by Huy Huynh and Yuyu Shen

The video interview linked below with Professor Deng was in three parts. The first was about his work and you see a serious researcher talking about parallel computing, supercomputers, and how they are beneficial in a wide variety of fields, especially medicine.

The second was about teaching. You see a different person. His face lights up in a radiant smile and as you listen to him, you understand why his students give him the highest ratings of all the professors in AMS. But wait, for all those who do not think math can be exciting, do not sit there saying, 'Oh well, that is AMS - even the best math professor cannot be that good.'  Wrong. Undergraduate students talk about how amazing it is that they go to his class and enjoy it, every single time.

The third part you will not see. It was intentionally not taped. What he is working on now. But for undergraduates who do not get to work intimately with a professor the way graduate students do - the two undergrad interviewers walked away saying, "I would really like to do that."

In China professors are revered, but not loved. They have a reputation for treating undergraduates as beneath them. Nobel physicist C.N. Yang said that had he done all of his schooling in China he would never have won the Prize. Although having done his undergraduate work at Nankai University, alma mater of Chou Enlai, Professor Deng came to the US and got his Ph.D. at Columbia. He took what he learned from both to become the best. He asks a lot of his students, but he excites them so they do not feel it is a burden. 

Professor Deng said his goal in life was to be a teacher - and he is proud that his students not only learn from him, but enjoy learning from him. The AA E-Zine is honored to have Professor Yuefan Deng as its First Faculty Spotlight. As we said on our homepage, 'for a math prof (especially!) to engage his students and keep them interested in every single class is the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in Teaching!' 

http://www.aa2sbu.org/aaezine/videos/DrYuefanDeng2005.wmv

Note: Needs fast connection, updated version of Windows Media Player or open source equivalent, and lots of free hard drive space. It will download to a temp file on your computer and begin playing as it is loading with newer software. With older software you will need to wait until it is finished downloading. 

Yuyu Shen, Huy Huynh, and Professor Yuefan Deng

Click on photos to enlarge. Center is Prof. Deng with most of his grad students. The two missing from the group are headshots on sides.

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