The Value of Connection: the Life and Legacy of Mohabat Tarkeshian

In “Todos Cuentan: Cultivating Diversity in Combinatorics” by Federico Ardila, the author states four axioms which motivate his mathematical endeavours.

Axiom 1. Mathematical potential is equally present in different groups, irrespective of geographic, demographic, and economic boundaries.

Axiom 2. Everyone can have joyful, meaningful, and empowering mathematical experiences.

Axiom 3. Mathematics is a powerful, malleable tool that can be shaped and used differently by various communities to serve their needs.

Axiom 4. Every student deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

In his advocacy for diversity and equity in mathematics, combinatorist Federico Ardila also started an Instagram account where he pokes fun at the various instances in which his name is misspelled. A similar account frequently appeared as a suggested account on my Instagram feed: inspired by Federico, the user @itismohabat posted several misspellings of her name and corrected them in the caption.

Eventually, I realized that this name belonged to one of the very few women studying theoretical mathematics at the graduate level at Western University; I had, on several occasions, seen her name and smiling face on the Graduate Students page on the Department of Mathematics website. At the time, I was an undergraduate student who dreamed of the day I would eventually go on to study mathematics at the graduate level, and it truly inspired me to see another woman doing the very thing I aspired to do.

Sadly, Mohabat Tarkeshian passed away on April 30, 2024, suddenly, and far too soon. To say that Mohabat was loved by many would be an understatement; she had a profound impact on everyone fortunate enough to know her. She also left her mark on her graduate alma mater, Western University, where she was known to foster a sense of community wherever she went. The Department of Mathematics wants to keep her memory alive and, to this end, I’m honoured to say that I have been entrusted with commemorating Mohabat in this article. Given that I never had the opportunity to meet Mohabat, I reached out to some of her close friends who were so kind as to have a conversation with me and share some stories about Mohabat. For this, I am so incredibly grateful.

Mohabat was a wonderful mathematician. She completed her master’s degree and PhD in mathematics at Western University under the supervision of Dr. Chris Hall. Her PhD thesis was concerned with exponential random graphs, their algebraic and geometric properties, and how these models can be used to predict the growth and evolution of real-world networks. Immediately after finishing her PhD in 2023, she went on to work as an assistant professor at St. Francis Xavier University, where she taught introductory statistics, differential equations, and business mathematics. Marios Velivasakis recalls that Mohabat was one of those people everyone knew would succeed.

“Math is not some arcane thing that you have to be mysterious about, … [you don’t] have to be some prodigy who was reading Leibniz’s notes in primary school to be a good mathematician. Anyone can be a good mathematician.”

— Luuk Verhoeven, friend of Mohabat and PhD graduate in mathematics from Western University

Even though no one could deny her mathematical prowess, Mohabat was more than a mathematician; she was a multifaceted individual full of life and creativity. When I asked Mohabat’s close friends about her hobbies and how she spent her spare time, I was almost always met with the response, “Woody.” Mohabat’s beautiful chocolate labrador was her pride and joy: she was always walking him, taking him to the dog park, bringing him along for adventures, and sending pictures of him to her friends and loved ones.

Woody was also one of Mohabat’s many ways of connecting with others. She often invited friends to come along with her and Woody to the beach or the dog park. Udit Mavinkurve recalls a day trip that he took with Mohabat, her fiancé James, Sinan Nurlu, and Woody, to Tobermory in the summer of 2022. Udit told me, “She was taking so many pictures of Woody on her phone, that I couldn't help asking her if she ever found the time to go back and look through all of these photos. … [S]he laughed.”

As evidenced by the sheer quantity of photos she took of Woody, Mohabat loved to document joyful moments in her life. After his wife’s birthday party, K.C. recalls joking with his wife, “‘How much did you pay Mohabat to take pictures that night?’ Because the next day, [Mohabat] had sent me 20 pictures of the party; she was just walking around taking pictures of everyone who was there.” 

Udit told me that, at Mohabat’s funeral service, “[W]e watched a photo slideshow of Mohabat, interspersed with sweet little video messages sent to her family, recorded on her walks between home and university, where she talked about how well her day had gone, or that it was her last day of proctoring an exam as an MSc student, and so on. Even after her death, she was teaching me about the importance of celebrating and memorializing small, everyday moments of joy.”

Mohabat was also a living Pixar encyclopedia (hence the name of her dog), an expert Mario Kart player, and an admirer of the visual arts. According to Luuk Verhoeven, she knew just about everything there was to know about Vincent van Gogh. 

Not only did she appreciate the artwork of others, but she even created art of her own; after her passing, Mohabat’s good friend Sinan went to visit her family and was shown several of the beautiful pieces that she had painted herself.

