Emeritus College

Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences travels to China

Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences James Brannan  has spent the last month in China traveling as well as lecturing. His wife Cheryl and he have done a lot of walking since their arrival!! “From our hotel it is about ¾ a mile to the Math Center and about a half mile to the closest cafeteria so roundtrip it’s 2 ½ miles a day.  It is about 2 miles to the subway station, so it is at least 4 miles whenever we take the subway.  Yesterday we went to a place in Wuhan called Tian Hua Lin street (colonial buildings, architecture, art area, little cafes etc. once colonized by Christian missionaries) and walked 10 ½ miles!  I have averaged over 4 miles a day since I’ve been here and have walked 95 miles so far in the month of October.  I’m almost getting used to it.” stated Dr. Brannan in an email to the Emeritus College on October 22, 2017.

Why is Professor Emeritus Brannan in China?  “I am visiting the Center for Mathematical Sciences at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, a city in Central China of about 10 million (give or take a few million).  There are over 30 universities in Wuhan alone! I am teaching a month long course in applied mathematics to first year students at the Center, collaborating with a postdoc, helping to advise a student in her research, and have given colloquium talks at the China University of Geosciences and Wuhan University of Technology.  Plus lots of sightseeing and attending a few ethnic dance and musical performances, museums, Buddhist temples, classical Chinese opera, etc.  It has been a great experience. The people have been most gracious hosts.  The students are very polite and show a great deal of respect for Professors, much more than we deserve, but it is part of the way they are brought up in this society: work hard, study hard, be polite, respect elderly people, respect teachers, and so on.”

Pictures L to R:

Picture 1: Dinner with a group of friends

Picture 2: A table loaded with Chinese food (dining out with large groups and sharing lots of food is customary here)

Picture 3: Cheryl with an art institute student in costume on Tian Hua Lin street

Picture 4: Cheryl with 2 graduate students who escorted us to Hubei Provencial Museum

Picture 5:  Dr. Brannan with Professor Yuan Wan who hosted him for a talk  at Wuhan University of Technology

J. Brannan 1 J. Brannan 2 J. Brannan 4 J. Brannan 5J. Brannan 3