I spent four years from 1995 to 1999 at University of California, Santa Barbara pursuing my mathematics Doctoral and computer science Masters degrees together. Under the influence of this dual research experience, I started my industrial career as a software engineer at ESRI right after my graduation and participated in the development of ArcGIS 8.0, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 desktop suites. After getting my U.S. permanent resident card sponsored by ESRI in February 2002, my childhood dream of becoming a mathematician was rekindled. Although transition from industry to academia is commonly regarded as much harder than its reverse direction, I decided to have a try as this would be my last opportunity to become a mathematics researcher and educator.
With unbounded support from my math and cs advisors Dr. John Bruch, Dr. James Sloss, Dr. Tao Yang who wrote the remarkable research recommendation letters, and also from former math department chair Dr. Charles Akemann who wrote the extraordinary teaching recommendation letter, I officially started my application process towards my lifetime dream job in August 2002. I expressed my deepest gratitude to Portland State University who recognized my past achievement and my future perspective and then extended me a tenure track assistant professor position in mathematics around February 2003. Although there was a significant salary cut compared with my industrial position, I accepted this offer without any hesitation, as I can finally utilize my talent in mathematics to pursue my career goals with my own thoughts.
