2018 FALL LC MAGAZINE

32 LYCOMING COLLEGE 2018 SUMMER MAGAZINE A C A D E M I C S P O T L I G H T hristopher Reed’s earliest memories of loving math date back to the first grade, where his class completed 100 problem timed tests as a class competition. “The winner got some sort of little trinket and amassed quite a few tiny toys before the year was over,” he recalls. The timed tests fed directly into Reed’s competitive spirit and simply made him want to be as good as he could be at math. When Reed ’05 was a student at Lycoming College, his Calculus II instructor asked him to tutor the class after he completed the course. Reed enjoyed working with fellow college students so much that he decided to switch from pursuing secondary education to instead focus on math and computer science. Fast-forward 15 years and you’ll find that Reed continues to be fascinated by math, particularly graph (network) theory and math education. “I love the puzzle-solving aspect of math. While a new problem can be immensely frustrating, once ‘the light bulb goes on,’ that moment of euphoria is amazing.” Today, he enjoys helping others reach their own light bulb moments and is putting his talents to work back at Lycoming College as a lecturer and the director of the Math Center. C H R I S TO P H E R R E E D The Love of MA ± HEMATIC3