On October 24th, Manil Suri, acclaimed award – winning author and math professor discussed his dual role as a math professor at the University of Maryland and as an author of fiction with the students of A.I. Prince. The lively discussion was enhanced by a powerful powerpoint presentation showing the everyday connections between math, music, daily life and fiction writing. Student feedback included such statements as, "[it was] a different approach to Math. The author's technique was animated and descriptive.", "Great sound effects!" and "Usable material and information that can be used in IST and our Music class as well!"

Prince Tech thanks Dr. Suri for his appearance and would also like to thank the Hartford Public Library for their aid in coordinating this visit, as well as providing our students the oppourtunity to sample numerous Indian ethnic dishes. It made for a  well-rounded presentation of the Arts, Sciences and Culture.

According to the biography on his web site (http://www.manilsuri.com/) "Manil Suri was born and raised in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. He came to the United States as a student when he was twenty. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland (when not visiting Mumbai) and is a citizen of both the United States and India.

Suri’s first published fiction in English was The Seven Circles, a short story that appeared in The New Yorker on Valentine’s Day, 2000. The Death of Vishnu, his first novel, debuted worldwide in India on January 6, 2001. In addition to being published by W. W. Norton in the United States and Bloomsbury in the UK, the novel has been translated into twenty-two foreign languages. Suri was named by Time magazine as a “Person to Watch” in 2000, and he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction in 2004."

In addition to being a writer, Suri is also a mathematician. He obtained his PhD in applied mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University and is a tenured full professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). “Ever since Vishnu was a success, people have been asking me whether I am going to quit mathematics. The answer is no. It took me seven years to write my second novel, and having another profession ensured I went only modestly crazy.” While Suri still does mathematical research in the field of numerical analysis he has been spending more time devising ways to bring mathematics to the public at large. “Many people like mathematics while in school, but then have no further opportunity to enjoy it. It’s not like art, for which you can go to a museum to satisfy a craving. I’d like to help push mathematics into the cultural arena. Perhaps even put a mathematician on Oprah.”