In conversation with: Hee Oh, professor of mathematics

Hee Oh joined Yale's math department this year from Brown. Here she talks about absolute abstraction, the joy of walking - and missing math during her years as a social activist. You received your doctorate in mathematics from Yale in 1997, then served on the faculties of Princeton, Cal Tech, and Brown, among others. What drew you back to Yale? The math department at Yale has been well known for its strength in Lie groups, geometry, and dynamics for a long time. It was an honor and in itself a big draw for me to be asked to participate in continuing this tradition. In the end, however, I felt in my Christian faith that God was leading me this way, and I made the final decision accordingly. When did you realize that you wanted to be a professional mathematician, and what aspect of mathematical thinking appeals to you most? It happened during my junior year of college in Korea.