Similar to the mathematical triangulations Cindy Traub studies, her life revolves around three points: brain, body and spirit.
The first Department of Mathematics in Arts & Sciences recipient of the Mr. & Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellowship for Women in Graduate Study, Traub will receive a doctorate in mathematics from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences today. But some of her most rewarding and challenging graduate experiences came outside the classroom.
Through community outreach and participation on area kickball, softball and volleyball teams, Traub found the right equation to combine her varied interests.
Traub knew she wanted to teach math when she was a high-school sophomore in her hometown of Indianapolis.
“I’ve always been interested in math,” she says. “It’s fun.”
While some might not use that word to describe topological effects related to minimum-weight Steiner triangulations — the subject of her doctoral thesis — Traub’s interest in the field is something of a family tradition. Her mother holds a degree in biology, and her great-grandfather, father and one of her two older brothers are engineers. “We’ve got the math and science flavor in our family,” Traub says.
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Graduate School of Arts & Sciences |
Though she set out to concentrate solely on her studies when she came to the University in 2001, Traub found she couldn’t put aside her desire to help others. “I felt compelled,” she says. “I needed to get involved.”
Such thinking is typical of Traub, says Lynn Bird, campus minister for graduate students at the University’s Catholic Student Center, where Traub was involved for five years.
“She’s not someone who sits on the sidelines; she is someone who gets involved,” Bird says. “She brings people together. Her excitement generates excitement.”
In addition to her collaborative research, Traub mentored area high-school and junior-high-school students through the “Math Circles” program of Steven Krantz, Ph.D., professor of mathematics, and was a teaching assistant, winning the 2004 Robert H. McDowell Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics.
But she also set out to make a difference beyond her studies.
She organized a group of 12 volunteer students and community members to travel to Clintwood, Va., in an economically depressed Appalachian Mountain area. Building on work Traub began as an undergraduate at Saint Mary’s College of Notre Dame, Ind., she and the group spent a week building a wheelchair ramp for a senior citizen and a carport for another resident.
“You learn a lot about much more than how to build things,” Traub says. “It was so exciting to share that experience. You get hooked by it.”
So hooked that Traub and others in the group began to explore doing similar work in the St. Louis area. In December 2004, an opportunity presented itself through a contact at the St. Louis Office for Mental Retardation and/or Developmental Disability Resources, which was working with the family of a 13-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. They needed a wheelchair ramp at their home.
Members of the group reunited and raised the manpower, materials and $3,500 to finish the project.
“If she had not taken it on, it would not have happened,” Bird says. “She’s unaware of her impact. It’s powerful, but understated. Our community has been so enriched by her.”
Traub humbly credits others for that impact.
“When you have everything, it’s not that difficult of a task,” Traub says. “It’s not research math.”
After graduation, Traub will do a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, Calif. Then in January, she’ll assume a tenure-track teaching position at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
“She’s challenged herself and come out on top,” Bird says. “The students whom she works with will be better for it.”
As Traub leaves behind a community better for her presence, she takes with her a life lesson.
“No task is too large to be accomplished by committed individuals,” she says. “There are always opportunities to do remarkable things if you’re passionate about them.”