Participants, History of Algebra Seminar
Rutgers College Honors Program, Spring 2002

• Gregory Cherlin
is a Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University, specializing in Logic and its relations with abstract algebra. Born in New Brunswick, N.J., of all places, on the 97th anniversary of the coup d'état of Napoleon III, he quickly emigrated to Bloomfield, thence to East Orange, and subsequently to far-off Newark, before going off to Yale to major in mathematics. Upon completion of his Ph. D., still at Yale, with a brief interlude at the University of Chicago, following closely on the Chicago Police Riot of 1968, he relaxed for a year at Princeton University, sustaining himself by library work and miscellaneous translations, mostly from Russian (a language he had never formally studied), before settling down to an instructorship at M.I.T., followed by an excursion to the University of Heidelberg, where he met his future wife Chantal Houdeline on a train to Paris. On their return to the United States he accepted a position at Rutgers University, which he has quit only for the occasional leave of absence at Tüaut;bingen, Simon Fraser, Yale (yet again), the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkely, California, with shorter visits to Paris and Florence. Recently he has pursued an interest in the history of mathematics, learning the subject by teaching it, first to a class consisting primarily of mathematics education majors, and now to the cream of the Rutgers Honors Program. He has two children, one at Rutgers, majoring in classics, and one about to receive a masters degree in comparative Semitic philology from Harvard. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
• Patricia DiJoseph
was born in 1983 in Princeton, New Jersey, and lived in Quakertown, Pennsylvania until emigrating to Woodbridge, New Jersey, at the age of two, where she has resided ever since. She attended Bishop George Ahr High School in Edison and is enrolled in the Honors Program at Rutgers University. Her intended major is Mathematics, with a minor in Art History.
Patricia's parents are both Rutgers College graduates. Her mother, Clare McCartin-DiJoseph, is a fourth-grade public school teacher, and her father, John DiJoseph, is a research scientist; she intends to follow neither of their careers. Patricia has one older and one younger sister, both generally tolerable. Patricia toured Alaska with her family at the age of thirteen and has been to California numerous times to visit her father's side of the family. She is hoping to study abroad in Italy in her junior year. For as long as she can recall, Patricia has had a strong interest in mathematics.
• Anand Kandaswamy,
a Rutgers College senior majoring in economics and political science, has achieved notoriety as the brother of the brilliant but stable Deepak. Born on January 10, 1980 in Bloomington, Indiana to great rejoicing and propitious signs th at had not been observed since Halley's Comet marked the date of Mark Twain's birth, he astonished his classmates with displays of brilliance in his formative years, while managing to avoid getting beaten up. After a childhood spent largely in the wilds o f suburban Illinois, at the age of 12 Anand brought the family to urban, urbane New Jersey. His current tastes in reading run from Great Expectations to Sideways Stories from Wayside School, and back again. In spite of his essay for this volume, he will be graduating in May 2002, and going on to law school this fall. Anand has a passion for history, and regaled us with his account of T. H. Huxley's triumph over Temujin, the Bishop of Oxford (or something of that sort).
• Deepak Kandaswamy,
a junior at Rutgers College majoring in finance with a minor in statistics, has achieved notoriety as the brother of the brilliant but unstable Anand. Deepak currently works part time in Johnson & Johnson's Domestic Treasury Department. At the Domestic and Puerto Rico cash desk he trades securities in a portfolio worth almost two billion dollars. Do not mess with him.
During his nonexistent free time Deepak is an avid though primarily vicarious sports enthusiast, following his beloved Chicago Cubs, traveling to Shea Stadium annually to see them duel it out with the Mets (as this is more convenient than the fifteen hour drive to Wrigley Field); and he has been known to don a glove himself. He is also an enthusiastic if not always successful chess player (without the glove).
Deepak's future plans are unsettled, but he hopes to become involved with investment banking at a major New York City firm doing equity or fixed-income research.
• Teresa Kuo,
a native of San Antonio, Texas (yee-haw!), and the younger daughter of Taiwanese (originally mainland Chinese) immigrants, is currently majoring in psychology and biological sciences at Rutgers University, where she is employed at a research laboratory examining the roll of Pavlovian conditioning on alcohol and substance abuse in rats. (The rats are volunteers.) In her spare time Teresa studies architecture and art history, writes short stories, plays a lively harmonica, and is an avid cartoonist.
• Jennifer Orlansky
is a graduating Rutgers College senior and has been a member of the General Honors Program since her freshman year, majoring in Psychology with a minor is Communication. Jennifer was abducted by aliens at the age of 7, but was returne d unharmed three weeks later; since then, things have been fairly calm. Her future plans are uncertain at this time, but she does not intend to continue on to graduate school, and she will be remaining within the solar system.
• Nilay Patel
was born and raised in Piscataway, New Jersey in December, 1982, the younger son of Bhupendra and Avantika, now happily married for 26 years, and there he grew up, apart from an unplanned year-long excursion to Georgia, where, after a summer spent so enjoyably at his uncle's home that he refused to return home, he found himself enrolled in the fourth grade. He is known domestically as "the smart kid in the family" (what epithets his older brother Samir goes under remain unrecorded), and was valedectorian of his high school class. Nilay is majoring in molecular biology and biochemistry at Rutgers, and may set the world record for time spent in Piscataway. He also intends to become a surgeon, though the world being what it is today he may find himself the head of a genetics start-up one of these days. Time will tell.
• Ari Pattanayak
is a graduating senior in the Rutgers College General Honors Program. He majored in Economics and German, and is currently unsure of what the future holds. The poor market conditions of the previous year have diverted his attentions away f rom a career on Wall Street, and he is now giving some consideration to socially productive activities, such as teaching. His interests lie in the Social Sciences. Development has always had a particular fascination for him, though unfortunately his poor skills in mathematics [sic] may dissuade him from pursuing graduate studies in Economics. He will, however, eventually return to graduate or professional school, by hook or by crook.
In the meantime he plans to leave for Europe - uncertain of when he will return. He is currently scheduled to begin a stint in the Finnish Army on July 9th. However, he is also contemplating becoming a United States citizen, which will free him from 9 co ld months guarding the Russian border in Lapland. Other plans include an internship with his former employers at KPMG consulting, either in London or Frankfurt. All in all, this New Jersey resident has quite a few important decisions to make in the course of the next few months. Stay tuned.
• Jonathan Salinas
is a member of the Rutgers College General Honors Program, a graduating senior majoring in political science, with minors in philosophy and economics. Jonathan's senior thesis analyzed the prospects for democratic reform in the People' s Republic of China. Jon is a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society. After graduation Jonathan will work as a financial analyst for UBS PaineWebber. He expects to continue on to graduate work eventually, in the areas of economics and international relations.
• Melissa Schoffer
will graduate with highest honors from Rutgers College in May 2002, with a degree in Journalism and Media Studies. The History of Algebra honors seminar marks Schoffer's abrupt return to the study of mathematics, following a three-year hiatus, and Schoffer has enjoyed this opportunity to broaden her mathematical knowledge. She plans to continue her education in law school this fall, at Hofstra University.

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