre Dame. I'll try to be brief.
In the fall of 1962, I entered Yale University, which I graduated from in
June 1966 with a degree in mathematics. At Yale, I was privileged to
take courses from Shizuo Kakutani, William S. Massey, Tsuneo Tamagawa
and Oystein Ore among others.
A few weeks after graduating from
Yale, I began my career with AT&T, which lasted through various
reorganizations and spin-offs until just this past May (2006), when I
retired from Lucent Technologies. During those forty years I was
initially an information technology applications software developer,
and then -- for the last twenty-five years or so -- a product manager,
planner and competitive analyst for a variety of AT&T and then Lucent
commercial products. Since 1990, I have been a Bell Labs systems
engineer and then a product manager of telecommunications-carrier grade
application software products that enable carriers worldwide to offer
advanced telecommunications services to their business customers. From
time to time, I have worked on projects jointly with some of the core
Bell Labs experts in mathematics and computer science.
Thinking about the wonderful learning experience I had at those two summers long
ago, I can't help remembering also my 1961 program room mate, Mark
Schaefer, who afterward also became my classmate and room mate at Yale.
Mark initially majored in mathematics and we often took the same math
courses together, but by senior year Mark decided to switch his major
to economics. He went on from Yale to earn his PhD in economics at MIT
and then went on to teach at Georgia State University, rising to full
professor before his untimely death in 1992. Were he alive now, I
think Mark would be as eager to attend a Ross Program
Reunion/Conference as I am.
-
Michael Anderson
-
Michael Anderson was in the program at Notre dame in 1963 and then at
Ohio State in 1964 and 1965 as a student. He was a counselor in 1966-1968.
Michael Anderson married Barbara Snow in 1969. He also received his
bachelorŐs degree in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame
in 1969. He received his PhD in mathematics from Princeton University
in 1974. He was a visiting member at the Institute for Advanced Study,
then was a Gibbs Research Instructor at Yale and then was an Assistant
Professor at Brown. His fields were algebraic geometry and logic.
In 1981, he left academia to work in research and development in the
computer industry. He worked in a variety of jobs in the Boston area,
including GTE Labs, before moving to Ann Arbor in 1984 to work for
FAME Software, a subsidiary of Citicorp.
He died in 1991, probably from hepatitis C, as a result of a blood
transfusion that he had while in high school.
-
Barbara (Snow) Anderson
-
I was in the SSTP program at Ohio State in 1964. My roommate was Christine Jones.
I met Michael Anderson that summer, and we got married in 1969. He died in 1991.
I received my bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1970,
and my PhD in Sociology, specializing in demography, from Princeton University
in 1974. Since then, I have been a visiting member at the Institute for
Advanced Study and at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences,
an Assistant Professor at Yale, an Associate Professor at Brown, and since
1984 have been Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, and
Research Professor at the Population Studies Center, University of Michigan.
I study the relation between social and economic change and demographic change
and mainly have worked on Russia, the Soviet Union and the former Soviet Union,
China, and South Africa.
The summer at Ohio State was very important to me. Although I did not become
a mathematician, I use mathematics and statistics in my work every day and
have never regretted my math background.
-
Steve Buser
-
I was in the SSTP program at Ohio State in 1963 at Notre Dame and 1964 at Ohio State.
Despite my love for math that Prof. Ross nurtured, I ended up majoring in
economics as an undergraduate student and also got my PhD in economics.
I returned to OSU in 1975, where I was on the faculty of the Department
of Finance until my retirement in 2002.
I still dabble in number theory from time to time and was both thrilled
and disappointed to learn that Fermat's last theorem had finally been
proven. I was also relieved to discover that the proof took
subtantially more space than the margin of Fermat's book would
have allowed. So at least it was not the relatively simple
proof that I, and apparently so many others, had been searching
for lo these many years. I suspect that Prof. Ross would have
had mixed emotions as well.
-
Christine Jones Forman
-
After the Ross program, I finished high school in West Carrollton,
Ohio and began my college studies in Cambridge, MA. Geographically,
I've barely strayed from the Harvard campus where I received my AB
(1971), AM (1972) and PhD (1974) in astrophysics. I was a
post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Astrophysics, then a Harvard
Junior Fellow before joining the Smithsonian at the Center for
Astrophysics. My recent research has centered on the Chandra X-ray
observatory, successfully launched by the Columbia shuttle in July
1999. I work with my husband Bill Forman, as well as with others from
CfA and elsewhere, primarily Germany and Russia. Students from as far
as Australia, Europe, England and South America and as near as the
Harvard Department of Astronomy have come here to work with us.
According to the
Astrophysics Data System,
I've helped to
write about 200 papers, and surprisingly these have been cited in more
than 12,000 other journal articles (hard to believe that many people
actually read those papers!). Currently we are attempting to measure
how the very large scale structures in the Universe grow from early
times to the present by using Chandra observations to pick out distant
quasars whose redshifts (distances) we measure from the ground. We
also are using Chandra to observe how energetic outbursts from
supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies produce shocks in
the gas around them. Now what could be more fun than that?!
in large part due to my experience in the Ross
program, for each of the past 15 years I've been the PI of an NSF supported
REU program that brings ten undergraduate students to the CfA for ten
weeks of research.
I've also worked to bring more science into elementary school
classrooms. Although this has been primarily with local teachers, we
developed an inquiry-based elementary science curriculum focused
on seasonal change which can be found
here.
On the personal side, Bill and I enjoy being parents to three great
kids. After our older daughter Julia was graduated from Harvard with
a degree in Chemistry, she left to spend a year in Cambridge, England
doing an M.Phil. Finding Cambridge and the Chemistry department warm
and welcoming, Julia has stayed to do a PhD supported primarily by a
Gates Fellowship. Her PhD will be presented on July 21 (same date as
the Ross reunion!) Our son Daniel just graduated from Swarthmore
College with a double major in physics and economics (and rugby!). He's
about to start an internship in NYC at the Federal Reserve.
Younger daughter Miranda is a high school junior who
loves reading fantasy books, playing viola, and playing with our dog
Millie.
Have a great reunion. I'm sorry to miss it!
