How Did You Get Your Start?

Like most people, my story is quite complicated.

My father was a mathematician who came to the U.S. from Japan after WWII.

He came from the country that bombed Pearl Harbor, and despite being raised to believe the United States was the enemy, it ended up being heaven on earth for him and my mom – at least academically.

He was recruited as a postdoctoral faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, rubbing shoulders with people like Kurt Gödel, Albert Einstein, and Robert Oppenheimer.

Yet outside the walls of the math building, my parents couldn't escape the fact that they were Japanese living in the U.S. ten years after the end of WWII. It was difficult.

So, they thought the only way my three brothers and I could succeed would be in similar academic settings my father had thrived in.

My oldest brother went on to become a professional pianist at Juilliard. My other brother got a PhD in biochemistry and was the president of the University of Michigan.

I was the youngest with a talent in mathematics, and my parents thought I had to be a mathematician. I hated it.

In second grade they signed me up for the SAT math test. Here I am now, at 57, and I’m still doing math. If you asked me how I got here, I’d say I tried my hardest to be anything but a mathematician.

As a kid, I avoided it because I equated meath with just grades and test scores. 

I was not a “good” student by any means. I graduated from the University of Chicago with a 2.7 GPA. I took pride in putting in the least amount of effort in to get by.

Without the mentors I met along the way who saved me, I wouldn't be where I am today. One of them, 20th century mathematician named Ramanujan.

When I was in college, I saw a TV special about his unparalleled math ability, despite having no formal education. It resonated with me.

Learning his story and later reading his biography in graduate school, I began to view math differently – looking for the beauty and science as opposed to the goal only being to publish papers.

About 10 years ago, I ended up being a producer on a film about Ramanujan called A Man Who Knew Infinity.

I began at UVA as a math professor back in 2019. I held many positions including the Chairman of the Math Department and STEM Advisor to the Provost.

While at UVA, I worked closely with the swim team, applying the scientific method to faster lap times, having the honor to go to the Paris Olympics in 2024 with the team.

In 2025, I left UVA to be a Founding Mathematician for my former research student Carina Hong at her AI startup, Axiom.

If you want to read my full story, I wrote a book about it called My Search for Ramanujan: How I Learned to Count.