Bonnie Jacob

Home Department: NTID Science and Mathematics

Interests (Teaching/Research): I teach and tutor a variety of mathematics courses.  My research focuses mostly on the intersection of graph theory and linear algebra, including zero forcing and minimum rank problems.  

Year started at RIT: 2010

Favorite place(s) on campus: The nature trails, especially in fall, and the Tojo Memorial Garden.

Mentorship areas: Preparing for third-year review, early career work-life balance

1. Proud Professional Moment: Publishing papers with students always makes me proud. Also, winning the 2017 NTID Pre-tenure Scholarship Award recently was very exciting for me. 

2. Trials and Foils: In general, balance of the different aspects of life is a challenge. First and foremost is learning how to balance family and work.  Achieving a healthy balance in the different aspects of my job (research, teaching, and communication) is an ongoing struggle.  A silver lining is knowing that the struggle to balance only exists because of how much I value all of these facets of life and career. 

3. Words of Wisdom: Learn to balance independence and collaboration.  Independence is critical, but so is knowing when to reach out to others.  

4. Future Aspirations: I plan to continue to involve students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing in mathematical research.  I hope to someday expand this endeavor internationally.