URI math professor says teaching students equals life-long passion

11/28/07 - The University of Rhode Island has taught renowned mathematician Gerasimos Ladas a profound lesson in multiplication, as his planned two-year-stay here has grown into a career of 39 years.Ladas came to the university in 1969, only planning to stay for one or two years before moving on. But an unexpected turn of events caused him to do otherwise.

"I fell in love with the place, my wife and I," he said. "It's a great university with a lot of great students and faculty."

Today, Ladas teaches graduate and undergraduate courses at URI and is recognized as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world, according to Thomson Scientifics' ISIHighlyCited.com. The Web site tracks influential research professionals who are often credited in the research of others. Ladas said that seven other professors at URI hold this honor, adding with a clear mind for mathematics, "That's about 1 percent."

Ladas described his mathematical specialty, difference equations, as "equations that describe discreet systems, what happens in the future if you know the present and the past."

Ladas said a simple example of this is predicting how much money will be in a bank account in the future.

Scientists across the world use Ladas' equations in their research, including the Harvard University School of Public Health where Ladas is currently on a sabbatical for the fall semester. Ladas goes to the Harvard campus once a week where researchers are using his equations to create population models.

"We spend a day there and we have a lot of fun discussing the models," he said.

As fun as this is, Ladas said his greatest passion is not in putting his formula to use - "I'm interested in the theory, not the application," he said -or even in the math itself, but in sharing his knowledge with others.

"Whatever I do, I do it because I love teaching," he said. "My greatest pleasure comes from teaching the subject and communicating with other people on the subject throughout the world."

In addition to his educational role in the classroom, Ladas is the co-editor in chief of the Journal of Difference Equations and Applications, a monthly publication that showcases the best work in the field across the world. Ladas attends international conferences in locations such as Bangkok and Lisbon, and recently finished a book with another Greek mathematician called "The Dynamics of Third Order Rational Difference Equations."

Hailing from the Greek island of Kefalonia, Ladas graduated from the University of Athens with top marks in 1963. He completed a Ph.D. fellowship at New York University in 1968 and then taught at Fairfield University in Connecticut for a year. From there Ladas came to URI, "where I lived happily," he said.

Ladas said he moved into a house half a mile from campus 20 years ago and walks to his classes to avoid parking troubles. Since then, his two sons have both graduated from URI with degrees in engineering.

"Both found great jobs that make more money than me," Ladas joked. But unlike his sons, Ladas has no plans to leave Kingston.

"[URI] is a great place to raise a family," Ladas said. "I plan to stay here forever.