Zachary Treisman PhD

Biography

How did you discover Western?

I was looking to teach at a small school in the mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I grew up. I’ve traveled a lot and lived all over the world, and nowhere feels like home quite like the desert Southwest.

What are some of the highlights of your career?

My collaborations with mathematical artist Lun-Yi Tsai are always interesting. In the summer of 2018, I took a piece we made to the Bridges conference in Stockholm.

I also worked for a class of more than 600 Native American tribes and tribal organizations, helping their lawyers sort through the mathematical and statistical issues involved in settling the case Interior v. Ramah after it was decided by the United States Supreme Court.

As a postdoc, I spent time at the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India, working on some fascinating abstract theoretical mathematics as part of an international community of mathematicians.

What most excited you about your field?

Mathematics is always changing, always building on itself. Questions that were impossibly difficult become solvable with the right shift in perspective. It is the language of science and, as such, helps give definitive answers to meaningful questions. As our power to compute increases, so does our ability to delve into the hidden patterns in our world.

What is your favorite thing about the Gunnison Valley?

The variety of mountain and high-desert landscapes we have here is amazing. On the same day, I can go from the alpine peaks of the Elk Mountains to the forests and wetlands in the river valleys or to the sage and granite of Hartman Rocks. And the communities that form in this valley are full of interesting, compassionate, and adventurous people.

Research Interests:

Topological and Geometric Data Analysis, Analysis of Ecological Data, Art and Mathematics, Algebraic Geometry