-
Richard Friedman
-
I attended the SSTP program in 1965. I think the most
pronounced immediate effect of my participation was my intolerance for
the lack of rigor in the algebra-trig-analytical geometry class I took
the next year as a high school junior. I'm sure I was insufferable to
the math department chair who taught the class, but she and I survived
each other. When I went to Harvard in 1967, I planned to be a math
major, but somehow my interest turned to politics in that intensely
political year 1967-68, and I became a government major. I became a
lawyer (and still practice in the General Counsel's Office of the U.S.
Department of HHS). I can't say I've used my math much since then,
except that I retained enough to help my kids through high school math.
However, the intellectual excitement of that summer, and the
introduction to rigorous thinking have certainly helped in my vocation
of law, in my avocation of Talmud study, and in all areas of my life.
I'd like to hear from fellow students in that summer of 1965. (In the
class photo, I'm in a plaid shirt, four persons to the right of Dr.
Ross.)
-
Charles Blair
website:
netfiles.uiuc.edu/c-blair/www
-
I attended SSTP program run by Arnold Ross at Ohio
State in 1966 and 1967. Some comments were submitted for a previous
reunion. I have not published anything new in quite a while. However,
I occasionally play around with proofs of well-known results. A recent
example dealt with altitudes of a triangle WITHOUT constructing any
extra lines, but using similar triangles:
netfiles.uiuc.edu/c-blair/www/alt.pdf
-
Larry Stout
-
I won't be able to make it to the reunion -- my son is getting married
on July 21 and I need to be there instead.
I was a student in the Ross program in the summers of 1965 and 66
and was a counselor in 1967, 8, 9. The program solidified my decision
to become a mathematician and gave me a (so far lifelong) interest in
oddball variants of logic.
I majored in mathematics at the University
of Chicago, graduating in 1970. I got my Ph.D. from the University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1974 writing a dissertation, General
Topology in an Elementary Topos, under John Gray. I had a two year
postdoc at McGill (then the center of work on topos theory) where I
met and married my wife, Susan Burt. The next year I had a visiting
position at Vassar. I've been at Illinois Wesleyan University since
1977, where I am now professor of mathematics. Susan has tenure at
Illinois State as a linguist in the English department, so we've
achieved academic nirvana -- two tenured jobs in the same town.
My research is in category-theoretic approaches to non-classical
logic, particularly fuzzy logic. Only rarely do I get to teach
areas even close to my research, but my teaching has spanned the
whole undergraduate mathematics curriculum (including many courses
I never took). The SSTP program got me trying to thinking deeply
about simple (and complicated) things, encouraged me to ask students
to "prove or disprove and salvage if possible", and taught me to work
"toward the abstract". Anybody remember the Saturday morning expedition
to a nearby construction site to find the concrete?
My two sons are now grown so I no longer have to summon up the
interest to coach soccer, nor do I have a punk rock band in my
basement anymore. In my spare time I enjoy English and Scottish
country dance and play fiddle, viola d'amore, and English concertina.
-
Steve Rosenberg
-
I'm a math professor at Boston University,
where I've taught since 1985. My research is in differential geometry
with an emphasis on mathematical physics. I have a graduate text "The
Laplacian on a Riemannian Manifold," which an anonymous reviewer (my
wife) on Amazon called "a real page turner." My decision to become a
mathematician dates from my first summer in the Ross Program in 1966,
so my gratitude to Arnold Ross is too huge to easily express. I teach
every summer in BU's PROMYS program, our SSTP counterpart, and it's
deeply gratifying to see the next generation of mathematicians and
scientists as excited about doing math as we were forty years ago.
-
Daniel Shapiro
-
As a first-year student in Dr. Ross's 1966 SSTP program I was intrigued
by the mathematics, and by the Ross teaching style where each "PODASIP" can be
salvaged and generalized in several ways.
After getting a Ph.D. at Berkeley
I came to Ohio State in 1974 as one of the last people hired while Arnold Ross was chair.
In 1985 I ran a short course in the summer program, and then began teaching
a problem seminar or counselor course every year, eventually assisting Gloria Woods and Arnold Ross with
Program administration as well. When Arnold had a stroke in 2000 I took over the Program,
making a few changes in the problem sets but trying to keep the essential spirit
unchanged.
I hope the next generations of Ross kids continue to think deeply
about all sorts of simple things.
-
Barbara Molony
-
I was in the Ross program for two summers--1966 and 1967--and although
I started college as a math major, I switched to history. I'm now a
professor of history at Santa Clara University, but the Ross program
meant a great deal to me as a scholar, even in a different field.
I won't be able to attend the renunion, but I'm glad you're holding
a commemoration of Dr. Ross's program!
-
Lang Withers
-
I got to participate in the SSTP at Ohio State University in the
summer of 1967, just before my senior year in high school.
This program helped to show me, even as an undisciplined teenager,
how interesting and fun mathematics can be (contrary to the
standard opinion in high schools everywhere). It gave me
valuable formative training in mathematical reasoning, which has
stayed with me throughout my college education and three decades
in the defense industry.
Since getting a BS and MA in mathematics from Caltech and
Univ. of Colorado (1975), I've served the US Gov't in northern
Virginia for 32 years, mainly focusing on signal processing
algorithms and software. I joined the MITRE Signal Processing
Center in 2004. Previously, I worked as a principal engineer for
Raytheon/Falls Church, and at the Naval Research Lab.
Having three wonderful daughters who have grown up, I've enrolled
in a Physics PhD program at George Mason Univ, concentrating
on quantum theory and applications. My hope is to use this degree
later to teach and do research.
-
John Reiser
-
I plan to attend July 20, 21, 22. It will be the 40th anniversary
of my first year as a student (1967) in what was then called the
Summer Science Training Program ("SSTP") sponsored by the
National Science Foundation.
What a summer it was! Exhilarating hard work, perhaps the first
time I experienced "peak", "in the zone", "coherent" thinking
for an extended period. It was so good that I came back for
two more summers as a student and two more summers as a counselor.
Blackburn Hall dormitory, "1230 the new WCOL" radio station,
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, a TWA Boeing 707 landing at tiny
Don Scott Field (OSU private airport) instead of Port Columbus
International Airport, and many more memories; including first-year
roommates David Fried, Gerry Myerson, Robert Tax.
See you in July!
