Harlem's Shawn Tsosie graduates with Ph.D

Press release

For Shawn Tsosie, completing a doctorate degree in mathematics was a lifelong dream. Now, after graduating with a Ph.D. from the University of California Santa Cruz in September, he’s seen that dream fulfilled.

Tsosie first developed an interest in math in Harlem, Montana, where he attended elementary, middle and high school. In 1998, while in high school, he applied for a summer program at Stanford University, where he studied complex analysis. He met people who had doctorate degrees in math for the first time at this camp, inspiring him to pursue an advanced degree of his own.

After graduating from high school, Tsosie began studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but he struggled with the intense workload and difficult classes, leaving after three years. Soon after, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as an airborne infantryman in 2003. He earned several medals for his service over two deployments to Iraq. But during this time, he also came to realize his true passion was still mathematics. In his spare time, he worked through an analysis algebra and linear algebra book.

After serving honorably for five years, Tsosie decided to return to school, redoubling his efforts in pursuit of a Ph.D. in math. He enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and worked as an undergraduate researcher at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. Shortly after that, he was re-admitted to MIT, where he excelled in his math classes, won two writing awards, interned during the summers and completed his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2012.

Tsosie earned his Ph.D. in mathematics, with a focus on algebraic number theory. While at University of California Santa Cruz, studying on a fellowship, he found a community of supportive, passionate people who shared his enthusiasm for math. He also met his future wife, to whom he has been married three years.

Upon his graduation in September, the couple relocated to South San Francisco, California, where Tsosie is beginning his career as a machine learning engineer.

Tsosie said he would like to thank his family members “for their unfailing support during this long journey,” including his mother, Andrea Quintana, and his sisters, Talia Bell and Roberta Quintana of Harlem; his brother, Jay Tsosie of Missoula, Montana; his grandparents Chuck and Iona Schilling of Harlem; his wife, Claire Tsosie of South San Francisco, and all of his aunts, uncles and cousins.