Ben Tupper entering the PhD program at the Graduate Center
June 11, 2025
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.
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