In September, 2014, I was invited by Prof.
Richard
Schweickert (at
Purdue University)
to present on my current research, which uses network science to
investigate language processing. This visit was made possible by funds
that Benjamin J. Winer (a Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue
University, known for his work in statistical analysis in the social
sciences--perhaps you've used his
textbook)
left to Purdue to support a lecture series in Mathematical Psychology.
During that visit, I learned that Prof.
Lisa
Goffman (now at University of Texas-Dallas), whom I had known
previously via her work as a fellow language scientist and as an
Associate Editor of the journal
Language
& Speech, was also the daughter of Casper Goffman (a Professor
of Mathematics at Purdue University), who wrote the article on the Erdős
number:
Goffman, Casper (1969). And what is your
Erdős number? American Mathematical
Monthly, 76, 791. doi:10.2307/2317868.
Here is a photo of me (on the right) with Lisa Goffman (on the left).
She is holding a teaching award that her father (Casper Goffman)
received, and I am holding a copy of Winer's book. Thanks to everyone at
Purdue (past and present) who made this wonderful visit possible.