The mathematics department grew exponentially this semester, bringing on two new professors: Assistant Professor of Mathematics Daniel Slonim ’16 and Assistant Professor of Computer Science Oliver Serang. 

“I’m excited about the opportunity to not just be part of the department, but of the college and the Hillsdale life,” said Slonim, who studied probability at Purdue University and went on to do a postdoctoral research program at the University of Virginia.

Slonim graduated from Hillsdale with a double major in mathematics and philosophy, although he said mathematics was not initially part of his career path.

“I actually wanted to go into filmmaking and was thinking about screenwriting,” Slonim said. 

Known as “the math kid” of his family, Slonim said he initially didn’t realize the extent to which math could go, but after taking some college classes, he came to love the subject.

“I was aware that it was possible to major in math, but at the same time, I also had the feeling that once you hit calculus 1, 2, and 3, it’s about over and there’s no more math after that,” he said. “Little did I know that there’s still an overwhelming amount of math that nobody knows, and people are still trying to figure it out all the time.”

While a student at Hillsdale, Slonim wrote for The Collegian and took several journalism classes. 

“Daniel was a delight to have in class and as a Collegian writer,” Assistant Director of the Dow Journalism Program Maria Servold said. “I’m glad he’s come back to Hillsdale. This shows that journalism students can do anything — even become math professors.”

Slonim is teaching Calculus 1 and Multivariable Calculus this semester, and although he taught several courses during his time at the University of Virginia, he said his classes at Hillsdale offer him a newfound flexibility.

“I’ve never really had a chance to be totally in charge of my own Calculus 1 course. So it’s exciting to be able to do that, but also kind of daunting,” Slonim said.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Oliver Serang is the second faculty member to join the computer science department — a department that is growing quickly after it began three years ago, according to Chairman and Professor of Mathematics Thomas Treloar.

“Some of those computer science classes were getting up to 20 to 25 students regularly,” Treloar said. “It starts getting difficult to teach that large of a class.”

Serang will not only help decrease class sizes, but he will bring new classes to Hillsdale, potentially including a cybersecurity course in the spring semester, according to Treloar. 

Serang graduated from North Carolina State University in 2006 with a degree in computer engineering and studied genetics at the University of Washington in his doctorate program.

“I got a grant from Howard Hughes Institution,” he said. “I worked for the genetics department, and then after it finished, they hired me, and I stayed on. And for three years of school, I just worked there, doing IT and research.”

After his graduate program, Serang taught at several universities, including Universität Bremen and Freie Universität Berlin in Germany, as well as the University of Montana. Most recently, he worked as a software engineer in Chicago, but he’d had his eye on teaching at Hillsdale for the last five years.

“It’s been on my bucket list. It’s like seeing the aurora borealis,” Serang said. “I thought it just seemed like a really nice place with good values. And I thought I would like to work there before I get older.”

This semester, Serang is teaching Algorithms and Introduction to Computer Science, and he said he is most excited to work with Hillsdale students because of the energy they bring to the classroom. He compared teaching Hillsdale students to explaining a magic trick to a rapt audience.

“It’s like hanging out with curious kids,” he said. “I think that spirit is like a big lab meeting rather than a class, when a room gets fired up like that. I like that a lot.”

According to Treloar, the two new hires will help the department offer new classes they were previously unable to.

“We have a much bigger math department, and part of it is just to see what those new hires are attracted to and sort of where we can plug them in,” Treloar said.“Whatever either of them does, just to build the programs and make them stronger is always good.” 

Treloar said he is optimistic about the future of the math department with the additions of Serang and Slonim.

“I’m just excited to have them come in,” Treloar said. “We have a good department here. We have a department that really gets along, and they seem like great guys that are gonna just fold into that pretty seamlessly.”