My name is Travis Cunningham and I'm here to share my story.

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I am, first of all, a mathematician. I study scattering resonances, which is a subfield of partial differential equations. I recently published my first paper, in collaboration with my mentor, on scattering resonances for Schrödinger operators in dimension one. I also have three other drafts in the final stages that I have high hopes will be published as well. The PMP is currently helping me with the typing of the handwritten versions of these papers, as they did with my first paper.

I have been incarcerated in Michigan for a little over 10 years, for a drunk driving offense committed when I was 19. It is really difficult putting into words what I feel surrounding this event, as any attempt feels insufficient in capturing the pain and shame I feel, and the pain I know I've caused others. I believe there is really no making up for this type of thing. The only option I had was to do everything I can to grow and to change the parts of me that caused that pain. Mathematics, and the phenomenal people I've met throughout my mathematical journey, helped me to do just that.

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Early into my sentence, I was in a very dark place. I had always had an interest in math and physics, but never gave it any real attention. I had time now, and I felt mathematics almost calling to me… it was really a bizarre thing. I had a calculus text sent to me and I just dove in. Then I kept going. I was spending almost entire days reading, working through problem sets, and trying to follow proofs. I was really grasping what I read and it felt exhilarating. It also kept me away from and out of everything around me. I didn't notice it at first but my mind started to change. Prior to prison it felt like I couldn't do anything right. I wanted things, I wanted to do good, and to find success and happiness. But I just consistently made the wrong decisions.

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Mathematics cleared the fog. It was like coming up for air for the first time. Everything started to come into focus as I immersed myself in my new mathematical world. Math is all about analysis and problem solving, and that pattern can be applied to every aspect of life and thought. So much of math is about getting to what you want from what you have. I know Theorems A and B and I want to prove Theorem C. I started to think that way not just about the math I was studying, but about my future, and about who I want to be.

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Fast forwarding, I have now spent the better part of the last decade with math at the center of my life, and I am within a year and a half of release from prison. Since the very beginning I have known that I want to spend the rest of my life researching, teaching, and just talking about mathematics. A big goal of mine is to spread the life-changing power of mathematics. My plan is to earn my PhD when I'm out. My mentor, as well as several people within the PMP are currently helping me to prepare for the process of applying to some schools, possibly as early as next fall. In addition to putting the finishing touches on a few more papers, I am also trying to work with the staff here to hopefully take the math GRE, so that I can add those scores to my grad school application.

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As you can imagine, learning math in this sort of environment has been a significant challenge. But at every turn, my passion for mathematics has triumphed, and has only grown stronger over the years. There is without question a metaphysical or spiritual current that runs through mathematics. This current has transformed my life. I believe that everyone can benefit from bringing mathematics into their life. The more I can do to help facilitate this, the better. I hope my words on this blog can be part of it.