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As an undergraduate, Lorenzo Traldi fell in love with mathematics, taking only math courses his last three years of college and earning 88 credits in the subject. “In addition to regular courses, I took eight independent study or special topic courses that my professors took the time to organize for me,” he says. “I’m really lucky to have such a broad mathematical base. I feel obligated to offer the same [experience] to my students.”
Traldi, who joined the faculty in 1980, was recently named Marshall R. Metzger Professor of Mathematics. He has worked with many Lafayette students on independent studies, honors theses, and EXCEL Scholars research projects. He has also worked with undergraduates from other colleges doing mathematics research at Lafayette through the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.
Mathematics is such a wide field that “it’s necessary for ambitious math students to study outside classes through independent study and honors coursework,” he says. “EXCEL and REU fit in with that nicely.”
The first student to do an honors thesis with Traldi was Dan King ’87, who is now a mathematics professor at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y.
“I didn’t take a course with Lorenzo until my junior year, because I heard he was a very challenging teacher,” says King. “I took advanced calculus with him. It was fantastic. The classroom environment was serious, but he brought levity and a sense of humor to the course that put everyone at ease.” King says Traldi deepened his love for mathematics and encouraged his interest in becoming a professor. “He even helped me study for my doctoral qualifying exam by rattling off solutions to problems that stumped me.”
Traldi specializes in topology, the field that includes geometry. He is working on the theory and applications of discrete structures, which are related to network reliability analysis. “Reliability theory is an interdisciplinary field involving mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers, statisticians, and management scientists, with applications not only in computer science, but also management science for optimal allocation of resources,” he says.
Rebecca Andersen ’06 worked on a method to predict network reliability in computer and telecommunications networks as an EXCEL Scholar with Lorenzo Traldi, Metzgar Professor and head of mathematics.