ProfessorKarp

He likes algebra and has a kickass beard (or did...his facial hair changes frequently). He showed up in the 2008-2009 school year and was apparently hired in part to help Mudd, and the math department in particular, "confront the myriad issues surrounding gender inequity and underrepresentation as we work toward diversity." As a part of this effort he runs a seminar called SUMS (Seminar on Underrepresentation and the Mathematical Sciences) where he brings in people who have worked with these issues elsewhere to talk to us about their experiences. The schedule can be found at http://www.math.hmc.edu/~dk/sums/ if you are interested. Don't try and find his Instagram. Says "groovy" a lot.

• His physical appearance is so variable that every year he looks like an entirely new man. It's bizarre and amazing.

"The moduli space of mathematical talent is not simple, connected, or ordered."

Algebraic Geometry, Spring 2009

• "Please feel free to yell at me if I misbehave too much."
• "There are no more important ideas, there is only more complicated notation."
• "And then Zeus strikes us down in contradiction!" as he draws a lightning bolt at the end of the proof
• "It's not only true in pictures, it's also true verifiably."

Analysis, Fall 2011

• "The goal of the course is to hang out..."
• "Alright square root of two, we'll play your little game."
• "This is not sufficiently groovy for our purposes."

Topology, Spring 2013

• "We may not have guessed this subject and had it burst from our minds like a Greek goddess' holy form, but..."