{"590276":{"#nid":"590276","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Get to Know the School of Math Prof: Matt Baker","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch3\u003EWhat is your research about?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI am fascinated by analogies. Much of my work involves so-called \u0026quot;p-adic\u0026quot; numbers, which are analogous to real numbers like 2 or \u0026pi;, but with important differences. For example, in p-adic geometry, every triangle is isosceles! This world might sound exotic and useless, but p-adic numbers play an important role in modern life, including cryptography, which is the making and breaking of secret codes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA lot of things in mathematics appear to have no applications, but in fact, down the road, they turn out to be incredibly useful.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat has been the most exciting time so far in your research life?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn 2006, Georgia Tech postdoc \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.math.mcgill.ca\/snorin\/cv.pdf\u0022\u003ESergey Norin\u003C\/a\u003E found a clever solution to a problem one of my undergraduate research students had been working on. Building on Norin\u0026#39;s solution, he and I soon proved a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mattbakerblog.wordpress.com\/2013\/10\/18\/riemann-roch-for-graphs-and-applications\/\u0022\u003ERiemann-Roch theorem for graphs\u003C\/a\u003E. This theorem is another mathematical analogy, between graphs, which you can imagine as being like websites and the hyperlinks between them, and \u0026quot;Riemann surfaces,\u0026quot; which are classic geometric objects from the 19th century.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Riemann-Roch theorem is used widely, from error-correcting codes to string theory. Norin and I were the first mathematicians to realize that it has an avatar in the world of graphs. The resulting \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/math\/0608360v3.pdf\u0022\u003Epaper\u003C\/a\u003E is now my most cited work.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EHow did you find your way to mathematics research?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn middle and high school, I loved reading recreational math books by \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/martin-gardner.org\/\u0022\u003EMartin Gardner\u003C\/a\u003E. Many mathematicians of my generation got interested in the subject from his writings. A conference called \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gathering4gardner.org\/\u0022\u003EGathering for Gardner\u003C\/a\u003E takes place every two years in Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring my senior year in high school, my first-ever mathematics research project placed third place in the 1990\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/student.societyforscience.org\/intel-isef\u0022\u003E International Science and Engineering Fair\u003C\/a\u003E. The project helped get me a full scholarship to the University of Maryland, College Park, where my professors encouraged me to pursue mathematics as a career.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlthough I wanted to be a math major, for a while I considered double majoring in physics, history of science, or poetry. I decided to focus on math. It was actually difficult for me to make the transition from being a \u0026quot;polymath\u0026quot; to a \u0026quot;mathematician.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat advice would you give to a college freshman who wants to be a mathematician?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMaster the fundamentals. You have to be able to understand and write rigorous proofs to be a mathematician, and it takes a lot of discipline to do this. Expose yourself to different kinds of mathematics, and try to get some research experience as an undergraduate.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EIf you could not be a mathematician, in what line of work would you be now?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026#39;d be a professional \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2016\/02\/01\/professor-excels-mathematics-and-magic\u0022\u003Emagician\u003C\/a\u003E. I\u0026#39;ve been interested in magic my whole life, but I never seriously considered doing it as a full-time job. I doubt I\u0026#39;d be good at the business end of it.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat is the most exciting thing about being at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI love the fact that the overwhelming majority of students are not only really good at math, but they appreciate its value for whatever they\u0026#39;re studying. Students want to be in my class to learn, rather than attending only because it\u0026#39;s a requirement. That\u0026#39;s a great position to be in as a professor. When students want to learn from me, I\u0026#39;m much more motivated to give them something really valuable.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat are you most surprised about in your encounters with Georgia Tech students?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026#39;m surprised that those who are so good at mathematics resist the temptation to major in it. Seriously, math just literally sucked me in -- I was so fascinated by its elegance and mystery.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat unusual skill, talent, or quality do you have that may not be obvious to your colleagues?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy colleagues know about the magic. They may not know that I sang in a highly regarded a cappella group in the University of Maryland, College Park; or that in 1990 I won a national poetry contest sponsored by the National Holocaust Foundation; or that in 1995 I was a contestant on Jeopardy! I came in second, but the guy who beat me went on to win the Tournament of Champions that year.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EHow do you like to relax?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHmm, I\u0026#39;m not sure what you\u0026#39;re talking about.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESeriously, most of my downtime now I spend with our 6-week-old baby. That\u0026#39;s not always relaxing, but it\u0026#39;s what I want to do when I\u0026#39;m not working. It\u0026#39;s great for taking my mind off work.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat three destinations are still in your travel to-do list?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026#39;d like to visit southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand). I love the food, and I admire the politeness and respect for tradition in their culture. I\u0026#39;d also like to see Iguazu Falls, on the border between Brazil and Argentina, and Victoria Falls, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. I\u0026#39;d explore the Amazon as well, but I hate mosquitoes. And I\u0026#39;m afraid of crocodiles.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EIf you won $10 Million in a lottery, what would you do with it?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPut it toward my kids\u0026#39; college education. I\u0026#39;d also buy my wife some really nice jewelry, as a gesture of thanks for reviewing my responses to these questions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENote: the image above was taken in June 2015, when Matt Baker brought his \u0026quot;Mathemagical Mystery Tour\u0026quot; to more than 100 members of the Atlanta Science Tavern in Manuel\u0026#39;s Tavern.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Get to know Matt Baker, a school of math professor."}],"uid":"34469","created_gmt":"2017-04-12 15:03:27","changed_gmt":"2017-04-12 15:03:27","author":"nmcleish3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"590275":{"id":"590275","type":"image","title":"Matt Baker brought his \u0022Mathemagical Mystery Tour\u0022 to more than 100 members of the Atlanta Science Tavern in Manuel\u0027s Tavern in June 2015","body":null,"created":"1492009250","gmt_created":"2017-04-12 15:00:50","changed":"1492009250","gmt_changed":"2017-04-12 15:00:50","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224888","name":"matt_baker.atlanta_science_tavern.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/matt_baker.atlanta_science_tavern.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/matt_baker.atlanta_science_tavern.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":40272,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/matt_baker.atlanta_science_tavern.jpg?itok=RDiZmmth"}}},"media_ids":["590275"],"groups":[{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}