Yewande Olubummo

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. My father was a professor of mathematics at the University of Ibadan and my mother was a health administrator. I attended primary and secondary school in Ibadan and received my bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Ibadan. A year after completing my degree, I left Nigeria to pursue graduate studies in the U.S. I received my Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

 

Please describe an experience (or 2) that helped you discover/cultivate your interest in the mathematical sciences.

My father cultivated and influenced my interest in mathematics from a young age. He would often give me and my two siblings math “homework”, up until we were in high school, when school was out for the summer and when he would go out of town. Fortunately, I liked working math problems. When I began my undergraduate studies, I thought I would major in mathematics or physics. However, in my sophomore year, I took my father’s real analysis course and distinctly remember the triumphant feeling of figuring out a proof about compact sets all by myself! I knew then that I would major in mathematics and would continue to study mathematics at the graduate level.

 

What is/are your most proud accomplishment(s) regarding your career in the mathematical sciences?

I am most proud of earning the Ph.D. and for being one of only a few Nigerian women at the time with a doctorate in mathematics. I am also proud to have been a teacher and mentor to many young black women, some of whom now have a Ph.D. in the mathematical sciences.  

 

What is/are your most proud accomplishment(s) regarding your personal life?

I am most proud of becoming a homeowner in 2002.

 

Please share some words of wisdom/inspiration.

Keep family and good friends close, always do your best no matter the task, and embrace challenges as opportunities to learn and grow.