At work, Mohabat was an incredible teacher and a charismatic speaker. When preparing for her talks, she prioritized the accessibility of the content and always ran through her talk several times before presenting it to ensure that it was timed properly. Marios recalls that she was always telling a story through her talks and that she never settled for anything less than perfection. She also highly valued teaching and making mathematics accessible to her students. During her time at Western University, she regularly attended seminars about teaching, and when she went to St. Francis Xavier University, she immediately joined the Mathematics and Statistics Learning Group. K.C. recalls that she always showed up to these meetings with a colour-coded document filled with teaching strategies and resources.

The accessibility of mathematics was one of Mohabat’s biggest passions. Luuk told me their shared philosophy was that “Math is not some arcane thing that you have to be mysterious about, … [you don’t] have to be some prodigy who was reading Leibniz’s notes in primary school to be a good mathematician. Anyone can be a good mathematician.”

She always took a student-centred approach to teaching a course, spending hours preparing her lectures and helping her students during her office hours. Gabriel Jarry-Bolduc had never seen someone care so much about their students before meeting Mohabat. One day, K.C. and Mohabat had made plans; he went to meet her outside of her office and ended up waiting another half hour because Mohabat refused to let a student leave her office until they had their questions fully answered.

Underlying her teaching philosophy was her advocacy for women and other marginalized communities, both in and outside mathematics. She firmly believed that everyone, regardless of social background, could do math. Gabriel says, “I feel like every time she had a chance, she liked to talk about getting more women and people from minority groups into mathematics. That was super important to her.” Mohabat and K.C. often had discussions about how to empower marginalized communities and how to ensure their success in mathematics. Udit told me that “…[E]ven when she was not directly affected, Mohabat would be appalled when others were treated unfairly. She had a very strong value system and any sort of unfairness or bigotry, especially racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, etc.[,] would make her quite uncomfortable and drive her to action.”

“She was like a sister to me. Whenever something bad happened to me, she was the one person I could talk to; she would listen and always support me. And we’re going to miss her.” 

— Sinan Nurlu, friend of Mohabat and PhD candidate in mathematics at Western University

Mohabat was a caring person who wanted nothing more than to help others. “It’s the first time I’ve met someone who did the right thing for people just because she cared, and she didn’t ask for anything in return,” Gabriel says. Her choice to become involved in outreach programs, to take such care in teaching her students, and to advocate for others was motivated not by a CV line or any other form of recognition, but by an intrinsic and altruistic desire and drive to help others. Marios recalls the first day of classes as a master’s student at Western. When someone was late to a lecture,  without even being asked, Mohabat offered her (incredibly neat and detailed) notes to that student. This was not an isolated incident: Mohabat always offered her notes to people and even took the time to add comments of her own that supplemented the course material.

This generosity didn’t waver under the pressure of becoming a professor. One day, Gabriel became injured while mountain biking and needed someone to cover his lecture. Not only did Mohabat give his lecture in his absence, but she also ran the exam scheduled for the end of that lecture. She then began grading his exams for him without even having access to a solution manual. “I don’t think I will ever meet someone like that again,” Gabriel says.

If Marios had to choose one word to describe Mohabat, it would be: “unforgettable.” She touched the lives of everyone around her, and her passing has been nothing short of devastating. Between her passion for mathematics and her advocacy for marginalized communities, Mohabat truly embodied Federico’s aforementioned axioms. Like a universal vertex in a graph, Mohabat was connected to everyone in the Department of Mathematics, which, in turn, established connection and community among the department members, even after her passing. 

Sinan says, “She was like a sister to me. Whenever something bad happened to me, she was the one person I could talk to; she would listen and always support me. And we’re going to miss her.”

To keep Mohabat’s memory alive and prolong the impact she had on Western University’s community, the Department of Mathematics is currently raising funds for the Mohabat Tarkeshian Award. This award will allow graduate students, including those from marginalized communities, to pursue their passion for mathematics. 

For more information about Mohabat’s legacy and the award being created in her honour, please check out this page.

I want to reiterate that this article would not have been possible without the endless support I received from her friends and loved ones. In particular, I want to thank Luuk Verhoeven, Udit Mavinkurve, Marios Velivasakis, Sinan Nurlu, Kyran Cupido (K.C.), and Gabriel Jarry-Bolduc; I am beyond grateful that each of you was willing to share such beautiful stories about Mohabat. Our conversations were incredibly special and showed me just how important of a person Mohabat was and will continue to be. Moreover, I want to thank James Leslie, Mohabat’s fiancé, for supporting me in various ways, including helping me review this article and putting me in contact with many of Mohabat’s close friends. Finally, I want to thank Bruce Crown, Mohabat’s brother, for taking the time to read and edit this article before its publication.