In 1997, Diop - one of the youngest in a family of ten children - applied to the university in his native Senegal, but had no money to pay tuition. Then he heard about a lottery for those hoping to secure a visa to work or study in the United States. He entered and won what for him became the opportunity of a lifetime. "I wanted very much to study and learn," Diop explains. When he came to New York, he worked very long hours as a dishwasher at a midtown restaurant and also took classes in English (the principal language of Senegal is French). That fall, he enrolled in Bronx Community College, where a math professor spotted his ability and encouraged him to study that field rather than computer science, as he had planned. Graduating with an outstanding record, he enrolled in 2001 at Lehman College, where he was accepted into the Math and Computer Science Scholarship Program, funded by the National Science Foundation. Several faculty members in Lehman's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science - including Professors Linda Keen, Nikola Lakic and Katherine St. John - were influential in his studies and helped him find opportunities to advance his academic career. Last summer, Diop studied at Penn State as one of only 19 students from across the country to be selected for the Advanced Study Semester. "I had already bought my ticket to go back home," he remembers, but decided to forgo the time with his family for the opportunity to deepen his understanding of mathematical theories. His decision paid off. On May 30, Diop - whose parents never learned how to read or write - will graduate from Lehman and return to Penn State, this time entering the doctoral program in mathematics. He may decide to concentrate on differential geometry, a field that is central today in the study of both pure and applied mathematics, and hopes to become a teacher and researcher.
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Aliou Diop has made the most of a lucky break.