我今年夏天做了什么：Mathematics IsmarVolić教授

在春季学期的最后一次考试后，大多数学生都离开了夏季实习，工作和旅行机会的校园，Wellesley教授在夏天实际做了什么？在接下来的五个星期四，了解在教职员工的生活中发生的事情，因为他们探索，创造，协作和在世界各地进行研究（或在Wellesley！） - 甚至在我们的半球中最高的山峰之一。

首先，数学教授IsmarVolić将我们带到波斯尼亚，在那里他计划并领导了年度会议，并向萨拉热窝举行，他与联合国谈到威士力和艺术的进步。然后我们返回Wellesley，Volić花时间与他的孩子一起度过，继续致力于他的研究，并作为一部分教导数学和政治研讨会One Wellesley Summer。

问：告诉我们一些关于你的夏天。什么亮点是什么？

Ismar Volić:At the beginning of the summer, I spent some time in Bosnia, where I am from originally. I am a member of the board of directors of the波斯尼亚美洲艺术和科学院（Bhaaas）一位带有波斯尼亚教育和艺术的推进目标的波斯尼亚 - 美国教授，医生，艺术家和其他专业人员的组织。我们在过去的十一年里有组织了Bosnia的Bhaaas天会议，我是过去两年的主要组织者之一。这是波斯尼亚及其超越的最大科学活动。今年，该会议由16次医疗，自然和技术科学研讨会组成，来自世界各地的300多个讲师，所以我很忙于帮助组织并跑上这个活动。

I am also involved in various efforts to bring quality STEM education to Bosnia, so I organized a session on this topic during the conference. I brought together various people who are at the forefront of this effort for a panel discussion, including a minister of education, representatives of NGOs and the tech industry, teachers, professors, and parents. The new U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia is also trying to help STEM grow in Bosnia, and he and I had an excellent lunch meeting during which we discussed various possible next steps.

I gave a talk about STEM education at the United Nations office in Sarajevo and met some people from UNICEF there. They run a cool program calledIT女孩，他们组织了课程和研讨会，以教育高中女孩如何编程，建立网站等，并具有使其进入技术劳动力的最终目标。这是联合国机构赋予妇女权力和教育妇女的倡议的一部分。我很乐意看到Wellesley与IT女孩的合作伙伴，所以我打算和校园里的各个人交谈，看看我们是否可以让这些女孩们参加我们的夏季科学计划之一。

我今年夏天的另一个令人兴奋的事情是教导数学和政治工作坊作为沃里斯利的一部分夏季探索计划for high school girls. It was a fantastic new experience! This topic is very different from what I usually think about in my teaching and research. It fascinated and engaged me in a novel way, giving me a new perspective on various issues in mathematics, social choice theory, game theory, and so on. I am also teaching a first-year seminar on this topic next spring, so this workshop helped me clarify and distill what I want to do in that class.

问:当你不旅行,一个典型的day look like for you during the summer?

Volić：I hang out with my kids a lot because my wife gets very busy during the summer (she is a landscape designer). But my kids also spend some time at day camps, so I still have some time to work. During those precious hours between camp drop-off and pickup, I make sure to spend some time each day lamenting the swift passage of that very day—and consequently the summer—during which I invariably do not manage to accomplish all that I so enthusiastically set out to do back in May. Luckily, I have tolerant coauthors who share my apparent cluelessness about the actual length of the summer. During the remaining hours, I try to work on any one of the several projects I have, finish writing some papers, and get some new ideas off the ground. I am lucky that all I need for my research is paper and pen, so I can take my work anywhere. The location of choice is usually one of several coffee shops in Wellesley or Natick.

问：你希望学生了解你的工作是什么？

Volić：数学研究似乎如此摘要，学生似乎无法进入。虽然我们所做的很多事情都需要相当大量的背景机械，但我们也非常擅长雕刻出于本科调查的可管理碎片，并为其他令人兴奋的数学提供门户，纯粹和应用。我知道我说我的同事们说，当我说学生应该随意接近我们，向我们询问我们所做的（除教授），并了解他们也可以参与一些酷炫的方式适用的数学。

问：你夏天最有趣的方面是什么，你计划在下一个学年中随身携带进入下一个学年？

Volić：我提到的数学和政治研讨会肯定会通知我一段时间的各种事情。数学可以被滥用的程度用于排除，剥夺责备和失去权力是惊人的。我觉得我需要尽我所能地作斗争 - 特别是现在，当这么多的权力正在发动一个前所未有的战争，逻辑和知识分子的时期。

照片：IsmarVolić（右边）与埃里克·纳尔逊（左侧），美国大使和黑塞哥维那，美国大使和美国公布代表团，包括彼得·达菲（右侧），位于波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那的使命主任。