February 2017

Math Central (MC):

First of all thank you for volunteering for this.
Can we begin with you telling us about your employer as well as your job title and job description.

Veselin:

I am a Teaching Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University. My duties consist of Teaching, Research, and Math Outreach.

MC:

Tell us a little about your background including your education.

Veselin:

I was born in former Yugoslavia and completed a B.Sc. in mathematics at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and an M.Sc. in Mathematics at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. Between 1978 and 1992, I was teaching mathematics at a small university in the northwest part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. When the Bosnian war started in April 1992, my wife and I decided to run away. Our sons were four and two years old at the time, so to keep them in the middle of what would become a terrible war was not an option. Thanks to the sponsorship of my brother and his wife, my family arrived to Canada in October 1992. There we were: with two small kids, no money, and no knowledge of English, but happy to be away from all the fear that war brings to ordinary people.

My brother owned a small restaurant in downtown Vancouver and he offered to employ me. Since that was the only option to get a job under the circumstances, I eagerly accepted the opportunity to work and to support my family. For the next three years I paid my immigrant dues by cooking Italian food for six days every week, working ten or more hours per day.

Between 1995 and 1999, I was enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the SFU Department of Mathematics, under the supervision of Professor Tom Brown, one of the pioneers of Ramsey theory.

Since 1999 I was a post-doctoral fellow at UBC, a math instructor at several B.C. colleges, and a faculty member of the SFU Department of Mathematics.

MC:

You said that besides teaching you are involved in research and Math Outreach. Can you expand on that?

Veselin:

Most of my research is in Ramsey theory and the field of mathematics education.  I was very fortunate to work and coauthor papers on Ramsey theory with some of the brightest young mathematicians in the field. I have authored and coauthored papers with numerous educational themes, mostly based on my own teaching practices.

Since the mid 2000s, I have created four animated films about the adventures of Math Girl. In her civilian clothes, Math Girl is an ordinary student, a smart girl who wears glasses. When she adopts her superpower alter ego, thanks to her outstanding understanding of mathematics, Math Girl becomes a super heroine.

Over the last several years (2010-16) I have co-written eight stories about Small Number, an Aboriginal boy who sees and discovers mathematics everywhere. I have produced 30 animated films based on those stories. Twenty-two of the films have been narrated in First Nations languages.

MC:

I know that your teaching has been recognized by your university as well as other agencies. What awards have you received?

Veselin:

I was a recipient of  the 3M National Teaching Fellowship in 2015; the B.C. Sugar Achievement Award in 2014; the CMS Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012; the PIMS Education Prize in 2011; the Excellence in Teaching Award, University Award, Simon Fraser University in 2007; the Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award, Faculty Award, Simon Fraser University in 2005; and the Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award, Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Award, Simon Fraser University in 1997.

MC:

Why did you decide to study Mathematics?

Veselin:

For as long as I can remember, learning and doing mathematics was ‘easy’ for me.

As a high school student I was a strong student in all of my subjects, from Latin to physics. My mother tried to convince me to become a medical doctor, but I couldn’t stand seeing blood. My father thought that I would be an excellent engineer, but I really disliked technical drawing that was all done by hand at that time. I followed my heart and decided to study mathematics.
  
I have taught university undergraduate math courses at all levels, from precalculus courses to courses on some of the advanced math topics in Ramsey theory.

I think that the best part of my job as a university math instructor is the privilege to constantly be around young people and to be in a position to contribute to the quality of their present and future lives. In my dealings with students, I try to find a balance between respecting their personalities; making clear that it is their responsibility to do all the work necessary to complete their course; and giving them everything I have to help them achieve their academic goals.

During my visit to a school in Kamloops, B.C., in April 2014, a Grade 3 student asked me what the world would look like without mathematics. I told him that I was not sure about the whole world, but that my world would be a boring place without all the challenges, excitement, and people that mathematics brings into it. What I didn't tell this budding philosopher was that I believe that mathematics, from counting one's fingers to engaging in its most abstract forms, is a human way of dealing with the real world, both on an individual level and on the level of humanity. I believe that what mathematicians have been doing through the centuries is trying to understand and describe particular aspects of reality for the benefit of all humanity. Thus, in my opinion, mathematics, as both a cumulative experience and an ongoing process, is something inherently useful.

I do not think that mathematics is ‘fun’. Actually, after being a working mathematician for almost 40 years, I think that mathematics is quite challenging for most people, including the majority of mathematicians.
During my outreach events I try to demonstrate to the members of my audiences that they have been using and doing mathematics all the time, that they can see mathematics around them, that they can touch it, make it with their own hands, and that learning and doing mathematics can foster feelings of pride, happiness, and joy.

MC:

How do you spend your time when you are not doing mathematics?

Veselin:

I enjoy running and have completed 17 marathons.