Manil Suri, Mathematics, on the Marc Steiner Show

Mar 27, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, was a guest on the Marc Steiner show on March 14 to discuss his new book “The City of Devi.” Steiner asked Suri how he reconciles his background in mathematics with the spiritual themes that run through his books, which feature Hindu deities. “There’s a lot of contrast. On the one hand, I’m very enamored by these ideas from spirituality and almost mysticism,” “But on the other hand, the logical part of me says, ‘hey, wait a minute, that’s not really what’s happening.’” The full segment can be heard here.

Manil Suri, Mathematics, on “The Daily Beast”

Mar 21, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

Manil Suri was deep into writing his latest novel, “The City of Devi,” when he realized something alarming: the novel was impossible to finish. The mathematics professor even used a mathematical construct, a possibility tree, to arrive at his conclusion. He described the process of creating this mathematical “proof” in an essay for “The Daily Beast.” Of course, Suri did eventually finish the novel, which was published earlier this year. Despite the fact that he disproved his own proof, Suri feels that his mathematical conclusion was a worthwhile endeavor, because it allowed him to reach the insights he needed about… Continue Reading Manil Suri, Mathematics, on “The Daily Beast”

Manil Suri, Mathematics, in the News

Feb 6, 2013 / 3 minutes of reading

Mathematics Professor Manil Suri has been in the news recently, as his latest novel, “The City of Devi,” hits bookstore shelves. On Wednesday, February 6, the Baltimore City Paper published a review of the book, saying that it “is “streamlined and cinematically purified… by narrowing his focus and heightening the emotional tenor of the city, he manages to give it a mythological quality.” Suri also spoke with the Baltimore Sun for a February 3 interview entitled “UMBC mathematician Manil Suri publishes his third novel.” This novel completes a trilogy about hindu dieties that Suri began with his 2001 book, “The… Continue Reading Manil Suri, Mathematics, in the News

“The City of Devi” Reviewed in the Washington Post

Jan 31, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

On January 29, the Washington Post praised “The City of Devi” by Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, in a review by Ron Charles. Proclaiming it “the best sex comedy of the year about nuclear war between India and Pakistan,” Charles commends the book for the fact that it “never dips toward cynicism, never loses its essential sweetness, no matter how cruel or kooky the action… the whole story manages to keep hurtling along toward a surprisingly tender ending.” “Even amid the wondrous variety of contemporary Indian fiction, Suri’s work stands apart, mingling comedy and death, eroticism and politics, godhood and… Continue Reading “The City of Devi” Reviewed in the Washington Post

Manil Suri, Mathematics, in Baltimore Magazine

Jan 30, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

Baltimore magazine reviewed Manil Suri’s latest book, The City of Devi, in the February 2013 issue. Calling the book “a preculiar love story that’s both tawdry and hopeful,” the magazine says that it is “super-charged by religion, sexuality, and the overarching political conflict.” The magazine also posted a Q and A with the mathematics and statistics professor on their website, where they asked Suri about teaching a math class for non-math majors. “It taught me that without at least some basic motivation on the part of the learner, it’s simply impossible to engage people in mathematics, no matter how interesting or… Continue Reading Manil Suri, Mathematics, in Baltimore Magazine

VCU’s Qin Wang Speaks at Stat Colloquium (10/26)

Oct 22, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics hosts Dr. Qin Wang of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) for its Fall 2012 Statistics Colloquium this Friday, October 26, from 11am to 12pm in Room 401 of the Mathematic and Psychology (MP) building. Dr. Wang’s contribution for this week is entitled “A general SDR approach via Hellinger integral of order two.” It deals with the concept of sufficient dimension reduction (SDR), which according to the abstract is “a useful tool to study the dependence between a response and a multidimensional predictor.” The focus will be on a new approach to SDR called the Hellinger Integral of… Continue Reading VCU’s Qin Wang Speaks at Stat Colloquium (10/26)

Two Professors Discuss Collaboration in The Chronicle of Higher Education

Oct 10, 2012 / 2 minutes of reading

In fall 2011, Michele Osherow, associate professor of English, and Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, collaborated to jointly teach a freshman seminar, “Mathematics and What It Means to be Human,” in which they explored the connections between the two disciplines. They are discussing their collaboration, and its challenges, in a three-part series on The Chronicle of Higher Education. In the first part of the series, the two discuss what led them to teach the class, and their experiences in planning it. “Ever since the word problems my father forced on us at dinner, I’ve always been terrified of math,” Osherow… Continue Reading Two Professors Discuss Collaboration in The Chronicle of Higher Education

Can You Solve President Hrabowski’s Favorite Math Problem?

Jul 9, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

The Imaging Research Center (IRC) recently filmed several faculty as they attempted to solve President Hrabowski’s favorite math problem. As told to Nagaraj Neerchal and Manil Suri, mathematics and statistics, and Anne Spence, mechanical engineering, the problem is as follows: 29 children are in a class. 20 have dogs. 15 have cats. How many have both a dog and a cat? Watch the video below to see the various methods and strategies used by the professors to answer the problem. [vimeo 45245451 w=500 h=281] UMBC Professors Solve F. Hrabowski’s Favorite Math Problem from ircumbc on Vimeo.

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