Dr. Satish Bhatnagar, 51ԹϺ’s longest-serving faculty member, now in his 50th year as a professor of mathematical sciences. “
In a world filled with ambiguity, mathematics offers certainty.
“Mathematics is 100% correct,” states Dr. Satish Bhatnagar, 51ԹϺ’s longest-serving faculty member, now in his 50th year as a professor of mathematical sciences. “It provides a deductive way of thinking about everything. There is no disagreement about what is right and what is wrong.”
Such clarity has guided Dr. Bhatnagar since he joined 51ԹϺ’s mathematics department in 1974. That year, 51ԹϺ’s student population numbered roughly 6,000 (it now tops 30,000). And, at the time, he recalls, there were zero private scholarships or awards for students studying mathematics and no faculty-funded endowments at the university. Dr. Bhatnagar remedied that in 2003 when he established the Bhatnagar Awards Endowment.
Now marking its 20th anniversary, the award recognizes top math students who demonstrate “sheer academic excellence.” Originally funded by Dr. Bhatnagar and his son Avnish Bhatnagar ’89, a 51ԹϺ Honors College alumnus, the endowment is a tribute to both Satish and his father — N.S. Bhatnagar.
“I am the oldest of seven children, raised in India when it was a British colony,” explains Dr. Bhatnagar, who received his M.A. from the University of Punjab and Ph.D. from the University of Indiana. “I don’t know how he did it, but my father spent more money educating his children than he earned working for the Indian Railways.”
Throughout his career, Dr. Bhatnagar has held a holistic view of his field. He has described mathematical thinking as a tool that is, “as real as a universal wrench in a garage.”
In recent years, with support from family and friends, the Bhatnagars expanded their philanthropy to create awards for students who excel in art, theater, dance, education, and creative writing.
“Mathematics is connected to dance, to art, to the humanities,” says Dr. Bhatnagar. But, he adds, “I also support the arts because of the connection and the pure joy they bring me.”