It is always great to reconnect with our alumni. Recently, I had an opportunity to catch up with David Watson, one of our math majors who graduated in 2017.
After he moved to Texas, he founded a company making hot sauce!
On his t-shirt is a math joke: Without geometry life would be pointless!
David is now Head of the Mathematics Department at Texans Can Academy (TCA) at Houston Southwest. In addition to his leadership role at his home department and TCA, David helped develop the Texas statewide Geometry curriculum (which is currently taught to over thousands of students).
David recounted a memorable moment when he took MAT 401 History of Mathematics. In that class, he learned about Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) and G. H. Hardy (1877-1947) (Hardy played an instrumental role in Ramanujan’s life; see this Wikipedia article; the story was retold in the 2015 movie The Man Who Knew Infinity). David was deeply impressed by Hardy’s book, A Mathematician’s Apology (first published in 1940). David said the book inspired him to keep pushing forward, especially during the time when he was searching for balance between school and work. Now as a teacher, David keeps copies of it in his classroom. He wants it to inspire his students, especially for those who are interested in pursuing mathematics at a higher level.
If you are interested in studying Math, feel free to contact me (see my email below)! Our program has both on-campus and online options.
(Dr. Hei-Chi Chan, MAT/PHI, hchan1@uis.edu, September 6, 2023) Keywords: UIS Mathematical Sciences Department, UIS alum