-
Lisa Salkovitz Kohn
-
In 1996, I wrote in detail about the value of the SSTP program to me and its
impact on my life, both personal and professional, and what I said
then continues to hold true. The grounding in mathematical thinking,
and Dr. Ross' legacy of impassioned curiosity and aggressive
problem-solving, have served me well as my career has flourished
and allowed me to mentor and teach labor and employment law,
arbitration, mediation, and legal representation skills outside
the standard academic setting. I hope to get to the reunion to
see old friends (so the rest of you had better come too,
Margy and Janet!) -- and maybe my kids will be willing to
come along to meet all the legends who have peopled their parents'
and uncle's reminiscences. Best wishes to you all!
-
Stewart Shapiro
-
I will attend the reunion, and am very much looking
forward to it.
I am currently a Professor of Philosophy at Ohio
State, specializing in logic, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy
of language. I also spend seven weeks each year at the Arche Research
Centre at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The Ross Program
got me started on my lifelong passion. There I learned about rigorous
proof, and the way to do mathematics in a cooperative way. I also met
some wonderful teachers, Dr. Ross being foremost among them.
I
was re-aquainted with Dr. Ross some years ago, at a social event. It
happened to be in the summer, and he invited me to have lunch with him,
after a number theory lecture in the program. I attended the lecture,
and then lost about a day and a half playing with the ideas presented
there. It was terrific.
- Debbie Epstein Rahav
-
In 1969, the summer after I attended Dr. Ross's
program at OSU, I attended an
astronomy program in Ojai which is funded by its
alumni.
- David Sze
-
As to where I am now - I'm mostly retired, remarried
and moved to Quebec City Canada, learning French, and teaching some
online.
-
Myron B. Allen
website:
math.uwyo.edu/Prof_home/Allen.html
-
I attended the Professor Ross's SSTP in the summer of
1971, before entering my senior year in high school. I met many
incredibly talented people, including my counselors and my roommates. I
also decided that I REALLY wanted to become a mathematician. And so I
did. After finishing graduate school, I joined the Mathematics faculty
at the University of Wyoming, where I've spent my entire career since
1983. It's only fair to admit that I've gotten involved in a few other
activities since then, some of them -- such as university
administration -- arguably less reputable than the discipline of
Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss. Nevertheless, I still teach mathematics
courses and participate to the extent that I can in the discipline. And
I'll admit to fantasizing, occasionally, about a major coup d'etat that
strips me of my administrative duties and returns me, full time, to the
subject I have loved ever since those challenging, life-changing weeks
I spent in Professor Ross's visionary program.
- Martin L. Brock
-
I was at the Ross Program as a student in 1971 and
1972 and as a counselor in 1973. And believe it or not, I still have
all my problem sets, solutions, class notes, and my own personal math
notes/notebooks from those summers. I am eager to hear from classmates
at the Program. I can't say enough, or begin to thank enough, for the
program, the people, and what it has done to, and for, me.
-
Steven Weissburg
-
Since the program, I earned a BS in Mechanical
Engineering from MIT, and then a law degree from the University of
Michigan (Go wolverines) at Ann Arbor. I have worked at various large
law firms in Boston, and am now a patent attorney, working on my own.
One of my primary clients is MIT.
The OSU math camp remains one
of the most interesting and challenging times of my life. In many ways,
the intellectual challenges exceeded even what faced me at MIT, except
for some of the most difficult courses. I find that, among
mathematicians, I earn their respect when they find that I attended the
program. I keep in touch with Ken Argentieri, with whom I went to high
school (just saw him at our 30th reunion) and David Jerison, who is on
the faculty at MIT, near to my office. I have also befriended
mathematicians Dan Stroock, of MIT, and Fernando Villeges-Rodrigues, of
UT in Austin. Interesting, that after all these years of professional
development and social climbing, I still prefer, socially,
mathematicians to engineers, and engineers to lawyers.
-
Philip Shapiro
-
I am a Ross Program Alumnus from 1973 and 1974, now
retired and living out here in Thailand (after finishing my career as
an analog circuit designer).
I spend quite a bit of time trying to teach myself mathematics. I am
learning about Differential Manifolds, but recently decided to try to
strengthen my foundations or at least try to satisfy my curiosity about
some foundational topics. Studying alone allows me to avoid getting my
sensitive ego destroyed, but it is inefficient. Progress is slow, but
sustainable.
Incidentally, I also heard from Marty Weinstock
who is a professor of dermatology at Brown (and my roommate from 1973),
and also from Al Borchers (who was a fellow magician, but with much
greater talent, skills, and ability).
-
Ron Newman
-
I went into computers. Further information is posted
here. Unfortunately, like many people in my field,
I'm currently unemployed and looking for a new job after my previous
employer went bankrupt.
-
Robert Indik
-
I am still at the University of Arizona math department,
now as an associate professor. Most recently, I have been
involved in research into nanophotonics. I frequently think
about what I learned from the program, not only mathematically,
but also about how mathematics is learned and taught, and I
annoy my students by urging them to "think deeply about simple things".
-
Seth Alford
-
I attended SSTP at the University of Chicago in 1975. I went on to
get a degree in CS from MIT in 1980. I've been working as a software
engineer for the last 27 years. I also married a math major. Sometimes
we argue about the Well Ordering Principle, which I first learned about
at SSTP. She's a strict constructionist.
-
Lynne Butler
website:
www.haverford.edu/math/lbutler.html
-
I didn't just fall in love with math in the summer of 1976,
I also fell in love with The University of Chicago (where the
Ross Program took place that summer). I majored in math at
U of C, earned a PhD in math at MIT, then spent my postdoctoral
years at Princeton and the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications.
I teach math at Haverford College, where the students love learning
as much as I love teaching. I've also had some very rich consulting
experiences: for the speech recognition group at IBM (when I was a
grad student), for the IDA Center for Communications Research
(when I was an assistant professor in math at Princeton),
and for the Educational Testing Service (when I was an associate
professor at Haverford). I even spent a year as Haverford's Associate Provost!
I think often of Professor Ross and my counselor Bindu Bambah.
They have my deepest gratitude for helping me explore my mathematical
interests and develop my mathematical talent.
