My name is Syed Masrur Ahmed, though I usually go by my nickname, Jami. I'm an international student from Bangladesh, and I'm interested in studying Math and Computer Science. I've always been drawn to math not just because it’s logical, but because it feels creative. I love how it reveals hidden patterns and brings structure to complex problems, and I'm especially fascinated by the surprising ways different fields of mathematics connect.

My passion lies in applying the quantitative skills I learn to solve real-world problems. Coming from a country disproportionately affected by climate change, I’ve long been interested in working in energy and sustainability. While Hanover is a big change for me, I’m excited to meet new people and contribute a different perspective to the math community!

My name is Neil Bhavikatti, and I'm thrilled to have been chosen as a Byrne Scholar for the Class of 2028 here at Dartmouth. Math has always been my favorite subject in school, but my love of problem solving began when I started playing chess at the age of 5. I have many memories, both happy and sad, from tournaments - from being locked in intense endgame struggles for hours, to analyzing complex middlegames with my opponents in the post-mortem, to the game that earned me the title of National Chess Master. Throughout high school I was involved with my school's Math and Chess clubs and the Regeneron Science Talent Search competition, in which I was named a Top 300 Scholar for my research with a local professor on optimally computing the result of matrix multiplication given an arbitrary cache size (storage capacity on a computer).

At Dartmouth I plan to double major in math and CS and wish to learn more about the fields of entrepreneurship and quantitative finance.

My name is Sydney Spangler, and I am from a surf town in Los Angeles called Manhattan Beach. Since elementary school, math has been my favorite subject. My passion for math heightened when my fourth-grade teacher gave me extra math homework in my free time. Before I knew it, I was a middle school student in classes with high schoolers three years older than me.

Throughout high school, my love for math grew exponentially inside and outside the classroom. I became President of my school’s competitive math team and ran a nonprofit devoted to expanding math education in under-resourced areas.

Whether it be through the classroom, research, or volunteering, I hope to discover new ways to apply my passion for math to my community. Math has been a constant in my life that has given me so much joy, fascination, and opportunity. It is my goal to give back to a field that has given me so much. I am so thankful for both Dartmouth and the Byrne program for offering me such an incredible opportunity, and I am excited to see where it can take me!

I have had a passion for mathematics since I was a young child. My parents enrolled me in weekend lessons at the Russian School of Mathematics, nurturing my abilities. However, my true love for math began my junior year when I took a multivariable calculus class at my high school. The class was more than a multivariable class though as we spent a lot of time discussing interesting topics in math, one of which was the Buffon needle problem. This gave me my love for the weird and wacky side of math, particularly pure math.

At Dartmouth, I hope to further explore these interesting topics, and connect them to my other interests, such as medicine, as I am aspiring to become a physician. I also love chess, Russian literature, alternate history, art, and suits, even though I don’t own any (yet). I hail from the city of Boston, and I also enjoy practicing my Catholic faith.

I was initially drawn to math because I excelled in the subject, but to explain using a math term, the order of implication has slowly reversed; now, my love for math has led me to excel in it. My favorite aspect of the subject is how seemingly disparate concepts can be woven together. At Dartmouth, I hope to learn more math and hence see more connections between the different branches, for every parallel drawn lends to an even deeper appreciation of the subject.

I’m from Evanston, Illinois; I love and miss my town and the neighboring city of Chicago, but I am looking forward to getting to know Hanover! Apart from math, I was a competitive figure skater growing up, and I am so excited to join Dartmouth’s team. For fun, I love skiing and am thrilled to learn to ski the icy terrain in the area.

I am so grateful for the opportunities that both Dartmouth and the Byrne program offer, and can’t wait to start taking advantage of them!

My name is Billy McKittrick, and I am from a small country town called Mudgee in New South Wales, Australia. For as long as I can remember, Mathematics has been my favourite academic discipline. Ever since I was a young kid, I always loved problem solving, and critically thinking about mathematics. I remember my Mum would give me division problems on the way to school, or when out at a restaurant, as it was about the only way to keep me occupied.

