CATEGORY: Academics
TYPE: Articles
RELATED PROGRAMS: Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science

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Newsletter Written by Mac Students

Mathematician Andrew Beveridge enjoys introducing students to the vital and organic world of research mathematics. He also brings six years of Silicon Valley industry experience to his classroom.

Hometown: New York City

Education: BA Williams College; MS and PhD Yale University

Teaches: Combinatorics, Algebraic Structures, Linear Algebra

Research interests: Strategy and randomization on networks. Recently, I’ve been studying a pursuit evasion game, and the rendezvous problem in which two robots try to find one another. Plus I always have some random-walk problem kicking around, too.

How to succeed in mathematics: Perseverance and creativity. You also need a strong knowledge base and productive problemsolving strategies.

Why Mac for mathematics: In addition to being great educators and researchers, our faculty members are approachable, friendly people, who also want to engage students as people.

Conventional wisdom: Mathematics is the science of patterns. Sometimes it is better to take a step back and look for the similarities. Called “abstraction,” this helps identify the essence of a problem, avoiding the distraction of minute details.

Currently reading: Embassytown by China Mieville

A perfect Saturday afternoon: Doing something outside with my wife and daughters. In the summer, we like to go biking. Last winter, we successfully made a full igloo.

Free time: Volleyball. I play in a city league and in pickup games with the Mac Volleyball Club.

People would be surprised to know: I used to be an indie rock ‘n‘ roller. I almost quit grad school to try to make it big.