-
Theodore J. Allen
website: people.hws.edu/tjallen
I was at the Ross Program in 1978 in Chicago. I
remember the program being very intense, all the more so because I
attempted to learn a lot of physics at the same time. The U of C
bookstore was a magical place for me -- there were many interesting
(and quite inexpensive) technical books for sale. There wasn't enough
time for both number theory and physics! The problem sets, if done
completely, would have eaten all the time available, and more. I still
have memories of my counselor, Peter Dordal, saying to me nearly every
day "Hen-sel's Lem-ma, Hen-sel's Lem-ma!" trying to get me to prove it
for myself. I remember students Al Shapere, Ivo Klemes, Danny Grubb,
David Atwood, Danny Goldstein, Rosabel Garcia, Richard Garfinkle, Maxim
Dynin, Jonathan Miller, Jon Urdan, Dana Johnson, David Gove, John
Rucell, my roommate William ("Yam") Dean, and others whose names I've
forgotten. I also recall counselors Mike Griffin, Eric Sobel, Matthew
(aka "Norbert") Wiener, and Jonathan Roberts. Many interesting things,
both intellectual and otherwise, happened that summer.
The fall
after the program, in 1978, I entered the University of Wisconsin as a
major in Applied Math, Engineering and Physics. I graduated from the UW
in 1982 and went to Caltech to study physics for my Ph.D. At Caltech,
I ran into Ivo Klemes, who was studying mathematics for his Ph.D. and
is now a math professor at McGill University. It wasn't until I got to
graduate school that I felt as challenged as I had at Arnold Ross's
program.
After I graduated from Caltech, I was a post-doc at
Syracuse University. While there, I ran into Al Shapere, who had
become a theoretical particle physicist as well and was working at the
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Al is now a physics
professor at the University of Kentucky. After leaving Syracuse, I
went to the University of Wisconsin as a post-doc and then assistant
scientist in theoretical particle physics. During this time I ran into
David Atwood, who was at post-doc at the Stanford Linear Accelerator, I
believe. David is now a professor of physics at Iowa State. I ran
across Danny Grubb's name while browsing the web a while ago. He's now
a math professor at Northern Illinois University. Danny Grubb also
spent a lot of time reading physics in Chicago in 1978. I'm just
amazed by how many of my fellow students are still in physics or
mathematics.
Now (2006) I'm an associate professor of physics
at Hobart & William Smith Colleges, a small pair of coordinate men's
and women's liberal arts colleges in Geneva, New York, in the beautiful
finger lakes region. My teaching has been strongly influenced not only
by Prof. Ross, but also by the other instructors, especially Paul
Sally, whose informal and friendly style was very encouraging. I've
always remembered his technique of sometimes tossing out silver dollars
to students who correctly answered his (non-trivial!) questions in
class. I've wanted to try that myself, but haven't yet done so. The
first day of class Prof. Sally came in dressed as a coach. I'd like to
try that as well!
My research has been influenced by Prof.
Ross's course mostly by the habits that the course cultivated,
especially in thinking about simple examples, or as he put it in the
daily problem sets: "food for thought." Prof. Ross's style was in a
way similar to that of Richard Feynman, an inspiring professor of mine
in graduate school who also taught his students to "think deeply about
simple things."
- Sol Lederman
I participated in the Ross program in 1979 and came back in 1980 as a
junior counselor. I was attending the Bronx High School of Science at
the time and a Math teacher, Mark Saul, encouraged me to apply for the
program.
After graduating from Bronx Science I went to Stanford where I studied
Math and Sociology. I found myself in high tech, programming, doing
tech support, and a variety of technical things for a number of
companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Sun Microsystems.
I now live in Santa Fe, NM where I work for my brother, still doing
techie work and wearing a number of hats at his company, Deep Web
Technologies
www.deepwebtech.com.
I would love to hear from graduates of the 1979-80 program.
- Rena Zieve
I was at the Ross Program in 1981-85, in the first group of kids directed
there from the Johns Hopkins Talent Search. Learning about the Ross
Program was far and away the best benefit of the Talent Search. It was
incredible to be around people my age who were willing and able to spend
time thinking about real mathematics. By mid-college I knew I wanted to
do experimental science research over the summer, but I still had to
wrench myself away from Ohio State.
I got a bachelor's in Chemistry and Physics (Harvard) and a PhD in Physics
(Berkeley). I'm now at UC Davis, where I've just been promoted to full
professor. Although my field is low-temperature experiment, material from
almost every math class I've ever taken has come in handy for my research,
so I always encourage physics undergrads to try math courses beyond the
"useful" ones on differential equations.
For the past three summers I've run an NSF-funded Research Experiences for
Undergraduates program in the Davis physics department. It's just 10-12
college students, each assigned to a different research group, but there
are enough administrative headaches that I appreciate better the
dedication Dr. Ross (and now Dr. Shapiro) had in keeping the program going
year after year.
My husband, Greg Kuperberg, is a math professor at Davis. We have two
kids, who may soon be spending summers in Ohio themselves.
- David Blackston
I attended the Ross Program from 1982 through 1987.
When I entered the program I was just entering high
school, and by the time I left I had been at MIT for 2
years. I majored in Math (with Computer Science
emphasis) while an undergrad and graduated at the top
of the department in 1989. Though Dr. Ross would
frown on this, I also enjoyed participating in the
Putnam and was on the MIT team for three years.
After I finished at MIT, I went west to UCBerkeley to
pursue a PhD in Computer Science. While in grad
school I came to the conclusion that a life of
research was not necessarily the life for which I was
best suited, so when I graduated I went into industry.
I am currently working for WaveMarket helping to
develop location based service applications for cell
phones. It's admittedly not particularly deep, but I
really enjoy the work and the variety of problems I
encounter keeps things very interesting.
In other fronts, I am pleased to announce that I am
now married to a wonderful woman, Jill, who I've known
for years. We were best friends for a long time, and
when we decided to try dating it just worked for us.
We are the proud parents of a wonderful little boy,
Zachary, who is still quite young but seems to like
numbers a lot! Perhaps in 2020 or so he'll want to
learn some number theory.
It is hard to measure the effect the Ross Program has
had on my life. I was quite young when I entered the
program and it was the first time I had ever been
surrounded by peers as interested and as good (or
better) than me at mathematics. It was a difficult
learning experience for me, but it cemented a life
long love of mathematics within me. I still get a
sense of great joy whenever I am speaking with a
person interested in math and I can whip out the proof
that every prime congruent to 1 mod 4 is the sum of
two squares using Minkowski's theorem on lattices! I
am forever changed by having gone through the program,
and I owe Dr. Ross a debt that cannot be repaid. I am
grateful that the program continues to thrive and that
so many eager, fresh faces will be taught the
importance of thinking deeply of simple things.
