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John Urshel wants to teach at PSU after his PH.D..............

katchthis

katchthis

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Sep 3, 2004
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My daughter is in her first term at UP as an engineering student. With a bunch of AP classes, she starts at a sophomore from a practical standpoint, but had to register last as a freshman. She has 3 Calc classes this semester. One prof is Eastern Euro with harsh accent. One was born deaf and therefore has a difficult speech to understand. And the 3rd one is crazy. I told her that was my same experience with Calc profs.
Anyway, would be cool to have JU as a math prof. Great story, great mind, and a solid clear speaker to boot. http://www.collegian.psu.edu/pdf_edition/pdf_c591ca58-99c1-11e7-8934-5ffa909b0bbb.html
 
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He certainly has the pedigree. Getting tenure in mathematics is super competitive even at schools like Bloomsburg or Slippery Rock (you can usually find a guy just as good as the guy you have, and you'd be able to pay the new guy less), but it does seem to me that Urschel has what it takes, even without his name and reputation.
 
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What’s next?
There are a few different career paths for Urschel to pursue in mathematics, but one stands out from the rest. He wants to be a math professor at Penn State.

“I do not possibly want to be a math professor, I certainly want to be a math professor,” Urschel said. “I definitely could be back at Penn State [teaching]. It’s a place that I love. It feels like home.”
 
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Judge Smails said:
What’s next?
There are a few different career paths for Urschel to pursue in mathematics, but one stands out from the rest. He wants to be a math professor at Penn State.

“I do not possibly want to be a math professor, I certainly want to be a math professor,” Urschel said. “I definitely could be back at Penn State [teaching]. It’s a place that I love. It feels like home.”
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It is really a goal of mine to meet the guy and tell him how much I admire him.
 
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There will be a nation wide competition to hire JU. Penn State will compete but no guarantee. Hoping and wishing he accepts Penn State's offer. I speculate that MIT will give him an attractive offer.
 
Doc-M said:
There will be a nation wide competition to hire JU. Penn State will compete but no guarantee. Hoping and wishing he accepts Penn State's offer. I speculate that MIT will give him an attractive offer.
Click to expand...
Maryland will be going after him big time, I think. His advisor at PSU is at UM now.
 
katchthis said:
My daughter is in her first term at UP as an engineering student. With a bunch of AP classes, she starts at a sophomore from a practical standpoint, but had to register last as a freshman. She has 3 Calc classes this semester. One prof is Eastern Euro with harsh accent. One was born deaf and therefore has a difficult speech to understand. And the 3rd one is crazy. I told her that was my same experience with Calc profs.
Anyway, would be cool to have JU as a math prof. Great story, great mind, and a solid clear speaker to boot. http://www.collegian.psu.edu/pdf_edition/pdf_c591ca58-99c1-11e7-8934-5ffa909b0bbb.html
Click to expand...

WHAT A SHOCK!
 
This sounds like a good starter for crazy STEM professors. How about this one?

1. Math professor from Italy who taught Differential Equations and who was allergic to chalk. He had to have a special classroom in a special building where there were no blackboards or chalkboards. He always wore a black glove when he wrote on the board. After the board was full, he had to have one of the students wipe down the board with a sponge. He threw students out of class all the time and you needed a memo from the dean to get back in. No one could understand him. We all learned nothing about Diff Eq from him.
 
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Rick76 said:
This sounds like a good starter for crazy STEM professors. How about this one?

1. Math professor from Italy who taught Differential Equations and who was allergic to chalk. He had to have a special classroom in a special building where there were no blackboards or chalkboards. He always wore a black glove when he wrote on the board. After the board was full, he had to have one of the students wipe down the board with a sponge. He threw students out of class all the time and you needed a memo from the dean to get back in. No one could understand him. We all learned nothing about Diff Eq from him.
Click to expand...
My advisor at Maryland told me this story of his time as a grad student at U of Chicago. He needed a certain guy's signature on some form or another but never seemed to be able to get ahold of him. (I'm not sure whether or not this is exactly germane to the story, but the guy was extremely well known, someone whose name anyone with a doctorate in mathematics would know.) He tried leaving the form in the guy's mailbox, nothing. Knocks on his office door, no answer ever. Finally, he's walking in the hall and spots the guy walking away from him, towards his office. He races after him and sees him go into his office. He knocks on the door, no answer. He really needs the guy's signature so he opens the door, calling the guy's name. The room is seemingly empty. Since he'd just then seen the guy enter the office and since they're on the third floor, he decides to go around and look under the guy's desk. He's there under his desk, hiding. "Can you please sign this, sir?" A disembodied hand comes up, is handed the form, then returns the signed form.
 
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And since we're on the subject, today is Jean Pierre Serre's 91st birthday. The youngest Fields Medal winner, he is on everyone's short list of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th Century. (He's my #1.)

5576057696_2db7e6bcbe_z.jpg


Happy Birthday, Professor Serre.
 
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LionJim said:
My advisor at Maryland told me this story of his time as a grad student at U of Chicago. He needed a certain guy's signature on some form or another but never seemed to be able to get ahold of him. (I'm not sure whether or not this is exactly germane to the story, but the guy was extremely well known, someone whose name anyone with a doctorate in mathematics would know.) He tried leaving the form in the guy's mailbox, nothing. Knocks on his office door, no answer ever. Finally, he's walking in the hall and spots the guy walking away from him, towards his office. He races after him and sees him go into his office. He knocks on the door, no answer. He really needs the guy's signature so he opens the door, calling the guy's name. The room is seemingly empty. Since he'd just then seen the guy enter the office and since they're on the third floor, he decides to go around and look under the guy's desk. He's there under his desk, hiding. "Can you please sign this, sir?" A disembodied hand comes up, is handed the form, then returns the signed form.
Click to expand...

I have known people like that. BTW, Penn State proud. JU makes us even prouder. JU will teach at PSU because he is Penn State proud.
 
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katchthis said:
My daughter is in her first term at UP as an engineering student. With a bunch of AP classes, she starts at a sophomore from a practical standpoint, but had to register last as a freshman. She has 3 Calc classes this semester. One prof is Eastern Euro with harsh accent. One was born deaf and therefore has a difficult speech to understand. And the 3rd one is crazy. I told her that was my same experience with Calc profs.
Anyway, would be cool to have JU as a math prof. Great story, great mind, and a solid clear speaker to boot. http://www.collegian.psu.edu/pdf_edition/pdf_c591ca58-99c1-11e7-8934-5ffa909b0bbb.html
Click to expand...

Regarding calc profs. I can understand accommodating the disabled. But WTF is going on with the other two?! You would think PSU can be selective.
 
PSU would be foolish not to grab him.... he would bring enormous credibility to the department. And his notoriety would make him a rock star.
 
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