Dr. Sasmita Patnaik is an Associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at IIT Kanpur. Her research interest broadly is in operator theory including commutators of compact operators, solvability of certain bilinear operator equations, and Lie algebras of compact operators. What follows next is her inspiring story in her own words.
I was born in Ranchi, Jharkhand in the year 1980. My schooling until 10th was in Kairali School, a CBSE public school established in 1978 and run by the Malayalee Association, Ranchi. In a way, we (the school and myself) grew together. I then joined Delhi Public School, Ranchi and completed my 12th in 1998.
While majority of my classmates were scratching their heads day and night to crack the engineering and medical exams, I was weaving an unconventional dream in my mind to pursue a degree that would keep me out of this crowd. So, I decided to join a four-year integrated B.Sc.-B.Ed. program in the Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar. During the last year of this program, we had to go for a 3-month teaching internship to a school. This was my first stepping stone into academics in a way and the starting point of my dream to become real. Throughout my schooling and undergraduate studies, I have had a special affinity towards blackboard and chalk. I would run to the blackboard to solve math problems. Talking about mathematics, I am deeply inspired by my mother, who has a love for mathematics ever since her childhood days. She would spend hours at night explaining me trigonometry and arithmetic. Her energy and enthusiasm had no bounds and this sparked a powerful impact on my interest to pursue mathematics.
After completing my M.Sc. in mathematics from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar in 2004, I took a year off to prepare entrance exams for Ph.D. program in Indian research institutions. I joined one of those research institutes, but soon I faced difficulties with its curriculum and the atmosphere was quite discouraging for me. I was then advised by one of the mathematics professors to apply abroad for the Ph.D. program. That was a big shift for me. In my world, nothing outside India existed for real. Setting up my mind to go abroad, and even before that, preparing GRE, TOEFL, etc. was a lot on my plate. Nevertheless, I was adamant at not giving up. I am a person who takes one day at a time. So, I started my preparation and in my third attempt, I could finally get through these exams. It took me almost a year to get all this done and during this period, I was completely oblivious to my surroundings. The only thing I kept telling to myself is that I shall overcome whatever it takes to do mathematics. I received offers from University of Cincinnati, USA and University of Nottingham, UK. I decided to join University of Cincinnati and moved in 2007. Looking back, I always express my gratitude to that difficult phase of my life when I had faced failures. And I believe that it was the best thing that had happened to me because it helped me to push my limits and harness my potentials and strengths. I took these shortcomings as the means to bring out the better of myself.
My six years of stay in the US was indeed a blessing for me. The academic atmosphere provided just the right environment for me to grow. In particular, the attitude of “growing together” rather than “competing against each other” was the big difference as compared to institutes in India. I completed my Ph.D. in December 2012. I taught there for a semester as an Adjunct instructor and then moved back to India.
As the question specifically aims at mathematics, I prefer to answer it in a way that will just do the job in a nutshell. I will quote an excerpt from the book “How Not To Be Wrong” written by Jordan Ellenberg, who gave a beautiful realistic explanation to ‘Why do Mathematics?’
“Mathematics is not just a sequence of computations to be carried out by rote until your patience or stamina runs out—although it might seem that way from what you have been taught in courses called mathematics. Those integrals are to mathematics as weight training and calisthenics are to soccer. If you want to play soccer—I mean, really play, at a competitive level—you have got to do a lot of boring, repetitive, apparently pointless drills. Do professional players ever use those drills? Well, you won’t see anybody on the filed curling a weight or zigzagging between traffic cones. But you do see players using the strength, speed, insight, and flexibility they built up doing those drills, week after tedious week. Learning those drills is part of learning soccer.”
“Mathematics is pretty much the same. You may not be aiming for a mathematically oriented career. That’s fine—most people aren’t. But you can still do math. You probably already are doing math, even if you don’t call it math. Math is woven into the way we reason. And math makes you better at things. Knowing mathematics is like wearing a pair of X-ray specs that reveal hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of the world. Math is a science of not being wrong about things, its techniques and habits hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, sounder, and more meaningful way.”
Over the years, MATH to me stands for Morality, Accountability, Truth, Humanity. It touches upon every aspect of human life. I envision mathematics as an inevitable tool that bridges the gap between seemingly different areas of work. Students play a pivotal role in bringing up this connection. Early on, students should be trained to develop clarity of thought in decision making, maintain transparency in the system, and more importantly, curious to know why certain things happen in a certain way. Mathematics is indeed the tool to acquire these virtues. It trains you to build courage, freedom, and justice, which are some of the basic human desires. It takes time and effort on both the teachers and the students; but in the long run, it’s worth it.
First of all, I am grateful to my parents, who have been by my side all through my journey so far. Their blessings and the innumerable occasions when they took my stand shaped my life. Especially my mother, a strong lady who went against all odds to help me pursue my interests and believed in me more than I do myself.
During my Master’s program, I got an opportunity to participate in the Mathematics Training and Talent Search program (famously known as MTTS program). That was an eye-opening event for me, as I got a chance to be around some of the great teachers in mathematics. I was in awe to see the way they gave us the training. For instance, one of the math teachers told us not to write anything on our notebook until he asked us to. He explained the mathematical ideas verbally without writing anything on the blackboard, and then after he was done, we were asked to write it down in our own words based on our understanding. Just being around them further charged me up to pursue higher studies in mathematics.
Until I went to the US, there was something that seemed lacking in my mathematical journey, the importance of writing mathematics. During my first year of course work in the US, I was fortunate to take two courses under Professor Nageswari Shunmugalingam. She spent enormous amount of time and energy in helping us to be sensitive about writing mathematics. Well, to the extent that she would deduct points, even for making a slight slip in our writing. So, I am thankful to her for teaching me the essence of it.
My Ph.D. advisor, Professor Gary Weiss, was a lively and an energetic person, who influenced my mathematical life in an enormous way. I was his first Ph.D. student. His work style was quite unusual. For instance, we rarely had meetings in his office. He was a foodie, so we often had our meetings in restaurants and sometimes in parks. My favourite were the Vietnamese and the Thai restaurants. One of the important things that he made clear to me early on was that there shouldn’t be any student-teacher role in our conversations; it should be a discussion just between two mathematicians. At times, I would just listen to him, he would then stop and say, “Come on, fight back!” Going above all kinds of disparities and experiencing freedom while working with him gave a new dimension to my mathematical perspective. Later, we continued to be wonderful collaborators for over a decade.
I would like to make my concluding remarks addressing the high school students because they are the beginners of the future: each one of you is a gem in your own way. Never lose that individuality and help each other grow together for a better community, as you will also be a part of it. Make friendship with mathematics in any form, it will soon become your life-coach.