- Glen Whitney
A fairly straightforward beginning: three summers in the Ross
Program in the mid-eighties, math undergrad, linguistics master's
degree, math Ph.D., three-year postdoc. Then, to find an elegant
personal solution to the classic two-body problem (my wife, Nancy,
is a chemistry professor), I "sold out and joined a technical trading firm"
in the words of my boss there. Now, a decade later, I've switched to working
part time at that trading firm, and looking for ways to use whatever skills
I may have to make the world a better place. One way I've found is doing
information technology work for a private foundation supporting basic research
on the causes of autism, and I hope to find more.
I've been fortunate to renew my interaction with the Ross Program in recent
years, with several visits and talks on the mathematics of finance.
The Ross Program has had a deep and abiding impact on my life: it opened
my eyes to the idea that someone might actually want to study or do math
as a full-time occupation, it connected me with lasting friends, it's helped
me to look for and find simple solutions to apparently complex technical problems,
and, perhaps most importantly, it increased my score on the Geek Test ("Have you
ever attended a summer camp devoted to a scientific or technical subject?" Ka-ching!)
I look forward to seeing many of you at the reunion.
- Rocky Lee
-
- Steve Riedl
-
I've thought a lot over the years about the impact
my summer in the Ross math program had on me (my life, my career, etc).
I should start by saying that it was one of the most humbling
experiences of my life. I went to a pretty solid college prep high
school and math had always come easily to me, but I was exposed not
only to a whole new level of learning but also a whole new level of
mathematical talent. I was truly blown away by the level of math
skills of some of these kids from the New York Math Teams, etc. So at
some level I felt like I was completely over my head for most of the
summer.
But somehow some of the information must have stuck. A
quick example: I took the SATs in the spring of my junior year in high
school, and scored a pretty respectable 1310 (710M, 600V). However,
the reactions of my friends in the Ross program -- I received my scores
over the summer -- were along the lines of, "That's too bad, but you
know you can take them again." Clearly, respectable wasn't good enough
for these kids so take them again I did, in the fall of my senior year.
Three things changed between the first and the second time I took the
test: first, I was 6 months older; second, my expectations for success
were much higher; third, I had spent a summer in the Ross program
learning how to think. My SAT scores reflected these differences: I
scored a 1480. My 170 point improvement was well outside the range of
what the test people would consider a normal variation in results.
My SAT scores led to my getting accepted at Notre Dame. My
Notre Dame education led to me receiving 3 actuarial summer internships
while I was in college. My internships led to my being hired as an
actuarial student at Aetna -- one of 5 job offers I received from the 7
companies I interviewed with. I eventually became a full-fledged
actuary, and last year made Principal -- basically partner, at one of
the premier actuarial consulting firms in the country.
One
never really knows the impact of one's individual decisions, and only
through the lens of time and distance can you begin to appreciate the
ripple effect of key events in your life. However, I truly believe
that my summer studying in the Ross program had as significant an
impact on my life and career as any other single event in my life.
Keep up the good work!
- Joshua Zucker
-
I'm a teacher (mostly of math, but also astronomy,
computer programming) at
Castilleja school
in Palo Alto, CA. I'm still
using my inspiration from the Ross summers to pass along beautiful math
to a new generation of students, and to encourage them to think deeply
of simple things. I do this inside the classroom, and also through
extracurricular math: I was on the executive board of the ARML
contest, I am currently a question writer for MATHCOUNTS, and I have
been active in the Math Circles movement in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Recently, I helped create the
Teachers
Circle to pass along the message about teaching problem solving to
middle school teachers throughout the country.
I'm the father
of approximately 2.5 kids (the .5 being one expected to be born in May
2007, which is what makes it so unlikely for me to be traveling in
July).
- P.J. Karafiol
-
I attended the summer of 1985, and am now teaching
math at Walter Payton College Prep High School in Chicago. I am one of
the coaches of Chicago's ARML team, and write problems for the AMC,
AIME, and ARML contests.
- Michael Mitzenmacher
-
My time at Ohio State helped shape my mathematical future. I majored
in Math and Computer Science at Harvard, studied Maths (Part III) in
Cambridge, and obtained my Ph.D. in theoretical computer science at
Berkeley. After about two years getting some experience in a research
lab (an experience I highly recommend!), I returned to Harvard as an
Assistant Professor of Computer Science in 1999, and received tenure
in 2005. While I do a mix of theoretical work and more systems-y
project, mathematical modelling, methods, and formalism are the
foundations of my work. The Ross Program -- and the lessons of
thinking deeply of simple things -- has had a profound influence. You
can find out more about me and my work by Googling for my home page.
-
Keith Conrad
I am currently in the math department at the Univ. of Connecticut.
The undergrad number theory course here hadn't been offered in many
years before I arrived, but they let me start teaching the course and
it's very popular. This is in no small measure an effect of the Ross Program,
which influenced the way I present the material in lecture and on the
problem sets. So you can imagine that the students consider the course
completely unlike anything else they have taken. (I may also sometimes
repeat sayings or mannerisms of Dr. Ross in class, but the
students don't recognize this.)
-
Brian Conrad
Hi! Since earning my PhD back in 1996, I've been an academic mathematician.
My interests remain somewhere between number theory and geometry,
a mixture that has attracted me ever since I saw the geometric proof of the 4-square
theorem in my first year at the Ross Program. After several years as a postdoc
I moved out to the midwest, where I've been (at the University of Michigan) ever since.
The 4 (or 5?) summers that I spent at the Ross Program were extraordinarily
influential in my life since that time. Not only did I get to meet a lot of
people who remain good friends to this day, but it gave me the confidence to
pursue mathematics as a career and to devote serious efforts to helping other
young students to experience the joys of mathematical discovery.
For example, ever since I was in graduate school I've advised high school
students in research projects, all of which
earned Finalist status in the Intel competition (perhaps sometimes with
a little too much help from me, but advising PhD's isn't necessarily so
different!), and 3 of those went on to top graduate schools in math.
The experience of being a counselor at the Ross Program also
very much influenced my own approach to being a PhD advisor and teacher.
