You were recently the recipient of the inaugural AMS-Simons Research Enhancement Grant for Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Faculty. Congratulations on this honor! What was your initial reaction to finding out you had received the grant and do you have any recommendations for other educators who hope to apply for these kinds of grants and awards?

Thank you for the kind words! My initial reaction was “Wow, great!” In all seriousness, I was very happy to have been selected. Grants in Mathematics are notoriously hard to get and I had tried multiple times by then. I guess I found out that being from a PUI (Primarily Undergraduate Institution) does not often help when vying for big grants because the competition is already fierce among larger research institutions. My recommendation or advice would be to focus first on grants you can get, tailored somewhat to your specific situation. When successful once, chances are the big tickets items will come.

Although your work is primarily in the mathematical field, your research can intersect with a variety of other fields such as neuroscience and ecology. How do you decide what your next research direction will be and what excites you most about the various directions that mathematical work can take you? 

This is a great question. It is true that my research spans different fields. I do not define myself as a pure mathematician. I consider myself a cocktail mathematician! Just like a cocktail is a mixture of ingredients of all sorts to produce these sometimes great tastes, linking mathematics to fields such as ecology and neuroscience can produce surprising and beautiful results. In particular, neuroscience should be a great niche for a lot of mathematicians. Humans have been studying the brain for ages, and yet, it is very much unknown. It is as large in connections as the known galaxies in our universe. It controls all that we do, learn, teach, like, or dislike, sometimes we do not fully comprehend [it]. So what excites me is establishing connection between seemingly unrelated mathematical facts with phenomenons in neuroscience and ecology. The decision for the next topic is dictated from the questions I had unanswered from my previous research, or an idea I get from a seminar, colloquium, or a conference. 

The field of mathematics is often considered difficult for most people and therefore, they avoid it. How do you help students overcome their preconceived notions about mathematics and how do you think the narrative of mathematics being difficult can be deconstructed in society?

My personal experience since I became a Mathematics Professor is that a casual conversation with some non math people can end abruptly by mentioning what I do! I figure it is because Mathematics was not merely a subject that they had difficulty in, but that they hated to the point of hating anyone involved with it. As for students, I am keenly aware that they do not have the same level when they set foot in my classroom. I usually surveyed them early to know what their future plans are and to know how to help them individually. The best students tend to be very reactive in class leaving other students sometimes frustrated. I tend to give individual assignments in class and I make sure to check, talk, and encourage individual students.

This way all students do something and their mistakes are addressed on the spot. I will pat them on the back to encourage them to keep on trying. I also like when students ask any questions and I stressed that no question is stupid. 

For society as large, it should probably start at an early age. It should be stressed that it is a discipline that knows no boundary, no race, nor religion. Even parents that were not good at math or who do not like math should encourage their children to embrace it, not as a difficult topic, but as a topic that requires discipline, hard work, and grit. In fact, anyone wanting to be good at math should expect a fair amount of hard work, which [in] my opinion is the most important skill. Hard work requires a fair amount of discipline and organization in writing, in argumentation, and in thought process. It is not surprising that those who excel at math later in life sometimes are great writers!

Your research such as the 2016 article titled “Increased Risk of Autism Development in Children Whose Mothers Experienced Birth Complications or Received Labor and Delivery Drugs” can have real world application and implications. What kind of impact do you hope your research will have not just for people in the academic community but also in broader society? 

That paper is a perfect example of a collaborative effort between a mathematician and a biologist. I was approached by my former colleague Tysha Williams to help with the study of Autism in Children born from Women [who] developed Birth complications, or received labor drugs.

The idea in itself was surprising because the paradigm was that Autism was for most a genetic disease. However, preliminary data show that at least a proof of concept could be established. So I helped design the study that was later carried out in Hospitals in San Antonio.

When the second set of data came, it confirmed what we had already suspected. What made this important is that there were numerous cases of autism that could not be explained solely by a genetic malformation. The CDC got wind of the study and contacted us. It has since commissioned larger studies to find other causes of autism beyond the ones that were already known. I hope to motivate those future scientists who want to follow a similar path that is possible. Our time on earth is very short so my hope is that my research will be somewhat helpful to society.