{"id":76451,"date":"2022-02-08T11:33:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T16:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=76451"},"modified":"2022-02-08T15:25:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T20:25:10","slug":"faculty-focus-omar-kihel-lives-life-by-the-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2022\/02\/faculty-focus-omar-kihel-lives-life-by-the-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"FACULTY FOCUS: Omar Kihel lives life by the numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: Faculty Focus is a monthly series that highlights faculty whose compelling passions, innovative ideas and various areas of expertise help weave together the fabric of Brock University\u2019s vibrant community. For more from the series,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite moving around the world as a child, there was always one consistent language in Omar Kihel\u2019s life: mathematics.<\/p>\n

The Brock University Professor of Mathematics, who was born in Algeria, has always been drawn to numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, it seemed that I had a lot of ease with mathematics,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I did not know that mathematician was a possible career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Kihel\u2019s love for science-fiction movies \u2014 with Star Wars<\/em> topping the ranks \u2014 had him dreaming of life as an astronomer at an early age.<\/p>\n

Over the years, however, as his interest in numbers grew, he came to realize that math was where his future lied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the rigour of mathematics, the beauty of proofs and the fact that certain problems can appear simple, understood by the majority, yet still remain unresolved,\u201d he says. \u201cI find that in mathematics there are questions that are of a philosophical nature: I often ask myself if mathematics is a language among others to read the world, or do we live in a mathematical world?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kihel began studying math at the post-secondary level in France, where he lived with his parents after leaving Algeria.<\/p>\n

His father, a French teacher, helped inspire him to become a professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would tell me that he is surely not the best teacher, but that he gave his all for his students, to ensure they learned,\u201d Kihel says. \u201cThis side of wanting to share knowledge with others definitely comes from my father. I saw how generous he was in his way of communicating knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that inspiration in mind and the growing desire to further his education, Kihel decided his next step was to study in North America.<\/p>\n

He did not speak English at the time, with only French and Algerian Arabic spoken in his family\u2019s home, but was given a scholarship to pursue his PhD at Universit\u00e9 Laval in Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, I did not think that I would stay in Canada,\u201d he recalls, adding he had intended to finish his studies and return to France.<\/p>\n

That plan changed after Kihel completed his doctorate at Laval and post-doc at CICMA (McGill and Concordia University), and realized Canada was where he hoped to lay down roots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt that Canada was the country for me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Kihel found the Niagara region and its relatively mild Ontario weather appealing, and in July 2002 landed a job that would bring him to Brock University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy my career as a mathematician, and I feel lucky to be paid to do one of the things I love the most,\u201d he says while reflecting on his career at the University.<\/p>\n

Kihel credits his teachers through the years for helping to nurture his passion for math.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something I want to share with my students,\u201d he says. \u201cI really enjoy research, and it is important to be a good researcher, but I think it is even more important to be a good teacher and care about my students. I know many of them will be future educators who will influence the next generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough this, I hope to have a positive impact on society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kihel feels mathematics is often viewed as a subject to fear, with students sometimes hesitant to ask questions for fear of being judged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say there are no silly questions,\u201d he says. \u201cI want my students to succeed, and I do my best to be approachable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kihel sees teaching as more than communicating knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to connect students to the knowledge,\u201d he says, \u201cand I always try to surpass and improve myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kihel was recognized for his efforts<\/a> in 2017 with Brock\u2019s Faculty of Mathematics and Science Award for Excellence in Teaching, an honour he calls \u201cgratifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of the classroom, he has found his niche in the research field of number theory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, it is the only branch of mathematics that requires a deep understanding of other branches of mathematics,\u201d he says, adding it has connections to algebra, geometry and complex analysis, and is also related to discrete mathematics. \u201cThe famous mathematician Carl Gauss said, \u2018Mathematics is the queen of the sciences, and number theory is the queen of mathematics.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Kihel also has great interest in working to make mathematics more accessible to everyday people \u2014 and has seen the impact that can have.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of his career, he gave a talk on cryptography at a local high school. One of the students in attendance was so intrigued, he later enrolled at Brock and eventually pursued his master\u2019s and PhD under Kihel\u2019s supervision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am always happy when at the end of a conference with a general audience, people come to tell me how one event was enough to positively change their opinion on mathematics,\u201d Kihel says.<\/p>\n

A mathematics career in academia can be both demanding and challenging, he says, but it is worth it every step of the way if it is what you enjoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing better than being paid to do a job we love.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite moving around the world as a child, there was always one consistent language in Omar Kihel\u2019s life: mathematics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":76453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,3319,41,1,4],"tags":[2156,8634,7082,9149],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76454,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76451\/revisions\/76454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}