Fulbright scholar sees opportunity in UCCS visit

Math professor Muge Kanuni Er from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey, is at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs to work on a project, “Algebras on Discrete Structures,” involving her areas of specialty as part of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program.

She will spend six months at the university, hosted by Gene Abrams, professor, Department of Mathematics, and work closely with other members of the math department. She will extend her stay for another six months with assistance from an International Postdoctoral Research Scholarship from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.

Kanuni Er learned of Abrams’ work while a graduate student at the University of Connecticut (she earned master’s and doctoral degrees there), later corresponding with him by email and meeting at conferences. In February 2011, Kanuni Er delivered a colloquium talk to the math department at UCCS. When the opportunity for a sabbatical from her assistant professor position at Boğaziçi University presented itself, she searched for more than a year to find funding and to visit UCCS.

“The world is small,” Kanuni Er said. “The math world is even smaller. I am happy to have the chance to do mathematics, to write papers together, and to share ideas with my UCCS colleagues.”

Kanuni Er arrived at UCCS Sept. 5 accompanied by her husband and sons, ages 4 and 6.

“Everyone has been very helpful to make our move easy,” she said. “I appreciate my colleagues in the math department and both the principal and the staff at Bates Elementary School where my sons are enrolled. My sons don’t speak English so this has been both a challenge and an opportunity for them. But they like hiking and the outdoors. I think this is going to be good for all of us.”