Associate Professor of Mathematics Heidi Goodson and her student Rezwan Hoque have taken advantage of the research opportunities offered through the Tow Mentoring Initiative and submitted a paper titled “Sato-Tate Groups and Distributions of yℓ = x(xℓ − 1)” to a peer-reviewed journal. Their research partnership began in spring 2024, and the research lies in the fields of number theory and arithmetic geometry. Specifically, they proved several new results for a family of curves over finite fields. In January 2025, Hoque will present this research at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle, the largest math conference in the world. Student Rezwan Hoque (left) called the Tow Mentoring Initiative one of the best experiences he’s had at Brooklyn College. “We proved some interesting new results about this family of curves that will lead to a better understanding of them,” Goodson said. “Rezwan was a great collaborator, enthusiastic and with a keen mathematical mind, and I look forward to seeing his future mathematical work. I’m grateful to the Tow Mentoring Initiative for supporting our collaboration.” Hoque credited the initiative for expanding his research opportunities. “The Tow Mentoring Initiative stands out as one of the best, if not the best, experiences I’ve had at Brooklyn College,” Hoque said. “In my field of pure mathematics—the study of abstract mathematical concepts and theories—undergraduate research opportunities are often unattainable. However, the Tow Mentoring Initiative has broken this spiral of inaccessibility and has helped me and others become more effective researchers, collaborators, individuals, and leaders.” The Tow Mentoring Initiative creates student/faculty collaborative research teams where students receive mentoring plus additional workshops on applying for graduate school and awards, coaching on professional presentations, and other personalized training.
