Donald Keough, News Editor–
On April 3, students from across Ohio filled Swasey Chapel for a lecture by award-winning mathematician and educator Dr. Francis Su.
Titled “Mathematics for Human Flourishing,” the talk hosted by The Reid & Polly Anderson Lecture Series covered the benefits of thinking mathematically, beyond computational skills.
“Being persistent and problem solving is a virtue,” Su said before the lecture. “It’s a way of being in the world that leads to good actions, so that whenever you are actually wrestling with a difficult problem, you’ll sit there and persist.”
The underlying quote which the lecture continually circled back to was “every being cries out silently to be read differently,” which is attributed to philosopher and writer Simone Wei. Su discussed in his lecture how critical thinking helps us achieve this goal.
Su’s background in mathematics includes a long list of accolades. He was the President of the Mathematical Association of America from 2015 to 2017, and this year was selected to be a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He also wrote a book similar to his lecture topic, also with the same name, which has sold over 25,000 copies.
Outside of his awards, he has been a professor at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, since 1996, and is a mentor to over 60 research students.
“In grad school, I discovered that I love to teach,” Su said. “I wanted to be in a place that valued high quality teaching and still have time to do research.”
Additionally, Su interacted with students in smaller groups during events before the lecture, such as an event with math majors on April 3. He also discussed his career path during a talk on the day of the lecture.
In terms of this career path, although Su said that he thought he wanted to be a math professor on some level, much of his life’s accomplishments weren’t premeditated.
“In grad school I began to question, ‘is this is really what I want to do with my life?’ when things got difficult,” Su said. “But in life you sometimes end up in unexpected places… you never really know what you’re going to be called to do next.”
During the more challenging parts of his career, Su said that students have helped push his own thinking so that he was able to succeed.
“I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had a lot of really good students who have pushed my own thinking in different ways, and many of my projects are joined with students,” Su said. “It’s been a joy to be at a place where you can do work with students who push you.”
Part of his success in his career has been through research. So far, Su has been included in over 35 research publications, and has been part of projects that have received over $400,000 in funding. Su also describes his research accomplishments to have been a result of his work environment.
“I didn’t have designs like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna have this fantastic research career,’” Su said. “Where research is everything, you’re definitely going to have more of an opportunity to be more prolific in terms of research.”
As students approach their own career paths, one of their main concerns is artificial intelligence’s ability to complete tasks that humans can. The advent of an Artificial General Intelligence system, or AI which can perform anything that a human can, is predicted to arrive anywhere between 2026 to 2040.
“My take on AI is that we need to pay attention to how we go about using it,” Su said. “I think it could be a very useful tool for students and faculty, but not if it replaces actual thinking.”
Using AI as a tool, according to Su, means that students aren’t using AI to simply solve their problems.
“AI doesn’t always give correct answers,” Su said. “Just like if I talk to a friend, they may not give me good advice either, right? But being able to critically evaluate what an AI can do, and making sure that you’re using it in a way that enhances your own thinking and learning is something we need to think about.”
Su also noted that AI has shown to have a significant number of benefits, such as in medical diagnosis, and that there isn’t a need to forgo the technology. But if students intend to succeed in the workforce, Su emphasizes his lecture’s focus on thinking critically.
“Part of my message is if you know how to think, then you will have less to worry about,” Su said. “Jobs that are gonna go away in the AI revolution are the ones which… only rely on skills.”
Skills, as Su describes them, are the “bits of knowledge” that are very easily replaceable by AI. However, he says that virtues, which he describes as human quality, are much more important.
“A virtue is a characteristic, an attitude, habit of mind, a disposition, a way of being in the world that causes you to look at the world in a different way,” Su said. “Virtues are always going to be important in demand. You’re always going to need human beings who can think and reason and actually critically evaluate the output of an AI and say, ‘does this makes sense, or is this unreasonable?’”
As students begin to navigate their careers, with challenges such as AI, Su offered an assortment of advice so students can make the most of their experience at college.
“I would definitely say part of what you’re here to do in college is to learn to be a lifelong learner,” Su said. “To have your experience, your perspectives, challenged and changed through active discussion with other people. If you learn how to learn, then whenever you leave Denison you’re gonna naturally be curious about the world and how it works and you’re gonna be inventive.”
Su also emphasized the importance of skills versus virtues.
“It’s again, not so much about the skills.” Su said “Although those are important, it’s about learning a way of being in the world that enables you to to live a rich life, not monetarily, but to get you to make the most of life, even in difficult circumstances. That’s the part of education which helps you to see the wonder in the world and to take responsibility for what’s happening, so that you can change it and make it better.”
Lectures such as this one have been sponsored by the Anderson Endowment Program, which also supports Denison’s summer scholars program and prestigious full-tuition scholarships for a small number of sophomore students each year.
Jessica Rettig, a professor of biology, is the coordinator of the Anderson Science Program. She has overseen the management and allocation of funds for the program for 15 years.
The fund sponsors one department to invite a speaker each year. The speakers rotate through different fields of math, science, and technology.
“You often have to talk and recruit someone to come a year in advance,” Rettig said. “We’ve already invited the chemist who is coming for next year.”
Rettig noted how the Anderson fund has helped students.
“I know that our students who get scholarships, they and their families very much appreciate it,” Rettig said. “Our lecture series is another really good opportunity for students to be able to engage with and learn from a really high caliber scientist.”
She also commented on the significance of Su visiting Denison for the lecture series.
“As the [previous] president of the American Mathematical Association, he’s worked with a whole bunch of mathematicians all over the country…. and he’s coming to talk to us here in Granville, Ohio. That’s really impactful,” Rettig said.
In addition to students at Denison, the Anderson Lecture Series can also benefit the community in different ways. This was one of the reasons Su was chosen, because of his approachability to non-mathematicians.
“We tried to bring someone in who can speak to more than just mathematicians, so we can get students and faculty from different majors or community members to attend,” Rettig said. “I think that gets science out more generally and broadly on our campus.”