Throughout high school, my understanding and appreciation for Mathematics has hugely evolved. Through exploring the works and ideas of various Mathematicians like Euclid, Euler, Ramanujan, Hardy, Hilbert, and others, I have became deeply passionate about Mathematics as an art form. I have come to appreciate that in Mathematics, seemingly disconnected ideas are brought together in the most elegant and unexpected ways. So too have I come to value that abstract Mathematics has an uncanny ability to become not-so-abstract, finding applications in the humanities, arts, and sciences.

I am truly honoured to receive this transformative scholarship, and I thank the Byrne family for all their generosity in helping myself and other students explore Mathematics deeper at this amazing institution.

I’ve always enjoyed math, but it wasn’t until my junior and senior years of high school, when I was able to take linear algebra and multivariable calculus, that I really started to love it. Seeing its real world applications was incredibly interesting to me and showed me a side of math that I had never seen before. Then, through an internship at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Lab of Medical Imaging and Computation, I was able to see first-hand how math and computer science can be used to program artificial intelligence models to recognize different conditions from medical images such as X-rays and MRIs, helping doctors give patients quicker and more accurate diagnoses. I don’t know what career I want to pursue, but my experience with my internship made it clear to me that I want to use math to help people, however that may be. At Dartmouth, I plan on majoring in math and potentially double majoring with either computer science or economics.

I’m originally from Maryland but I’ve lived in Belmont, Massachusetts since I was in third grade. Outside of math, I love playing basketball and will be a member of the women’s basketball team at Dartmouth. I also really enjoy drawing, writing, and recreational hiking.

As both a pure object of study and a tool for solving real-world problems, math has always fascinated me. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the theoretical aspect of mathematics; I enjoy tackling abstract problems or musing over logic puzzles during math competitions. Over the last two years of high school, though, my passion for advocacy and social justice has drawn me increasingly to the practical applications of math. Through an internship in criminal justice reform, I have discovered the power of statistics in building compelling arguments and moving the needle on public policy issues. I hope that my studies of math at Dartmouth will ultimately allow me to advance social justice.

I am from Maryland but have also lived in Argentina, Indonesia, and Australia. Outside of math, I enjoy debate, playing soccer, painting watercolors, studying French language and literature, and traveling! I am honored to have been chosen as a Byrne Scholar!

Ever since I was young, I have enjoyed problem solving which led me to love the subject of math. I have always been attracted by the beauty and purity of mathematics as seen by theorems such as Euler’s identity which I wrote my IB Math HL IA on. In high school, I was accepted into the math honor society and was elected to be the treasurer my senior year. At Dartmouth, I am planning to explore the many practical applications of math in order to determine a major and career path.

Outside of academics, I am from Bedford, New Hampshire and recently graduated from Bedford High School. I was the captain of the varsity rowing team my senior year and will be a member of the Men’s Heavyweight Rowing Team at Dartmouth. In my free time, I enjoy skiing, biking, and playing basketball.

Ever since I can remember I've felt a calling to math. From learning long division to solving differential equations, there has always been a piece of satisfaction I gain from being able to independently reason and arrive at the correct answer. For me, math becomes even more interesting when you apply its axioms to the real world. Truly understanding math makes physics, chemistry, and all other science so much more powerful and incredible. These fields are all just expressions of math to different levels of the universe. I am passionate about this idea that math is the electrical current of all physical understanding of the universe.

Other than math, I invest most of my free time into powerlifting, chess, and hanging out with friends. Even though it may not seem so, both powerlifting and chess are very empirical and number-oriented. From tracking linear progression in powerlifting to preparing for a chess game using calculated and strategic opening systems, I enjoy placing myself in activities which are logical and require a grind. I'm excited to both meet and learn from the Dartmouth community. At Dartmouth, I hope to expand and utilize my passion to study Mathematics and Computer Science. Currently Machine Learning interests me, and will most likely be related to the major I lock in sophomore year. I'm very excited to be studying at Dartmouth, and even more so to be part of the Jack Byrne Scholars Program.

Over the past few years, my outlook on math has evolved quite a bit. I’ve come to view math not as the rigorous and mechanical subject I once thought it was but rather as a gateway to tackling real world problems. For example, it was a fascinating and eye-opening open experience to wrangle COVID-19 data and use math to shed light on the virus’ disproportionate impact among lower-income demographics. I was also lucky enough to perform computational research on schizophrenia risk genes, using mathematical pipelines to process genetic data and help the scientific community better treat schizophrenia. These experiences have shown me just how powerful math is as a means of quantifying challenging issues.