I'm sorry that I can't be at the Ross Reunion, due to being out of the country
(at a math conference) at that time.
-
Don Marolf
After 7 years at Syracuse university (where I learned to XC ski and
snowshoe), I moved in 2003 to the University of California, Santa Babrara.
I'm a physics professor, specializing in (quantum) gravitational theory.
Check my web page via Google for more details. What my official web page
doesn't say is that I got married a year ago to Crystal Martin, an
astronomer who studies galaxy evolution.
"Think deeply of simple things" is still my favorite phrase. I
occaisionally use it on my students, though I don't think it resonates
with them in the way I would like. I think they need more PODASIPs in
their diet! The Ross program was my eye-opener to exploring math/science
territory on my own, and to what a true joy such research can be. I doubt
that I could repeat any of our classic proofs off the top of my head
anymore, but those old problem sets still have a place of honor on the
bookshelf!
-
Blake Mellor
I was at the Ross Program in 1987 and 1988. Since then, I received my Ph.D.
from UC Berkeley in 1999 (working in topology with Robion Kirby), and
I am now teaching at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
I'm very happy here, and since I got both tenured and married in the
last year, it looks like I'll be staying.
While my research these days is far removed from number theory,
I still remember the Ross program as my first introduction to
real mathematics and proofs, and it influences me every time I
teach an introduction to proofs course. It showed me how cool
mathematics really was, and was a large influence in my choice
to pursue mathematics as a career.
-
Particia Hersh
I'm now an assistant professor in math at Indiana University in
Bloomington, and my research area is combinatorics, more specifically
algebraic and topological combinatorics. Attending the Ross program was
really key in helping me see what pure math is and realize that being a
math professor was the right career for me. And it's great to have made
so many friends at the program who I keep bumping into at math
conferences, at the schools I attended, etc.
-
Karan Singh
I am now an Associate Prof. in Computer Science at
the University of Toronto, where I have been since 2002. Working
backwards, I was with a startup in California, in New Zealand teaching
and consulting for the Lord of the Rings film, and before that in
Toronto at a software company called Alias where I helped produce Maya,
a piece of software that is used today for animation.
Before
that were my formative years in Columbus '89-'95, where I was a
student, counselor, grader and instructor at the Ross program while I
also got my PhD in Computer Science.
Around the time I
graduated in 1995 I had no intentions of being an academic, but years
spent in industry building software brought me round circle and the
desire to have a longer term focus in my work and the love of teaching
drove me back to academia. So I was recruited here at U of T in 2002 as
an Associate Professor with credit for my work in industrial research.
Today I work in Computer Graphics and Animation but use lessons
learnt in number theory, combinatorics, graph theory and differential
geometry everyday in my work. I am still actively working on the
fringes of Mathematics and lead a project on discrete surface
representations for industrial design and have organized a couple of
mathematics of animation workshops for the Fields Institute here. I
recently finished work on a 13 minute animated short film called Ryan
that has been doing well at film festivals since it premiered at
Cannes. I have also gotten quite obsessed recently by mazes and am
looking at the ways to quantify the difficulty of solving a maze given
its representation as a planar graph other than their visual appeal.
Anyway, you can find this all and more on my webpage - www.dgp.toronto.edu/~karan
-
Megumi Harada
Since obtaining her PhD from UC Berkeley under the direction of
Allen Knutson, Megumi has been happily living North of the Border. She
spent 3 years as a postdoc at the University of Toronto and is now an
assistant professor at McMaster University, which is a short train
ride away from Toronto. These days, she mainly thinks about symplectic
and hyperkahler quotients and equivariant cohomology theories.
-
Craig Helfgott
After getting a Ph.D. in theoretical physics at U.C. Berkeley, I spent
two years in a postdoc position at Tel-Aviv University. Since then,
I have joined the D.E.Shaw group as a quantitative financial analyst.
Number theory remains one of my abiding interests.
Over the course of my academic career, I have attended maybe eight or
nine distinct summer research programs. The Ross Young Scholars Program
rises head and shoulders above the others, both in terms of the learning
experience in and of itself, and in terms of the social atmosphere.
I have kept my bound copy of the Ross problem sets for the past 15 years,
and I find myself pulling them out every few years just to review.
I look forward to attending the reunion this year and hope to see a
great many familiar faces.
-
Lauren Ancel Meyers
website:
www.biosci.utexas.edu/IB/faculty/Meyers.htm
-
The Ross Program was among several experiences that
led me to study math in college (Harvard). I now use mathematics in my
work as a theoretical evolutionary biologist and epidemiologist.
- Nelson Quim
-
University of Michigan Business School
MBA
Program, Class of 2003
- Robert Pollack
-
I attended the Ross program for many summers in the early '90s, and it
would be hard to overstate how much influence those summers had on me.
I am now in the math department at Boston University, still studying
numbers, still conjecturing and still trying to salvage the false
ones.
I very much look forward to seeing many old friends at the reunion this summer.
- Karen Edwards
-
I received my PhD in topology from UC Berkeley in 2001, and since
Fall 2001 I have been teaching mathematics at Diablo Valley College,
a community college in the Bay Area. OF COURSE my years in the
Ross Program have influenced my teaching. In fact I often think
about my algebra-level students ( i.e. high school algebra; we
start at arithmetic and prealgebra at community colleges) and
wish that instead of a semester of textbook algebra they could
instead spend a summer studying number theory at the Ross Program.
I haven't yet figured out how to revolutionize the teaching of
prealgebra and algebra to more closely evoke the wonderful experience
of discovering math I had at the Ross Program. But you can bet
I think about it often. I've been married since 2003 and live
in Berkeley with my husband Matt.
- Andrew Lydon
-
I attended the Ross program during most summers from
1993-9. After graduating from Ohio State in math, I went to graduate
school in political science. As interesting as I found the subject, I
was disappointed in the main trends in academic political science.
Rather than be perpetually swimming upstream, I decided that political
science was better as a hobby than as a professional career path.
Having been interested in computer science at various times, I got a
job doing computer programming at a startup company. After that job
ended, I used the money I had saved to take about a year of time to
study various social science and history topics that I was interested
in. This was followed by graduate school in computer science. I
headed back to industry after writing a 231 page master's thesis.
Currently, I'm on the technical staff at Sandia National Labs doing
computer software R&D.
