On Aug. 26, Wichita State’s Math Department hosted ‘The space of positive scalar curvature metrics on a manifold with singularities’ with guest lecturer and former Wichita State professor, Mark Walsh.

Walsh, an Irish native, earned his Undergraduate Degree at Maynooth University in Maynooth, Ireland, 25 miles west of Ireland’s capital, Dublin. He earned his Ph.D. in the United States and taught at WSU from 2012 to 2017. 

Walsh has also taught in four different countries: the United States, Germany, Sweden and Ireland.

When it comes to teaching math, Walsh said that there are different systems in each country. He finds math inherently interesting because, from his perspective, the subject has two aspects to it: practical and curiosity. 

“People invented mathematics for practical reasons, for keeping track of things and measuring things,” Walsh said.

When it comes to the curiosity aspect of math, Walsh says that aspect comes with questions that people are generally curious about.

“Those two aspects are constantly driving and motivating math,” Walsh said “They play off each other, so sometimes there’s a practical necessity or practical development that spurs on the growth of a new area of mathematics.”

This story has been updated from a previous version.