Parker Glynn-Adey

London, Ontario
Mathematics

“I don't think many people choose math as a major. Rather, math chooses them,” says Parker Glynn-Adey, a recent Mathematics graduate at Trent. “It's a really exciting discipline. You're constantly wrestling with interesting ideas and when the path is clear it can feel like a really fun game.”

When describing his chosen major, Parker’s passion for math is clear. Explaining that “the sky is the limit” in terms of the interesting applications of math, Parker says, “It's exciting to be working with things that are so old and so young. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries produced lots of very neat math and in the twenty-first century we get to apply it to all sorts of interesting problems in physics, chemistry, and social policy.”

Always inspired by mathematical problems and challenges, Parker’s love of the discipline grew during his time at Trent University.

“The most wonderful thing about mathematics at Trent is the professors,” Parker says. “Throughout my time at Trent, I enjoyed one on one contact each of them. From start to finish, we were in personal dialogue.”

He adds: “At Trent, professors really care about what you do and why do you do it. In mathematics, seeing things from the right angle is critically important and my professors were always ready to explore and help me approach the material in a way that suited my learning style – to help me find the right spot to look at the objects we were studying.”

In his final semester, Parker’s passion for math and learning took him abroad as a scholarship recipient in the prestigious Math in Moscow program. The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) awarded Parker a $9,000 scholarship to attend the program, which is coordinated by the Independent University of Moscow and gives North American students the opportunity to study with Russian masters.

“I had never been abroad and I was excited about the idea of seeing the world,” Parker says about his decision to take part in the Math in Moscow program. “I was thrilled that I could see the world and do mathematics at the same time.”

Reflecting on all he has learned at Trent, both inside and outside the classroom, Parker says, “My time at Trent has been one of maturation, development, solidification. I've come to understand, in broad strokes, the direction I want to want to go in my field, with my life, and in the world. So, like anything that brings growth, my time at Trent has been complex and it means a lot to me.”