Sharon Crook '96
Position: Associate Professor, University of Arizona
Thesis: The Role of Delay in Oscillatory Models of Olfactory Cortex
Advisor: Laveen N. Kanal
What is your current position? What do you enjoy about it?
I am currently an Associate Professor with a joint appointment between the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. I really enjoy the challenges and the creativity involved in defining and pursuing my research. I also find it amazing that I have a career where I am able to constantly learn new things.
What are your favorite memories of your graduate school experience?
The University of Maryland was such a great place to pursue an interdisciplinary graduate degree. There were so many amazing researchers and educators and always many choices of interesting courses and seminars to attend. When I think about my time there, I always think about specific faculty and courses that I really enjoyed and also our annual holiday parties, which were always great fun.
What do you think the best parts of AMSC are?
I have always felt that the greatest strength of my training was that I was able to take courses in another department so that my training spanned both applied mathematics and an area of application.
What advice would you give to current students?
When I'm not doing computational work, I spend all of my time writing. I always urge my students to be sure to take technical writing courses and to pursue opportunities to obtain training in writing manuscripts and grants.
Story posted 4/3/12