Bud Boman interviewed by Doug Ensley

00:00 My name is Doug Ensley. I'm a retired professor from Shippensburg University, which is located within the eastern Pennsylvania Delaware section of the Mathematical association of America, currently living in Wilmington, North Carolina. This interview is part of the EPADEL Centennial Celebration project, and today is March 9, 2022. So to get us started, can you tell me your name, where you're located as we're speaking today?

00:22 Yeah, my name is Eugene Bowman, though nobody ever calls me that. I'm always called Buddha. I'm located at, I'm actually in my oldest daughter's former bedroom in Hershey, Pennsylvania. And I taught at the Penn State University at two different campuses for about 27 years. And I'm also recently retired.

00:47 Right. So let's just spend a quick minute where you can give more of a detailed introduction of yourself. If you could tell me, like, where you were born, just generally the path that has led you to where you are now.

01:01 Okay, sure. Well, I was born in Oregon, but we moved away from there when I was very young. Spent my formative years in Phoenix, Arizona, and high school. We moved back to Oregon, and I finished high school there. At the end of high school, I didn't know what. At the end of high school, I desperately wanted to be a policeman. So I enlisted in the army and became a military policeman. And it took me about three months to figure out that that was really a bad choice. So at the end of my tour of duty in the army, I came home and used my GI benefits to send myself to school, which I found out was where I should be. And I've been in school ever since. I went to Reed College in Portland, Oregon. And from there I went to graduate school at the University of Connecticut, graduating with. Got a master's degree and then graduated with a PhD in 1993.

01:59 Great. You really crisscrossed the country then.

02:02 Oh, yeah.

02:04 And you're still, I'm sure your students still believe that you act like a policeman.

02:09 They're always very surprised if it ever comes up, which is not often, because how would it? But they are often very surprised. I had it came up one time and a student told me, really? You seem like somebody's grandpa, which did not make me all that happy.

02:26 But, yeah, you don't want to dig into that. In what way? And so what was your PhD research? What area was it in?

02:37 Numerical linear algebra. Specifically preconditioning methods for iterative solution techniques, specifically the conjugate gradient method and its relatives, and specifically with the system of equations leads to what's called a toplitz matrix. Very specialized, but it's still an active area.

02:58 It always is. Yeah, we all end up in a little.

03:01 That's true, I guess.

03:03 Yeah. So you've seen a lot of changes in scientific computing.

03:07 Oh, yeah. Well, everything that I did back in my research days, I stopped researching linear algebra a few years ago, but everything I did back then is pretty much obsolete at this point. It's all moved on. I kind of keep up with it, but I'm not active in the area anymore.

03:25 All right, well, let's turn our attention to EPADEL which is why we're here. What brought you to your first EPADEL meeting and what experiences that you had then were important to keep you coming back?

03:37 Well, I actually have to explain that. I have to back up a little bit. My first job was at the. I've always worked at Penn State University, but Penn State has many campuses. My first job was at the Dubois campus in the western side of the state, which put me in the Allegheny Mountain section, not epidemic. And the first time I went to a section meeting, it was the Allegheny mountain section meeting. The reason I went to that was because Dubois is a very small campus. Essentially, I and one other person were the math department. There were not any colleagues there, and I was getting desperately lonely for mathematical company. So the first year that I was there, the. The meeting was at the Clarion University, which is about 40 miles down the road. So I went there, and it was as all the section meetings I've ever been to, whichever section it is, I've always been supportive and fun, and I thought, okay, this is something I got to do. It gave me a way to meet other people and to feel like I was part of something big. Oh, I'm hearing. I'm hearing myself coming through. Okay. Okay, there we go.

04:51 I don't know why my headphones. Cause feedback.

04:53 Now I can't hear you, or you're very, very quiet.

04:57 Yeah, I'll. I'll risk, uh. I'll risk a little. I had a little bit of car noise, so I was trying to put headphones on. I'll take the car noise instead of the feedback. Sorry about.

05:08 That's okay. Where was it? Oh, so I had backed up to when I was in Dubois and not in EPADEL when I moved to EPADEL I moved to the Harrisburg campus in 2006, and all my experiences at the Allegheny mountain section had been so positive, was such a good experience. I immediately went to the. Came to the first meeting. The first year I was here was the one at Westchester in 2006, because I wanted to be involved, because that had been my experience at the Allegheny mountain section, and I wanted it to continue, and it has. I've been a member of two different sections. They've both been very, very supportive. It's great. They're great colleagues. I've attended meetings of other sections, and it's always the same. I would recommend it, attending these things, even if you don't seem. Even if it doesn't look like anything you're interested in is going to happen, because there's always something there to do.