- Lauren Williams
-
About my whereabouts, I'm now at Harvard, having
finished my PhD in math recently (MIT '05). My focus in research is
algebraic combinatorics (combinatorial questions motivated by
representation theory, etc). The Ross program had a major impact on my
formation as a mathematician -- it gave me a chance to experience the
joys (and frustrations) of mathematical exploration.
- Joe Subotnik
-
I would love, love, *love* to come to the reunion this summer.
But I will not be able to make it, as I will have already started
a postdoc in Israel. I am going to be an NSF international
postdoctoral fellow working at Tel-Aviv University (with Prof. Abraham Nitzan)
on charge-transport through quantum mechanical systems.
I am just finishing up my Ph.D. now from UC Berkeley.
Far away from number theory, but I swear I use the same
principle over and over: don't stop thinking about something
until it makes total sense. Golly were those summers at Ross
so very useful for me. It amazes me that you still have the
energy to keep going!
Anyway, I do hope the reunion is a terrific sucess and I wish you
all the best. And, furthermore, once I start making a postdoc salary, rather
than a student salary, I will certainly make a donation!
- Heather Sable (AKA The
MathChick)
website: www.proudnerd.com
-
I attended the Ross Young Scholars Program in 1995,
when Professor Ross himself was still lecturing. Since then, I attended
Cooper Union and got a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. I went on
to work in Technical Support for a while, followed by tutoring SAT
math. In January 2003, I started a website, www.proudnerd.com,
where I sell funny math t-shirts and other products with my own
designs.
I am now working as a Math teacher at a Middle School in NJ. I
teach accelerated students in grades 6-8 Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, and
Algebra II. I am also the Math Team Advisor for my school, which is
very fun. I attended the Ross Program for Teachers for Number
Theory in June and July of 2006, which was an amazing experience that I
enjoyed thoroughly and from which I have learned a great deal.
- Alexis Burgess
-
I'm getting married in Greece on May 26!
We're now in between places. I was teaching at NYU this spring, and living in Brooklyn.
But we were just in Palo Alto looking for a house (and, surprisingly, finding one!),
because I'm starting at Stanford in the fall,
thankfully tenure-track, and in the philosophy department.
- Chris Hanusa
-
Ross program of 1995, currently a post-doc in math at
Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY
- Daniel O'Connor (from 10/2004)
-
I was a counselor 1998 and 1999.
I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in math in 2001; I
got a master's degree in applied math from UCLA in December 2003; since
then, I've been on a leave of absence, doing things like studying
physics, tutoring, and debating whether I should get a Ph.D or get a
job...
- Jared Weinstein
-
I was at the program '96 - '98 and have stayed in number theory ever since.
I'm finishing up a PhD in Berkeley and am about to start a postdoc at UCLA.
Who knows where I'd be without the Ross Progam? The beauty of the material
grabbed hold of me at the age of 14 and just never let go. I'm teaching
summer session in July but I'm going to make it to the reunion by hook
or by crook. See you there!
- Jason Slemons
I can't go to the conference this year, I regret to
say, but it's for a good reason; I'll be getting married instead! In my
home town in Alaska. (ThatŐs right, there are people who came all the
way from Alaska to do math in Ohio!)
Since going to the Ross
program for 3 summers, I have gone on to get a degree (or 2 or 3 and
almost 4) in math. I am currently at the University of Washington in
Applied Math doing Numerical Linear Algebra.
I think the best
part about the mathematics I learned at Ross was the enthusiasm I got
while I was there for it. The sheer joy of doing mathematics has been a
strong force in my life ever since going and I wouldn't trade it for
anything. I also have valued the people I met there and always enjoy
catching up when I see them.
Of course I could thank Dr. Ross,
and I do wish I could say more to him now. However, the person I can
say thank you to, and who was my seminar instructor my first summer, is
Dan Shapiro. Thank you for your work Dr. Shapiro, you are a great
teacher. I'll never forget the sections I went to that first, hot,
summer in Ohio, when I was 16.
- Noah Snyder
-
I'd love to make it to the Reunion and will see
whether I can squeeze it in. However, I'm not very confident that I'll
be able to work it out as that month is really crowded.
Berkeley is quite delightful. I'm currently in year 5, and will be
graduating after year 6. I'm studying representation theory, quantum
groups at roots of unity, and quantum topology with Nicolai
Reshetikhin. I've had one paper published recently in the Journal of
Algebra on structure of certain infinite dimensional Lie algebras, and
have a paper coming up in Proc. AMS on representations of finite
groups.
Recreationally, I've also been doing a lot of puzzle writing (I
wrote about a sixth of the 2006
mystery hunt) and solving.
-
Alex Wissner-Gross
website: www.alexwg.org
-
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the 2007
reunion. I am current a Ph.D. Candidate in Physics at Harvard, doing
research in Multiscale Programmable Matter. More info appears on my
website.
- Sonal Jain
-
I will be attending the reunion in Columbus. As far
as what I've been up to, I'm finishing this year and next year I'll be
at Courant doing a postdoc. I look forward to the reunion.
- Oren Bassik
-
I was a student in 98 and a JC in 99 in the RYSP.
Changed my life (I'm sure you've heard that a hundred times over
though.)
I graduated from U of Chicago in math and economics in 2004, and
have been working in finance in NYC since, trading exotic interest rate
options.
- Jesse Kass
-
Since my time at the Ross Program, I have started graduate school
in mathematics at Harvard University. I am working somewhere in the
intersection of number theory and algebraic geometry and plan on
graduating next year.
The Ross Program, of course, had a huge impact on me. Not only
did the program spark in me a deep love of mathematics, but those
summers were a uniquely intense intellectual experience that
profoundly impacted my thinking, both mathematical and otherwise.
- Robert Moore
-
Hi, I'm in my second year of college now at Purdue
in Computer Engineering and realized I should update my email with you
all. Thanks, and thank you to Ross, who helped bring forth my love for
mathematics and allowed me to decide to double major in math, which I
will hopefully some day teach; and to the tough problem sets that allow
me to actually write complete proofs in advanced classes and on the
Putnam with ease.
- Laura Gladstone
-
I just graduated ('07) from Columbia University, Columbia College,
majoring in physics and concentrating in math. I was the president of
the Columbia Society of Physics Students, and an officer for three years
with the Columbia Bach Society. I worked extensively with the MiniBooNE
experiment, a short-baseline neutrino oscillation search at Fermilab.
