2020级:卢克·安东尼

路加福音安东尼, from Bel Air, Maryland, is double majoring in 数学 and 物理 with a 化学 minor.

当我踏上国会山的第一步时，我是: nervous about making friends and so I went to orientation karaoke and after booming out a verse of “Shut Up and Dance With Me” I ended up leaving with all of the people that ultimately formed my friend group at college. I was also totally clueless about what I wanted to study and what kind of job I wanted when I graduated. My only thought was, “数学 sounds kind of cool, I guess I’ll try that.”

将在毕业典礼上敲响老主楼钟的人是: 年纪大了一点，聪明了一点，数学也好了很多.

真实的经历: I started off the summer after my freshman year conducting research with Dr. Spencer Hamblen on “Generalizations of Waring’s Problem,” which helped ignite my passion for math. I had the chance to see math research firsthand as well as attend the MAA annual math conference in Chicago and present our findings. 在积累了一些研究经验之后, I was able to participate in two incredible internships the following summer. One as a software engineer working for Lockheed Martin and the other as a federal mathematician. Both allowed me to further hone my skills outside of the classroom, 发现不同的工作机会提供给我, 建立人脉，帮助我开始事业.

啊哈时刻: 数学家是我见过的最不拘小节的人之一. You can spot a mathematician in a conference or business setting by looking for the person wearing a T-shirt and shorts. As someone who loves to wear T-shirts, this was quite a plus as a career choice.

我在山上留下的脚印 Some of the footprints I am leaving behind are in the 招生 office where I worked as a Student Ambassador helping with events and calling prospective students to answer their questions. Some are in the hundreds of trivia questions I wrote and gathered for Green Terror Programs (GTP), an event planning organization on campus that is responsible for McDaniel’s biweekly Pub Trivia. 然而, the largest footprints of mine on campus are probably left in LHS113, 数学系的自习室. 在那里, 我花了好几个小时做作业, 辅导数学课, and playing intense games of ping pong with friends and professors. I feel like that study room isn’t going to be the same without me and I know I’m not going to be the same without it!

对我影响最大的教授: Dr. 本·斯坦赫斯特博士. Spencer Hamblen are the two professors who have most helped me focus my goals and foster my passion for mathematics. 从我的第一门证明课程，数学基础与博士. Hamblen博士的真实分析. Steinhurst, they have been there to support and mentor me through every step of the journey. 数学是一门很难的学科，但环境博士. 斯坦赫斯特博士. Hamblen have developed both inside and out of the classroom makes the 数学 department an incredible community.

我的导师. 对生活.: Definitely my mom because she’s the first person I go to for advice. 当我的问题更“数学化”的时候. 斯坦赫斯特博士. Hamblen are definitely my go-to mentors for the same reasons as above.

史上最佳课堂: 绝对抽象代数与博士. 汉布伦，因为我是个数学呆子. 这是数学系两门4000级课程中的一门. 我上这门课的时候, I had a lot of experience under my belt and I could really appreciate the topic. We looked back at algebra and all its properties we had taken for granted for so long and began to understand why things behave as they do. I also felt this course was very applicable to the real-world math I had experienced in my internships and research, and I was excited to be able to apply the skills it taught me outside the classroom.

让我大吃一惊: 当我来到金沙js6038时，我一时兴起选择了数学. In high school, I did well in math, but I enjoyed political science and history far more. I don’t know what made me choose to study math when I got here, but it changed my life. I love doing math and the internship opportunities available at McDaniel are phenomenal and have greatly helped prepare me for my career in mathematics.

我在校园里最喜欢的地方: 毫无疑问是LHS113. My friends joke with me and say I spend more time there than in my own room. 我在那里做过作业, 在那里举办辅导课, 在那里打乒乓球, 甚至还帮忙重新装修了房间. 它是金沙js6038数学学生社区的中心枢纽.

我在金沙js6038学到的最令人难以置信的想法: 这听起来可能很傻，但是教授也是人的想法. 高中时，我只把老师当成老师, but at McDaniel I’ve been able to interact with them not only as professors but as regular people. From annual math picnics at professors’ houses to conference road trips, 我和我的教授建立了真正的关系.

我顶石: My 数学 capstone was “Maximal Rank of Elliptic Curves of Quadratic Number Fields” and my 物理 capstone was “The 物理 of Flat Earth (and why it’s wrong).”

内容简介: Elliptic Curves are a type of structure used frequently in cryptography for some of their interesting properties. 我研究了一个特殊的性质, 秩, which represents how many different points you need to represent the whole curve. I then attempted to find curves of particular forms with high rank.

For my physics capstone I constructed a system of models of a flat Earth and calculated the force due to gravity of this system. I then compared it to the gravity we expect here on Earth to show the inconsistencies this model presents.

它的真正内容是: For math I drew a picture of a curve and then tried to figure out how many starting points I need to get the whole picture. It took lots and lots of pictures and a surprising amount of translating French math papers. 我展示了地球平坦的数学是非常, 非常错误，我做了一个弹跳球的图形来展示它! 球没有像人们期望的那样弹起.

接下来是什么: 我目前正在申请联邦数学家的职位. 这个职位是我实习过的那家公司的. 不幸的是, COVID-19影响了招聘过程, 所以我的入职日期目前还没有确定, 但我估计会在今年夏天的某个时候.