Thanks

Were it not for the scholarships I received during my college years at Universidad de Guanajuato (which allowed me to start my professional mathematics studies after two years of financially-hindered attempts), and the mentorship I received as a high-school student participating in Olimpíada Mexicana de Matemáticas (OMM), I would never have had the opportunity to pursue a career in mathematics: my professional life’s calling. The only way I ever found to thank my math-olympiad coaches Pilar Morfín, María Eugenia “Maru” Guzmán, Julio Rodríguez and Pablo Macías (in my home town of Guadalajara), as well as Alejandro Illanes, María Luisa (Malú) Pérez-Seguí and Javier Alfaro (in Mexico City), is to pay it forward by helping nourish new generations of math olympians in Mexico and elsewhere. I must also thank my middle-school mathematics teacher Lucy Santiago, and the encouragement and academic support that the late Guadalupe “Lupita”, my middle-school’s principal, bestowed upon me.

To my mother Margarita and my uncle Ernesto “Neto” I owe too much to list; suffice it to say that every glimpse into mathematics and science more advanced than what was covered in elementary and early middle school came from conversations with Neto and reading the science books he gave me. On the other hand, had my mother not tutored me on the basics of multiplication and fractions while I endured criminally deficient 2nd- and 3rd-grade instruction at school, the mathematics gene might well have gone unexpressed. (Fortunately, my 4th, 5th & 6th-grade teachers Altagracia and (Ed)Mundo were terrific!). The extraordinary feats of resilience and endurance she had to pull off as a middle-class Mexican single mother of three are not easy to retell; our family of mom-plus-three-sons I would never have made it through without the unfailing support of my late grandparents Ernesto and Amparo.

Only years later does one realize the importance of early nurturing and mentorship; I apologize for keeping this note of thanks vanishingly short and missing many other people to whom I owe grand debts of gratitude.