This summer, I'm returning to my assistant photographer job with the
Oregon Bach Festival and generally reconnecting with Oregon. In the fall,
I'm starting physics grad work at University of Wisconsin, Madison,
(with a NDSEG fellowship) where I'll continue working with an
experimental neutrino group, most likely IceCube, the neutrino observatory
in the ice at the south pole.
- Jared Bass
-
My summer plans are still somewhat uncertain. If it is
at all possible, I will try to come to the Reunion.
In the two summers since I was at the Ross Program in 2004, I've been
to the Director's Summer Program and the Duluth REU. Both were great
research experiences, and I will actually be getting a publication out
of Duluth - I have had an article accepted by the Journal of Number Theory.
I will be graduating from Harvard a few months from now, and just found
out that I will be going to Chicago for graduate school in math next year.
I'm not at all sure of what area I'll be going into, but Chicago has a very
strong, broad introductory program, which will hopefully help me to decide.
- Chris Church
-
Since starting graduate school in Electrical Engineering at OSU,
I've put together enough material for three conference
papers (two published, one more in September). My masters thesis will
likely be a combination of all those papers. The topic will
be something along the lines of "Prediction of Code and Carrier Phase
Biases in GNSS Receivers." My particular work deals with adaptive
antenna arrays for use in precision (mostly military) GPS
applications.
- Richard Gottesman
-
I am very interested in attending the 50th reunion. I am currently
finishing a master's in mathematics at Brown and am excited to continue
my education at a math PhD program in the fall. I am still interested
in doing research in number theory and "thinking deeply of simple things".
I still keep in touch with many of the counselors from Ross.
I hope the Ross Program is doing well.
- YinFeng Shao
-
I'm finishing up my junior year at MIT, majoring in theoretical math and
minoring in economics. This summer I'll be interning at a trading firm
in Chicago.
-
Tim Abbott
-
I'm currently a senior at MIT, applying to graduate
schools in (Theoretical) Computer Science. The Ross program taught me
how to think, and no other experience compares with it in its influence
on me.
Key to the success of the program for me when I returned
as a Counselor was its intensely thoughtful environment. Even at MIT,
I have not found another environment with the same concentrated
intellectual intensity as the Ross Program, where everyone believes in
thinking deeply about simple things.
- Joe Pacold
-
I'm now a junior majoring in physics and math at Indiana
University, and am just beginning the grad school application process;
I'm hoping to work towards a PhD in theoretical physics.
The experience I had at the Ross Program has turned out
to be incredibly valuable. I haven't studied much more number theory,
but Ross was really where I learned how to construct and
write a good proof.
- Eve Drucker
-
I'm graduating from Harvard in June with a major in math and a minor
in economics. After
that, I'll be working in finance in NYC for a few years before
possibly going back to school.
- Matthew Tang
-
I attended Ross during the summer of 2004, and I am
currently attending Princeton University pursuing an Electrical
Engineering degree. I have to say, looking back, that I was pretty
immature. But I've learned a lot, and Ross has given me an invaluable
experience (besides problem solving skills) that I would not have found
elsewhere. I hope that the program continues to flourish :) I have
met a number of Ross program alumni at Princeton, and we all seem to
have the same views concerning the program.
- Michael Lee
-
I am currently a first year student at the
University of Michigan: Ann Arbor and plan on double majoring in
Computer Science and Computer Engineering as well as at least a Math
minor. I am also considering the possibility of a music minor among
other options. I really enjoyed my first semester and hope the next one
will be even better. I am currently a part of the U of M solar car team
in the operations division and am also working for university
residential computing. I don't really have time for fun math right
now; I still need to take care of my core requirements.
I was
in a research program last summer sponsored by the National Science
Foundation and Central Michigan University. My research topic was on
the linear algebra of magic squares (not really useful but lots of
fun). I hope to continue research in either math or computer science
in the future.
- Alex Dubbs
-
I unfortunately cannot make it to the Reunion, since I will be here at Harvard
(where I am currently a pure math major) working for an economist
(Prof. Roland Fryer). Things are going very well, I am currently
taking second-semester abstract algebra and quantum mechanics,
and I am looking forward to a slew of geometry and topology
classes next year. Hope everything at Ross is going well too.
- Vivek Agarwala
-
After Ross in the summer after 9th grade (2005), I
went on to attend the Stanford University Mathematics Camp last year
(summer after 10th grade). I am now a junior at the Phillips Exeter
Academy in Exeter, NH.
My time at Ross had a profound impact on
me both as an student and as a person. It was Ross that first sparked a
deep interest and commitment to studying in the field of mathematics.
The Ross program was truly a transformative experience and I cherish
every lecture, problem set, and minute spent with my counselor over the
summer. I have embraced the notion of thinking deeply of simple things
and continue to remain extremely dedicated to and interested in the
field of mathematics. I cannot thank you enough for providing me with
such an excellent and shaping experience.
- Matt Bunday
-
This school year I enrolled in EPGY's new
Online High School.
I am taking their AP physics B,
AP US history, English, philosophy of government, and C programming.
I'm still enrolled in UMTYMP and
I just took the second test of this semester's linear algebra course.
I've also been part of some extracurricular clubs that the teachers at
OHS put together. I recently coded the website for our student newspaper,
and this next issue I will be writing two articles, one of which will be
about math. I would have considered Ross again this summer, but EPGY
has a summer session for OHS that conflicts, where I will be doing
physics labs in order to get AP credit for my physics course.
I really enjoyed my experience at Ross, because it was so different
from other summer programs. And it was a very good kind of different.
Instead of being led by the hand through all the material and being
force fed the concepts, at Ross we got to discover for ourselves.
I regret that I didn't have that kind of experience earlier, because
while I was at Ross I sort of didn't get it. I wasn't used to having
to be self-motivated, so I let myself get behind in the sets. A little
too late in the program I figured out that I really needed to apply
myself to the sets, but I did manage to finish a QR track before the
QR lecture. I think overall it was just a very liberating experience
to be placed in such a different learning environment, and I hope I
will have a chance to try it again, because I think that next time
it will go a lot better. Another great thing was that I got to be
really close with my camp mates, because of the duration and because
of the relatively free schedule we kept.
Thank you for putting together a great program.