News

Ben Tupper is graduating from CCNY in Spring 2025 with an M.S. in Mathematics. He will continue his studies in the Ph.D program in Mathematics at the CUNY Graduate Center.

My journey in mathematics has been nonlinear. I studied music composition at Pomona College and spent several years working as a teacher and music director. Math remained a personal passion that I explored on my own -- I read everything from Gilbert Strang’s Introduction to Linear Algebra to Donald Knuth’s whimsical book on surreal numbers. I also created interactive math tools and instructional YouTube videos.

When the pandemic unexpectedly paused my teaching career, I finally gave myself permission to try to make math into a serious academic pursuit. Coming from a nontraditional background, I found every course here was also a crash course in the material I hadn’t seen as an undergraduate. Still, I learned a lot -- and more importantly, I discovered that I love mathematical research. I’m very grateful that I got the chance to do that at City College.

The most rewarding experiences of my time at CCNY were the Rich Summer Internships. I worked with Prof. Pat Hooper on translation and dilation surfaces, and with Prof. Tamara Kucherenko on ergodic theory and coded shifts. I want to thank Prof. Zajj Daugherty (now at Reed College), whose Modern Algebra course early in my time here was one of the most engaging courses I've taken. I'm also thankful to Prof. Gennady “Wolfgang” Yassiyevich, whose topology courses were among my favorites.

I’m excited to continue on to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics at the Graduate Center.

In a Pi Day piece about Mathemalchemy, an art installation illustrating mathematical content, this New York Times article refers to Prof. Hooper's work (joint with Prof. Athreya of the University of Washington and Prof. Aulicino of Brooklyn College) showing that there are 31 families of closed geodesics on the dodecahedron from a vertex to itself. Below is Bronna Butler's light fixture with one of the paths.

The Artino Math Center is celebrating Pi Day on 3.14.2025. Come and enjoy servings of both pies and pizza! Food is first come first serve so be quick! We look forward to celebrating Pi Day with you.

The Artino Mathematics Tutoring Center has posted S25 tutoring hours for both in-person tutoring in NAC 1/511 and remote.

Spring 2025

• Monday - 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (in-person and remote)
• Tuesday - 10:30 AM to 8:30 PM (in-person and remote)
• Wednesday - 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (in-person and remote)
• Thursday - 10:30 AM to 8:30 PM (in-person and remote)
• Friday - 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM (in-person and remote)
• Saturday - 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM (remote only)
• Sunday - 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM (remote only)

María Sánchez-Muñiz has been selected for the MGB-SIAM Early Career (MSEC) Fellowship for 2025-2027. The fellowship program, established by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), supports early-career researchers in applied mathematics and computational sciences.

Sánchez-Muñiz's current projects include locating topological fingerprints to relate El Niño-Southern Oscillation patterns with prolonged dry conditions in Southeast Asia using dynamical systems and topological data analysis, funded by the American Institute of Mathematics and research on conceptual models for permafrost thawing funded by The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute.

As part of the fourth cohort of MGB-SIAM Early Career Fellows, Dr. Sánchez-Muñiz will participate in networking events and professional development activities within the SIAM community.