
Shelly Harvey
Professor of Mathematics Rice University University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Contact
I grew up in California and I always loved math and puzzles. As a result, everyone always said I should be an engineer. So I went to college at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo planning to be an engineer. However, I started taking math classes and really enjoyed them. I loved learning why something was true but I didn't want to end up teaching high school. I learned that there were so many other options for math majors besides teaching K-12 and decided to switch to math my sophomore year. I was lucky enough to participate in two REUs (at LSU and Cornell) and found that I enjoyed research and wanted to go to graduate school (also, the more math I learned, the more I realized how little I knew). I went to Rice University, in Houston, TX, for graduate school as I liked being in a small department and was interested in geometry and topology (plus, I don't like cold weather). After graduate school, I got an NSF postdoctoral fellowship which I took at UC San Diego and then MIT. Then, in 2005, I started a tenure track position at Rice University where I was the first tenure track woman ever in the department. I am now a full professor at Rice. One of the favorite parts of my job is having graduate students and postdocs, in addition to teaching. I love music and when I am not doing math, I like to listen and "play" (I am not very good but I enjoy it) music with a few other mathematicians in the department. My weirdest hobby is probably headphones. I also love trying new food and new restaurants!