Matt is a topologist at the University of Arkansas.  His research interests include homology of groups.  (Groups are algebraic structures that measure symmetry, and homology is a theory for keeping track of higher-dimensional holes in spaces.)  His non-research interests include paper snowflakes, knitting, birdwatching, and computer games.

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Kyle is an algebraist at the University of Arkansas. His research is in commutative algebra, and specifically prime characteristic methods. When not doing math, he loves to cook and bake, whether or not proofs are involved!

Question: What is your favorite Cookies moment?

Answer: When we were covering finite fields, it struck me that many of the students at Cookies were doing the calculations more confidently and quickly than my students in an advanced undergraduate course at UArk! I have also been really enjoying the fascinating geometry behind Spot-It!

Question: What are you looking forward to in Cookies this semester?

Answer: Since I don't know all that much about cryptography, I've been really enjoying learning the methods. I am also looking forward to more cookies!

Question: When you were a kid, what did you want to be?

Answer: I think most of all, I wanted to be kind. But, I did know I wanted to be a mathematician around the end of high school, even though my reasons have changed pretty dramatically since then.

Yo'av is a topologist at the University of Arkansas. His interests include algorithms and complexity, especially for problems in low dimensional topology, as well as quantum computing. His favorite question is can you recognize the 4-sphere?

Question: What is your favorite Cookies moment?

Answer: l remember challenging the students to design a game that seemed impossible. After struggling with it for a while, and even trying to prove that it is impossible, we showed them the solution. The look of surprise on their faces must be one of my favorite moments! 

Question: What are you looking forward to in Cookies this semester?

Answer: There are several things. One thing is covering zero knowledge proofs, where we try to prove that we know a secret without revealing anything about it. Think about proving that you know your social security number without exposing it. It is one of those things that seems impossible but has a very elegant solution. I look forward to covering it in detail and implement it on the computer. In addition to being interesting and elegant, it is an idea that is often used in practice.  

Question: when you were a kid, what did you want to be?

Answer: Oh boy, it's been a minute, you know! If you asked me then, I would probably have given you three answers every two days. I did not know what math is, but I do remember that we had a guest, a mathematician visiting from the US, and I was very curious about what he did. I wish I remembered who that was, it would be interesting to read about his work today!