06:05 I think that's fair. Are there specific memories of talks or activities at EPADEL meetings that have stuck with you over time, or do you have a favorite activity?

06:16 Not talks or activities so much, but I've always used them. I've always tried to bring students and have them present. That's been one of the best parts about being a member and coming to the meetings. And it's great fun to watch students who are very lacking in. Confident, in confidence gain some confidence by coming and talking. It's great fun to see those who are. Who have an excessive amount of confidence get themselves put into place a little bit, which doesn't happen all that often.

06:52 I never heard that as a recommendation for why you should give a talk.

06:55 Well, I mean, I never make sure, I try to make sure it never happens to in a mean fashion, but I will. I always sit in the audience, and if I know that a student who's really full of him or herself, I will let questions hang in the air for a little longer than I would with the students who are not so confident, you know? And it. I mean, it's either way, it's a learning experience for the student. That's what it's about. It's a learning experience not, not there for. We don't. I don't do that so that I can say I have this many students or anything. It's there for the students to learn and to try to give them what they want. If I had to pick a single memory, it isn't so much about the activities at EPADEL as that a few years ago, I had two students come. One of them was presenting, and immediately after he gave us presentation, he and she went outside, and he had arranged earlier for me to be there with a camera and take a picture of him proposing to her. As of today, they have two children and live not too far away. I haven't talked to them a while, but I don't know how well they're doing.

07:59 Wow. Yeah, that's. That's. I would say that's pretty memorable.

08:03 Yeah.

08:04 Nothing to do with mathematics that says.

08:09 I'm sorry, I didn't catch up.

08:11 Oh, I just said that. And it has nothing to do with mathematics, which. Yeah.

08:14 Yeah. That's not to say that I don't enjoy the mathematics at the meetings, but your. Your question was specifically about what I. What I, uh.

08:24 Oh, yeah.

08:25 What I enjoy the most and what I remember.

08:27 Yeah.

08:28 That was more memorable than any math talk I ever saw anywhere, anytime.

08:32 Yeah, I'll bet.

08:33 Wow.

08:35 Okay, so let me move on to our. Another question. In what ways would you say that the personal relationships you've made through epidol had any kind of influence on your career trajectory?

08:47 Well, like I said, the. I wouldn't. I don't have anything specific to answer with that, but I've met colleagues who I would not have met otherwise. You, for instance. I'm not one to just be a member. I always tried. I tried immediately upon reaching up at all to get onto the executive board and started working up, and I love that you get to meet people who are also interested in doing what you're doing. And I would have. I know a lot of people now that I would not have known. I know people across the continent. I know people I can call if I need help with something. I don't want to single out anybody in particular, but I know a lot of people now, if it hadn't been for my participation in MaA and in EPADEL and in the Allegheny mountain section, I wouldn't know these people. And it's been. It's a supportive environment.

09:45 Yeah, absolutely. All right, so then here's the. Here's the big finish for you. I want you to give me the 1 minute elevator speech that you would give to a new colleague to convince them that they should go to an epidemic.

10:00 Well, I've already given the. What are we at, eight minutes now? I've given the eight minute version based on my experience. We all have jobs to do. We all have committees we have to serve on. We have to. We have things we have to do for our institution, many of which are professionally satisfying, but not all of them are. There are things we simply have to do. And you know what it's like to sit on a committee and be on there with several other people who are, well, not to put too fine a point on it, sitting on the committee. You go to EPADEL and you go to the MAA meetings, and that doesn't happen if you get involved in that. You're there with people who also want to make this happen, and it's much more satisfying work than anything I've ever done at my own institution. So the 1 minute speech, I can give it to you in 5 seconds. You meet college would not ever meet any other way. You'll meet people outside of your area of mathematics. You might even meet people outside of mathematics. And they're all fun because they want to be there just as much as you do.

11:04 Or more. Yeah, that's great. Well, that's a great. A great final point. Thank you, bud, for taking time to record this interview today.

11:14 Sure.

11:15 I'll see you at the next epidemic meeting.

11:18 I wouldn't miss it.