November 17, 2025
New faculty at The University of Texas at Dallas are asked before their arrival if they would like to request a particular mentor. So it was only natural to assume that Dr. Theo Douvropoulos chose his old friend from the graduate program at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Nathan Williams, Associate Professor of Mathematical Sciences, to guide him through his first year as Assistant Professor of Mathematical Sciences.
That assumption was incorrect.
“Definitely a coincidence,” said Dr. Meghna Sabharwal, Associate Provost for Faculty Success. “Still, it’s great that they know each other. It will definitely make for a better mentoring relationship.”
It already has. Their playful banter on a warm fall day in Texas, far more temperate than what they have known in Minnesota and other northern climes where they’ve worked, reflected a mutual admiration that truly has created a comfort zone.
Dr. Theo Douvropoulos:
“My first year there was Nathan’s last year, so we interacted a little bit. In fact, I think the first social event of the winter was his birthday party.”
Dr. Nathan Williams:
“Thank you for remembering. I still didn’t get a card from you this year.”
TD, laughing:
“I texted you! Anyway, we had a strong overlap in what we work on. We are similar in that we both really like stories – mathematical stories and how things move along at these places. Through the years there were many times that I would send him emails …”
NW:
“That’s right. There was a lot of correspondence.”
TD, laughing again:
“I’m sorry I didn’t send you a card! … Yes, there was correspondence. Like a lot of things, it was work related, both about math and what was going on.”
NW:
“I’ve been at places you worked a bunch of times. We know a lot of the same people.”
TD:
“The math was also very close as well. We proved each other’s conjectures a few times.”
NW:
“He has some geometric methods related to the stuff I’m interested in.”
TD, explaining why he was so determined to have Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali’s last painting, The Swallow’s Tail, in his doctoral thesis, he paid $200 for a copy:
“René Thom is what you would call a rock star if you’re talking about mathematicians of the time. He has amazing names for things – he calls his version of singularity theory Catastrophe Theory because the singular point is where the catastrophe happens. Dali is famous at the time as well. He’s close to the end of his life and he meets René Thom. Dali grew up in an area close to Perpignan …”
NW:
“Yes, there’s this train station!” (Depicted by Dali in his famous painting, La Gare de Perpignan.)
TD:
“Because Dali grew up in the area, he always had a feeling that this area is a very center somehow in the formation of Europe. René Thom says, ‘Actually, it’s not just that Perpignan is special. I can guarantee you that very close to the train station was the pivot point where France flipped and became Spain.’
“Dali was amazed by that. He would tell people that René’s theories were the most aesthetically beautiful theories in the world. He dedicated his last painting, The Swallow’s Tail, to this theory.
“In my thesis, I used it for some geometric interpretations to prove my results. Because I like stories, I wanted to have the reference of Dali.”
NW:
“It turns out Theo is the last one doing that kind of mathematics.”
TD:
“It’s the love of the story. One of our first interactions was Nathan asking me about it, so I would draw it on the iPad. A lot of our initial correspondences were those finger drawings.”
NW:
“I didn’t take the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) in time.”
TD, after more laughter:
“My father was a mathematician, so we did a lot of stuff together. In Greece, where I grew up, you have to do military service, so I took a break from math. Afterward, I still wanted to do it.
“I love it because in the professional setting where I’m working now, you have accumulated a lot of information and knowledge. You get to work with things that are graspable. I can visualize a lot of my favorite objects – they’re like small, Sudoku-like puzzles. You can put them next to each other. You can draw things on paper.
“And then the way to understand them is through complicated but really rich and meaningful theories that have developed over so many years. You have some of the best people in the world working on this. They have developed this really, really beautiful collection of stories, and we get to use a lot of them.”
NW:
“When Theo is talking about visualization, one of the best things I’ve been using the large language models for is for developing graphics for my papers. I like being able to hold things in your mind or in your hand. It’s fascinating stuff.
“I’ve got this object, and I can twirl it and visualize it in three ways. I like drawing these kinds of pictures … and then sending them by email to Theo.”
TD:
“If you give a talk near Nathan’s talk, you can’t live up to it – the graphics alone. The story is great as well, so you can’t say, ‘Oh, it’s just the graphics part of it.’ You have to make sure you’re speaking on a different date.”
NW:
“Next semester you’re going to be teaching the graduate combinatorics class. I’m teaching it this semester. He’ll give it a completely different version and it will be great.”
TD:
“It’s fun. We get to teach one of our favorite topics, and it’s also useful for the students.”
TD:
“I didn’t explicitly mention Nathan because I said we’re going to talk anyway. Before I responded, they told me they’d already assigned Nathan.”
NW:
“Maybe it was just the area.”
TD:
“It could be area-specific. We meet at least once a week.”
NW:
“Or I text him … probably every day. We’re organizing things.”
TD:
“He has a group meeting with his graduate students, and he invited me. That’s nice because I was able to interact with graduate students my first semester. It’s so nice to get to know people.”
NW:
“We have a couple of undergrads from the [Hobson Wildenthal] Honors College. We’re huge fans of the Honors College here. They’re excellent. It’s like having this small, liberal arts college like the one I went to [Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota] living inside this larger research university. It’s really cool. It’s something you wouldn’t get at most other places. We do really well in various competitions because of it.”
TD:
“I’ve been to his house a few times. It’s nice to have people of a similar age in the environment who understand and can help with things.
“And I kind of like the weather here. I am very happily surprised about it. The summer is fine – it’s easy to move around and spend a month in Massachusetts or Greece. But I have spent 10 years in the cold, five in Minnesota and five in Massachusetts, and I’m excited to finally live in Dallas, where the weather feels like home.”