Public Relations

When I first heard about VORTEX2, my first thought was that it was a waste of money. Tornados are violent and dangerous, but in terms of cost of human life and property, they are way down the list. While I was traveling with the project, though, I discovered something amazing. Every time we stopped for gas or to eat, at least one person from the area would approach our car and ask us about our work, and invariably would have a story to share about how a tornadic storm had personally affected them or a close relative or friend. Sometimes it was shocking, like in the case south of Clinton where several townspeople had their homes destroyed by tornado that later passed through Binger, and they told of the funnel passing down the main street wreaking destruction as it went. Sometimes the stories were about the fascination they shared with us, and how they loved to watch tornados pass by in the distance. Some folks even wanted to hop in and come with us! I never spoke to anyone that shared my initial opinion of the project, that VORTEX is a waste of money. Indeed, in the domain of the experiment, the need to understand and better predict tornados seems to be a majority viewpoint, if not universal.

For the math folks reading this, compare with your own experiences interacting with non-colleagues. Most people I talked to about math responded negatively, at least expressing gratitude that they didn’t have to think about math on a daily basis. While popularity isn’t necessary for work to be important, this attitude led to an immense sense of loneliness on my part, and a great divide between myself and the rest of the non-math world. A fellow mathematician once expressed his delight with this aspect of mathematics. I don’t share those feelings. The connection to the world is important to me, and the ability to talk with everyday folks about my work is something that is a real benefit to me of studying applied mathematics.