Someday when I grow up I would like to be a math professor.  I’m currently in my fourth year in the PhD program here, and I’m making decent progress.  I am past my general exam. I have two excellent co-advisors, Isabella Novik and Sara Billey. My first paper was recently accepted for publication, and I have been privileged to share the material by giving a number of talks (see my CV page).  We’ll see how the job market is when I finish my degree, which is currently estimated to be in June 2009.

 

I am probably currently the eldest graduate student in the PhD program here at the University of Washington.  For that matter, I am physically older than many faculty members, including both of my thesis advisors.  But mathematically, I am still very much a youngster, and I like to think that I have the same youthful enthusiasm for the subject that my younger peers enjoy.  I have not been in “the math racket” long enough to be jaded or tired.  I am enjoying myself immensely.

 

In my previous life, I worked in the software industry for over 20 years, mostly making embedded software for telecom and datacom gear. Then after having overstayed my welcome in the industry, I was laid off from my last company, a Silicon Valley startup, in 2002 when the entire industry was in the throes of depression.  I viewed this as divine permission to leave that industry and get back to studying my favorite topic: mathematics. This was my long detour on the way to graduate school.