Aside from math, much of my free time has gone into art, especially painting and sketching tennis players, scenery, and even my kitten. I’m also an avid tennis player and music-lover. At Dartmouth, I’m looking to major in computer science while exploring math and data science, particularly their applications in areas like public policy, economics and computational biology. I’m also eager to play tennis, engage in club settings, and build lifelong connections along the way.

Hello! My name is Henry Moore, and I live in Portland, Maine. As captain of my school’s math team, I’ve really enjoyed the art of problem-solving and pushing myself to work faster. My favorite area so far has been number theory; I never fail to be blown away every time I’m taught new patterns and tricks. Before covid, I volunteered to assist teachers with fifth grade “math lunches” at my school, where we would help students with various mathematical puzzles. Outside of school, I’m currently reading “Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity” by David Foster Wallace, and I’m a long-time fan of 3BlueOneBrown, a math YouTube channel. Besides math, I love to play ultimate frisbee and lift weights.

Hello! My name is Ari Nathanson, and I am from Highland Park, IL. I am honored to have been chosen as a Byrne Scholar. Math has always been my favorite subject, the language in which I am most fluent. I greatly enjoy the rush of solving a challenging problem and the satisfaction of writing an elegant proof. Recently, however, I have gained more of an appreciation for how math can be used to further other disciplines. I am fascinated by its potential to do everything from rectify wealth inequality to revolutionize professional sports front offices. My role as Coordinator of my high school Math Team also showed me that math can be fun and collaborative. I look forward to continuing my studies at Dartmouth and taking advantage of all that the Byrne Scholars Program has to offer.

I am very grateful to have been picked as one of the Byrne Scholars, and I will live up to whatever expectations set for me.

I am a person of Ghanaian descent. Born in the South Bronx, New York, I was flown to Ghana at the age of 8 months to live with my Grandma who raised me; therefore, the Ghanaian culture is in my roots. I grew up in Kwashieman where despite its city-like characteristics, the phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” was not taken lightly. But home was where I was disciplined the most. Home was “Boni ɛn-ni Fie”, which translates to “Home without sinners (troublemakers)”. My grandparents prided themselves on kindness and humility. I looked up to them because of the respect they received from everyone who lived in Kwashieman. With that being said I was perceptive of any words of wisdom they threw my way. My grandma especially enlightened me on the importance of love, humility, forgiveness, and the bible being that we lived in a Christian household. Subsequently, I have always strived to live my life by these terms because it’s always been a dream of mine to be the man my grandma always professes about.

I moved to America on September 20th 2013. I was 9 years old at the time and after leaving the airport, was introduced to what my mom saw as two of the most important places I will spend my childhood. The first one being our home in the South Bronx, and the second one being school. Yes, on my first day in America I was sent to school! At this point I knew education was going to be the most important element of this household. Unlike my grandma, my mom is hard to impress and raised me with tough love. I've always appreciated this way of nurture from my mom because it only made me want to try harder to impress her. After a while, working hard became a habit because I was beginning to see how hard work always led to or at least brought me close to success. In addition, I also grew a great love for basketball, and I was able to become a 4-year captain of my high school basketball team, The Comp Sci High Pythons. Unfortunately, I did not receive this role because I was the best player on the court. On the bright side, I received this honor because my coach and my teammates saw me as a leader. I was honored to see that I had people my age and an adult I took so much inspiration from, who saw me as a leader. As a leader on this team I learned that a leader motivates their team and inspires them to get better. However, the most important principle I learned was that for a team to be successful it is important that the leader does not feel the need to do everything because there will come a point where the leader is not fit to do a particular task while someone else on the team is perfect for that task.

I realize that all places I call home have injected a particular characteristic in me. “Boni ɛn-ni Fie” instilled in me love, humility, and respect. My home in the South Bronx instilled in me hard work and discipline. Lastly, my home on the Comp Sci High Pythons basketball team helped me hone my leadership characteristic. This only leads me to wonder: What will Dartmouth college and the Byrne Scholarship hone or instill in me next?

