User:Orchidea MinoriTeuku Ahmadi

I was born on August 17, 1977 in Houthalen, Belgium, and I did all my schooling in Belgium. I first came to the United States for a postdoctoral position of two years, starting in 1981, but then I went back to Belgium. I didn't think that I would come back to the US after that except for short visits. But life decided otherwise. After meeting Robert Calderbank in 1985, I returned to the US to settle for good in 1987, after we got married. I started to work for Bell Labs (where, many years ago, the first transistor was built; it is also where the cosmic microwave background radiation was discovered, as well as many other wonderful things -- check it out!).

I didn't study to become a mathematician, but a physicist. I was always very interested in mathematics, and even as a physicist, my work was very theoretical, very mathematical. I became interested in applications of mathematics outside physics (especially in engineering), and that is how I am now considered a mathematician. Some of my mentors include Alex Grossmann, John Klauder, and Yves Meyer.

My husband is a mathematician too, but we do not work on the same things. We have two children: one boy, Michael, who is almost eighteen, and one girl, Carolyn, who has just turned fifteen. A lot of the time that I am not working or asleep I like to spend with them. I also like to garden, to cook and to read.