I am Ukrainian and Canadian and American

I was at an optimization conference in Florida when the violence in Ukraine started to escalate and, coincidentally, two other U.S.-based faculty, who were also at the conference, but were born in Ukraine, brought this news to my attention.

Since my return to Amherst the news in Ukraine has only gotten worse with horrifying bloodshed and deaths and with many vivid reports -- see the one by Frida Ghitis, writing for CNN, with whom I have communicated.

The country of my parents, Ukraine, and that of my first language, is now frontpage news not only in the European press but also in the U.S.

I was born in Canada but did not learn how to speak English until we immigrated to the U.S., and I entered kindergarten.  Ukrainian was the language that we spoke at home. I, finally, visited Ukraine, when  I was invited to give a keynote talk in Yalta in August 2010 at the Network Science conference.

I first made a stop in Kiev,  now the epicenter of the demonstrations, which began in November, and which have reached a tipping point this week because of the frustration of the people.

Below are some photos from Kiev, where I was welcomed by a colleague from the University of Pittsbrugh, and ate the most delicious borshcht in my life and the same for the varenyky!

Yalta, the site of the conference, was spectacular as the photos below reveal and another location of historical importance plus the conference was fantastic!

Given the suffering in Ukraine, and that even one of my former doctoral students at the Isenberg School, Dmytro Matsypura, who is now tenured at the School of Business at the University of Sydney in Australia, took part in the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, I had to speak out.

Please, let the people be free. The government should protect its own citizens and let them be governed as they wish to be.  Look at how brilliantly Poland is doing, Ukraine's neighbor to the west.

Yesterday, after not much sleep, since I had returned from the Florida conference in the wee hours of the morn, I gathered some beautiful Ukrainian creations and photographed them. I display them below -- from our Easter eggs, to our ceramics, to lavish embroideries. Let's make peace and have art, beauty, and science rule instead of hatred and violence.

I am Ukrainian and Canadian and American.

Reflections on Brown University and Richard Holbrooke

Last Friday, I was visited by two women from Brown University, my alma mater, from which I received 4 degrees. I had been contacted earlier by the Office of Advancement there to see whether I could schedule in the visit and despite it being the end of the semester and I was preparing for the Measuring Systemic Risk conference in Chicago, I responded that I would fit them into my schedule.

Brown University was interviewing alums who had, I was told, sufficient prominence and had interesting life stories, that were thought of as being appropriate for writeups on the Alumni website and on other advancement materials. Another Amherst resident, now retired, was another alum that was being interviewed that day and he had served as an ambassador to Iceland.

Most of my interview was taped and then many photographs were taken in my office, my supernetworks lab, and even the atrium of the Isenberg School (coincidentally, even our Dean, Dr. Mark Fuller, got a chance to meet them).

It was very special to be able to reflect on the outstanding education that I received at Brown University. I was asked about the faculty that made a difference, about why Brown was so unique, about my distinct memories, about why I continued as a PhD student at Brown, and what impressed me about Brown today. As a recipient of an undergrad degree in Applied Math and another one in Russian Language and Literature, I especially valued the intellectual openness of Brown, the collegiality among undergrads, graduate students, and faculty, and the value of multidisciplinarity and the breaking of boundaries. My passion for networks was established there.

I will write more about these topics in an additional blogpost.

Speaking of ambassadors and someone who had worked so diligently for peace in some of the most strife-ridden parts of the globe, Richard Holbrooke passed away last week. He also was a Brown University graduate, who started off as a physics major and ended up as a political science major. Coincidentally, he had also been a scholarship student at Brown, as I had been, and from Westchester (he from Scarsdale and I from Yonkers).

Sharon Otterman, writing in today's New York Times, eloquently captures the greatness of this man when she spoke of the gathering at his widow's apartment in Manhattan, that took place yesterday and that included the Clintons, Alan Alda, Matt Dillon, Al Gore, Charlie Rose, and Christiane Amanpour.

In the article, his widow, Kati Marton, is quoted as saying:

“They often say the measure of a man is in his friends,” she told the group. “Well, I think a better measure is the devotion of the people who work for him.”

They are all here, she said, gesturing to the people around her, “and they just loved working for this very demanding man.”

His last words, to a doctor, were about ending the war in Afghanistan and about peace.

Peace on earth and goodwill toward's all!

Human Traffic Jam in Contrast to a Wintry Peace

Many this past weekend were traveling back from their holiday breaks and New Year celebrations. The place not to have been was last Sunday at the Newark airport, from which one of my former doctoral students, Trisha Woolley, and her family were flying back from to Dallas.

Because of a security incident, one of the terminals was closed and some planes on the tarmac were stuck there for up to three hours. The article, New York Times - Human Traffic Jam,
describes what transpired but the photos of the human traffic jam are even more enlightening. At least being in a human traffic jam on 5th Avenue during the holiday season is much more entertaining and fun!

In contrast, Verlyn Klinkenborg writes about the peace of winter in the New York Times - Snowing Forward, which I could also relate to.

After completing a pile of journal article reviews and also after revising one of my own papers, I needed a break yesterday. I took a long hike in my neighborhood in Amherst. The photos above were taken during the hike. It is always wondrous to see animal prints in the snow. Clearly, deer had wandered into our backyard as well as the usual cast of neighborhood cats and other friendly characters. The stream was partially covered with a heavy blanket of snow. The peace and serenity under a golden sun were exquisite. It was a perfect day in which to combine serious academic work with the joys and beauty of the winter season.