Jonathan Benefiel describes his Oakland University experience as one of his own making.
A senior who plans to graduate from OU in Winter 2009 with a BS in Mathematics, Benefiel is an Honors College student, Academic Skills tutor, math workshop leader and international traveler.
By taking matters into his own hands on more than one occasion, Benefiel says he has strengthened an already strong educational experience.
While contemplating the topic of his Honors College thesis, Benefiel wanted to try to capture the study-abroad component that is encouraged.
“Since I am a math major, it seemed far-fetched,” he says. “Until I came across information about the Leonhard Euler Tour by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).” Euler was a Swiss mathematician who made enormous contributions to a wide range of mathematics and physics, including analytic geometry, trigonometry, geometry, calculus and number theory.
Benefiel didn’t let the fact that the tour celebrating Euler’s 300th birthday was targeted toward professors and researchers stop him from checking into it. Benefiel pursued the possibility with the help of Mathematics and Statistics Professor Jerrold Grossman. The inquiry by Grossman led to Benefiel’s invitation to join the world tour which included three cities where Euler lived: St. Petersburg, Russia; Basel, Switzerland; and Berlin, Germany.
Benefiel was the first student in MAA history to join its study tour. His participation and positive experience, including publishing an article on his experience in the MAA’s publication, Math Horizons, has opened the door for other students – undergraduate and graduate – to be included in future tours.
“Lectures ranged in topics from music to analysis of the function in relation to Euler,” Benefiel wrote for the Math Horizons article. “At Humboldt University we heard lectures about Euler’s Berlin period. We also visited the archives of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, where I could page through Euler’s original documents and papers.”
Although it was expensive for a student, Benefiel recommends an MAA study tour to other students to round out their educational experiences. Since it was research-related, Benefiel’s trip was partially funded by OU’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
Not always a “math guy,” Benefiel credits OU for helping him discover his talent and interest in that discipline.
Benefiel started at OU with the idea of majoring in computer science. Then he took – and surprised himself by excelling in – several math courses. It was then he realized he was more interested in math than engineering, and shifted his plans to pursue becoming a teacher or professor in that field.
He has embraced that path throughout his OU career and has begun to lay the groundwork for his future plans — graduate school, then teaching — by working at OU’s Academic Skills Center as well as being the first undergraduate student to co-teach a math workshop to be held this summer.
“Oakland University really helped me focus on my future,” Benefiel says. “In high school, I rather drifted along — but at Oakland, I’ve had wonderful opportunities to get involved, which has opened the doors to further experiences that I never imagined I would have.”