Berkeley Connect in Mathematics
The Berkeley Connect program opens up the extraordinary resources of the university to you: the extraordinary students on our campus. By joining, you will become part of a community of like-minded faculty, mentors, and students that will provide a supportive environment in which to exchange and discuss ideas and goals. Berkeley Connect will help you to make the most of your time at the university as you learn more about the major in Math. We're excited to get to know you!
Message from the Director
Would you like to talk with other students about the practice of math? Get personalized mentoring? Explore what you can do once you graduate? If so, consider joining Berkeley Connect in Mathematics! When you enroll, you are assigned a mentor (an advanced graduate student) and placed in a small group (of not more than 20 students) led by your mentor. Activities include small-group discussions (biweekly informal conversations about everything you need to know as a math major, like how to write a proof, what to do in the summers, etc); one-on-one advising, focused on your academic questions, concerns, and aspirations; and special events featuring distinguished math faculty and alums, including a career panel. No papers, exams, or outside reading are required, just lots of face-to-face interaction with others who share your passion for math.
Professor Lin Lin
Faculty Director, Berkeley Connect in Math
Program Description
Berkeley Connect links undergraduate students with experienced mentors in Math. These mentors lead small groups of 10-20 students in regular meetings; they also meet with students one-on-one to provide guidance and advice. The core of the Berkeley Connect program is a one-credit, pass-fail course that is designed to create a community of students with similar intellectual interests. There is no homework associated with Berkeley Connect: no exams, no papers, no quizzes Instead, small group meetings focus on sharing ideas and learning new skills within the Math major as a way to foster friendships and provide a supportive intellectual community for Berkeley undergraduates. The only requirement for joining Berkeley Connect in Math is that you have an interest in the field of study. You do not have to be a major in order to participate! Undeclared freshmen and sophomores are welcome, along with entering junior transfers and juniors and seniors who have declared the major.
Every semester, Berkeley Connect sponsors a wide range of activities and events for participating studentsThey include:
- small-group meetings led by your mentor;
- one-on-one meetings with your mentor;
- special events, including informal lectures by professors and guest speakers, and panels on career options, graduate school admissions, and other topics;
- and visits to Berkeley resources.
At the heart of Berkeley Connect is the relationship between you and your mentor. The Berkeley Connect mentors are advanced graduate students or recent PhDs in Math, who are chosen both for their demonstrated commitment to undergraduates and for their scholarly achievement. They are dedicated to providing the kind of close-knit community and one-on-one attention that can be hard to find at a large university.
When you sign up for Berkeley Connect, you will join one of several small groups of participants in Math. Your small group will be led by your mentor, and will meet every other week during the semester for an hour-long discussion session. Discussions will focus on key intellectual issues within Math as well as key skills you need to succeed in the major. Above all, the small groups will focus on building connections among students, so that each group becomes a supportive community for all participants.
You will meet with your mentor one-on-one at least twice during the semester, to talk about anything you choose related to your academic life—questions you have, challenges you are facing, resources you are seeking, goals you are seeking to achieve. Your mentor will also hold open mentoring hours throughout the semester, during which you are free to show up and continue these conversations, or just check in.
Faculty
Lin Lin is currently a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at UC Berkeley and a Senior Faculty Scientist in the Applied Mathematics and Computational Research Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). He majored in Computational Mathematics at Peking University, and received his PhD in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Princeton University in 2011, where his advisor was Weinan E (Mathematics) and Roberto Car (Chemistry). After being a Luis W. Alvarez Postdoctoral Fellow at LBNL, he has been part of the UC Berkeley faculty since 2014. His research focuses on solving quantum many-body problems using both classical and quantum algorithms, which find uses in fields such as quantum chemistry, quantum physics, materials science, and quantum information theory. He has received the Sloan Research Fellowship, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Department of Energy Early Career Award, the inaugural SIAM Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Early Career Award, the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the ACM Gordon Bell Prize (Team), and the Simons Investigator in Mathematics Award. Apart from math, he enjoys cycling and water sports.
Berkeley Connect Mentors
Alan Goldfarb is a PhD candidate in Math.
Where did you grow up?
Washington DC
Where did you go to college and what was your major?
USC, Mathematics
How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?
I study algebraic structures by examining how they transform various mathematical spaces. This gives us concrete insight into these abstract structures and can often help us understand them better.
Audrey Rosevear is a PhD candidate in Math.
Where did you grow up?
Massachusetts
Where did you go to college and what was your major?
Amherst College, Mathematics
How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?
I study the interaction between chaos theory and high-dimensional geometry. More specifically, I study how the geometry of a high-dimensional curved space influences flows running through that space.
Ronan O'Gorman is a PhD candidate in Math.
Where did you grow up?
Ireland
Where did you go to college and what was your major?
Trinity College Dublin, Math
How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?
I study algebraic geometry and mathematical logic. Roughly speaking, I am interested in reconstructing geometric objects like algebraic curves from partial information using techniques which come from a branch of mathematical logic called model theory.
Semester Activities
During a semester in Berkeley Connect in Math, you will participate in one-on-one conversations with your mentor, small-group discussions, special events and field trips.
Recent discussion topics have included:
- Reading and writing math
- Math in art and media
- Mathematical paradoxes
- Math and society
Berkeley Connect discussion sessions are informal and interactive, with time allowed for students to check in, talk about their experiences on campus, and reflect on current events that create the context for their academic studies.
Recent special events and field trips have included:
- Panel: Considering Graduate Studies in Math
- Alumni Career Panel: What Can You Do with a Degree in Math?
- Guided tour of Bancroft Library Collection
How to Sign Up
To sign up, enroll in a Berkeley Connect section when course registration opens. To participate in Berkeley Connect in Math, you enroll in a section of Math 98BC (primarily for freshmen and sophomores) or 198BC (primarily for juniors and seniors). Both are offered for one unit, taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. Participation is NOT restricted to declared majors.
You may enroll in Berkeley Connect more than once (some students choose to participate for a full year by enrolling in both the fall and spring semesters), and you may enroll through more than one department. You may NOT enroll in more than two sections of Berkeley Connect in one semester, or enroll in more than one section in the same department in the same semester.
Contact Us
Please see our FAQs. If you have additional questions about Berkeley Connect in Math, please contact: Faculty Directors Kenneth Ribet, ribet@math.berkeley.edu
or Nikhil Srivastava, srivastn@berkeley.edu
You can also contact the central Berkeley Connect office at berkeleyconnect@berkeley.edu or (510)664-4182.