Tejas Dhindsa

Biography

Growing up, I never liked math much. My kindergarten teacher told my mother, “He’s pretty good with numbers, but he’d rather be reading.” She was right. Words were much more interesting, and that stayed true for most of my life. I took my interest in language to UC Berkeley, where I studied political science and wrote long-winded essays. I moved to New York, where I worked as an editor at a nonprofit and, in my spare time, wrote creatively. It seemed that I would never have to worry about math again.

I was wrong. Something happened along the way: I ran out of words. I started approaching ideas and phenomena that outstripped my ability to describe them with syllables. Essentially, the world left me speechless. Call it a quarter-life crisis. After a great deal of minor-league suffering, I found myself back in California. I started taking community college classes in math and physics, as well as music. I was looking for a better language.

I found one. These days, I’m pursuing a post-baccalaureate in physics at UC Santa Cruz, working toward a master’s degree. I remember not understanding the math that’s part of my daily life now. I’ve been in the shoes of our students. The good news, it turns out, is that the sciences are full of poetry. It just takes a little patience to notice the rhythm.

Outside of teaching and learning, I still read a lot: mostly weighty tomes about recent history. I also like to cook, spend time outdoors, and play video games with my friends.