Educated at the University of Houston and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, 28-year-old NSM alum Brett Wick recently returned to campus to give an invited seminar on "Bounded Analytic Projections and the Corona Problem."
"Brett is currently working on extension of the Corona problem, which is one of the classic results in complex analysis," says mathematics professor Vern Paulsen, who organized the seminar.
"I didn't know Brett during his undergraduate years at UH, but I got to know him when we were both invited speakers at an international meeting in Newcastle, England. Interestingly, Brett's dissertation at Brown was concerned with extending the work of Sarah Ferguson, who received her PhD from UH in 1996 under my direction. Consequently, I've always followed Brett's work."
Part of this work is harmonic analysis. "One application of harmonic analysis is wavelets, which are used to analyze fingerprints. With harmonic analysis you look at things in terms of sines and cosines," explains Brett. "Understanding small components well, gives us an understanding of the bigger picture."
As an undergraduate at UH, Brett majored in mathematics and minored in physics, working with mathematics faculty members John Hardy, David Bao, Neil Amundson, and Giles Auchmuty.
"Brett was an exceptional student in all respects and took advantage of every opportunity UH had to offer," says Hardy. As a result, he completed a PhD degree in mathematics at Brown in four years and will soon join the ranks of the professoriate. Students seeking a model for success have only to look to Brett."
Completing his PhD in mathematics at Brown in June 2005, Brett is currently doing post-doctoral work as an assistant professor of mathematics at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. When finished, he intends to pursue a tenure-track position at one of several universities.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities at Vanderbilt, Brett participates in mathematics conferences and workshops nationwide, including his recent appearance at UH.