News: page 3

Shirshendu Chatterjee received a $250,000 National Science Foundation grant from the probability program. His primary goal is to understand and analyze structural properties and limiting behavior of various spatial and non-spatial random graph models and several stochastic dynamics taking place on graphs. Modern real-world data provides many challenges to our society which require more tools to analyze and understand. This area of research has applications in neural networks, pandemic management, and the evolution of social interactions.

Max Sehaumpai is a junior at CCNY who will be graduating in Fall 2023. He recently won a 2022 Barry Goldwater Scholarship. This federally funded scholarship is America’s premier award for undergraduates majoring in math, science, and engineering.

Max Sehaumpai, a Queens native, came to CCNY as an applied math major, but eventually chose to double major in computer science as well. He didn’t know what he wanted to pursue initially, but CCNY opened the door for him with opportunities to work with various faculty, even outside of mathematics, which opened his eyes to a wide range of possibilities. He has been working with Prof. James Booth since the Fall 2020 semester under the City College Fellowship. Most of his work has been applying computer science techniques to storm surge data and doing statistical analysis to analyze patterns with cyclones.

“I love that CCNY doesn’t just support students in their division, but helps students as a whole”, he explains. “Prof. Asohan Amarasingham has also been a great advisor and everyone I’ve had interaction with has been so supportive”. He also encourages all students to reach out to people that they're genuinely interested in working with and when you feel tired and burnt out, remember how passionate you were in the beginning to rekindle the flame.

In addition to being the winner of a Barry Goldwater Scholarship, he was a City College Fellow from 2020-22 and a Climate Policy Fellow with the Colin Powel School in 2021-22 academic year. He plans on going to graduate school to become a professor in the future, since he really enjoys and feels comfortable in an academic environment.

He also credits Jennifer Lutton, Dr. Michael Wijaya, Prof. Joseph Bak, and Crystal Sawyer for all their advice and help along his journey.

Zhi Heng Liu is graduating from CCNY in 2022 with a M.S. in Mathematics. He is going to move on to work on his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Hear about it from Zhi Heng Liu himself!

I graduated from CCNY in Spring 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in pure mathematics and I’m finishing up my Master's degree Spring 2022. In Fall 2022, I am thrilled to begin my PhD in pure mathematics at the University of Maryland at College Park.

While at CCNY, I had the pleasure of working with many professors, and even participated in research projects through the Rich Summer Internship. In the summer of 2021, I worked with Prof. Wolf on rotation sets, and in the summer of 2020, I worked with Prof. Hooper on translation and dilation surfaces by gluing together polygons. It was over these two summers that I decided to embark on the journey to become a mathematician and forgo the idea of software engineering, for which I considered for the better half of my undergraduate degree. All this is to say that the math department at CCNY is incredibly supportive.

Before leaving CCNY, I wish to extend my gratitude to many other professors who have play a role in my mathematical journey: Prof. Wolf, Prof. Hooper, Prof. Feigon, Prof. Merenkov, and countless others.

Monika Cooney graduated from CCNY in 2018 with a B.A in mathematics and a M.S in mathematics in 2021. She is now working on her Ph.D at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Hear about it from Monika herself!

I graduated from CCNY with my B.A Mathematics in 2018 and continued to finish my M.S. at CCNY in 2021. I decided to continue pursuing my Ph.D. at the CUNY Graduate Center, where I’m just finishing my second semester. The journey to get where I am was not easy and I truly believe that success in mathematics is not about how “good” you are, but about how hard you work.

I initially thought I’d pursue a career in math education, which I did do for a year after I completed my B.S. While teaching, I remembered the conversations I had with Prof. Feigon, who was a wonderful mentor, and who had encouraged me to pursue my Ph.D. I also missed the academic environment where I could spend time learning new mathematics as well! In addition to that, my mother was a mathematician and provided a lot of inspiration for me growing up.

The pandemic has provided so many struggles with motivation and it was difficult to stay motivated, but I am glad to be where I am and look forward to continuing my Ph.D. My advice to any new student at CCNY would be to follow your heart and what you like to do. Work hard to pursue what you like and keep in mind that nothing comes without effort, but it’s all worth it. Life takes a lot of work, so it’s better to do things you like along the way!

My experience with the math department at CCNY was truly a wonderful experience. I want to thank Prof. Wolf, Prof. Steinberg, and Prof. Bak for their continuous support through my time at CCNY.

The AWM Math Club worked with the Physics Club to put together a graduation picnic in the Beaver Quad on campus. The weather was perfect for some time outdoors accompanied by some food and music!