UCLA - University of California - Los Angeles
04/16/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/16/2024 16:48
From Africa to the U.S.: Giving back by making math possible
Wilfrid Gangbo prefers to remain out of the spotlight.
Despite being a UCLA professor of mathematics, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and fellow of the American Mathematical Society, when asked about his inclusion in the new documentary "Journeys of Black Mathematicians: Forging Resilience," he is quick to cede any plaudits instead to those he believes truly paved the way.
"I appear for maybe 20 seconds - the real part of our history to talk about should honor leaders like David Harold Blackwell," Gangbo said, referencing the legendary statistician and mathematician who was notoriously originally denied a faculty position at UC Berkeley in 1942 due to racism. "They persevered through real struggle."
Even so, Gangbo's journey to academic prominence was not an easy one. As a shy boy growing up in the West African country of Benin, he discovered his aptitude for mathematics early on, encouraged by his older sisters. After graduating high school, completing a mandatory year of military service and finishing two years at university, Gangbo decided to transfer to a school in Switzerland.
"The Benin government would not release my transcripts - at the time, they exercised complete control, deciding where you will work and what city you will live in. So when I went to Switzerland, I had nothing to prove my credentials," Gangbo said. "They put me at the high school level, and suddenly I fell four years behind where I should have been. It was very difficult."
Gangbo persevered and earned his doctoral degree. Unable to find a job back home in Benin, he made the challenging decision to learn English and apply for a postdoctoral position at UC Berkeley. After moving to the U.S. - where he didn't know anyone - Gangbo completed his postdoc, then landed a faculty position at Georgia Tech, rising to the rank of full professor. Two decades later, when he was ready to tackle new challenges, Gangbo joined the UCLA faculty, beginning his tenure in 2016. It wasn't his first time on campus, however - he had helped organize a program years before at UCLA's Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics.
In his work, Gangbo focuses on optimization - the mathematical concept of maximizing one outcome while minimizing others in the face of constraints - that can be applied to any situation that involves competition, whether it's strategizing the success of a specific car dealership or a political candidate. But he is equally committed to helping uplift current and future STEM students, as well as increasing the number of Black recipients of doctorates in the mathematical sciences.
For the past three years, Gangbo and his colleagues Todd Coleman, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, and Jelani Nelson, a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley, have been running the David Harold Blackwell Summer Research Institute. It is named, of course, after the aforementioned professor who overcame enormous obstacles to become a giant in his field while also finding time to drive around the U.S. to meet with rising Black math and statistics students, mentor them and encourage them to attend graduate school.
"In his honor, every summer, we recruit six talented undergraduates who would benefit from good training, expose them to research and start advising them," Gangbo said. "Our respective departments finance this, so the three of us do not get any summer salary or financial benefit - we consider it enough to serve the community."
In addition, he has kept his connection to Africa thriving. Besides returning every year to spend time with family, friends and colleagues, he has taken a leading role as a teacher and mentor for aspiring mathematicians in his home country. Although it was a challenge establishing trust at first - some officials worried about losing talented students should they get recruited to international schools - Gangbo has kept at it for the past 30 years and has seen many of his former students become professors themselves.
"What makes me the proudest is that I have never lost touch with my African and African American communities, whether that's in Benin or Los Angeles or anywhere," Gangbo said. "Mentorship has made a big difference in my life and career, and I want to help others. Math has given me the privilege of giving back."