For me, math is a way of seeing patterns in the world around you. It allows most things to be predicted by simply observing some past actions. Whether it be for idealistic goals, like developing medicine, or for more practical life plans, like budgeting, math is everywhere. I personally use it a ton when it comes to dominating my fantasy football leagues, constantly studying players’ stats in order to find the optimal matchups each and every week. I look forward to expanding my knowledge and application of math during my time at Dartmouth.

When I'm not absolutely geeking out over adding math to sports, I like to spend my time playing my violin, playing tennis, or playing video games.

For me, that “a-ha” moment of solving a math problem is a lot like that pure satisfaction of hitting the right musical note or landing a skateboard trick perfectly — it’s a moment of purity and emptiness. My interest in math sparked in high school and I don’t see it faltering any time soon. I’m fascinated by topics from computational linguistics to mathematical physics, and I look forward to exploring them deeper here at Dartmouth.

I have always seen math as a beautiful and fascinating language that is spoken across seemingly endless academic disciplines. My love for math stems from mathematics being the foundation for so many other sciences. I am truly fascinated by this essentiality of math across academia. Once I realized all of the various applications of mathematics, in computer systems, engineering, finance, and more, I was hooked. Currently, I am planning to major in mathematics and minor in computer science and economics, and I am interested in the role of math within the financial industry.

Apart from my interest in math, I am from Fairfield County, Connecticut, and love to spend my time skiing, investing and learning about financial markets, playing for Dartmouth’s club lacrosse team, and playing with my two collies, Oxford and Cambridge.

I enjoy math because it’s so logical — like a puzzle that is fun once you learn the rules. But I really appreciate how math is a tool for solving scientific problems. During my internship at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, I used applied math principles every day when running and analyzing brain function data models. And through Science Olympiad, a club with which I spent much of my time in high school, math principles were invaluable in interpreting data, decrypting complex codes and engineering structures built to be as efficient as possible. I also truly enjoyed tutoring kids in math, both through my high school’s math and science honor societies and through my work at Kumon, and seeing their thrill of accomplishment when they finally understood a concept with which they originally struggled.

I plan to continue to study math, computer science, physics, biology, and chemistry at Dartmouth, and I ultimately hope to go to medical school. Outside of school, I love skiing, hiking, golf and art, so I’m looking forward to four years in Hanover. Thank you to the Byrne family!

I love how math will appear in places you least suspect — everything from the way a piano is tuned to the laws that govern reality can be modeled in equations. This fascination continues to hold fast at Dartmouth, where I am starting delve into the world between computer science and mathematical algorithms.

When I’m not nerding-out over math, I love playing cello and pickup basketball.

I didn’t start liking math until my sophomore year in high school. Before then, the math classes I was in were too easy and I found math boring. But, in my sophomore year math class, I was finally challenged and saw how fun puzzles with numbers can be. Since then, I’ve begun to really enjoy the feeling of being stumped. For me, the reason I love math is mostly because of the problem-solving process, and the satisfaction of actually solving a problem is an added bonus.

I think all branches of math are interesting, but I find applied math and specifically math applications in physics most exciting. The way math is used to describe how the fundamental parts of our world behaves is the most fascinating thing to me, and in the future, I see myself studying physics and mathematics to further understand the behavior of basic particles.

My name is Ahrav Jain, and I am in the Class of 2025. As part of being a Byrne scholar, I love math! I wish there was an elaborate backstory to my interest in arithmetic, but, unfortunately, there's not. I've always just simply enjoyed being in the company of numbers. A sharpened pencil, a primed calculator, and a new problem are exciting. Beyond math, I enjoy practicing tennis, playing ping pong, and cycling.

Growing up I enjoyed both math and the social sciences, and I would love to combine these two fields at Dartmouth. Math concepts are always more exciting for me when I can apply them to real-world problems. My hope is to use techniques like data visualization and econometrics to improve policy interventions on the federal level. Thank you to the Byrne family for this generous gift!

Math has always been my favorite academic interest. I know that isn’t the case for some, but grasping early mathematical concepts is critical, so I spend time teaching younger students in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. In recent years, I have enjoyed using math as a creative outlet via programming. Math continues to impress me because it applies to nearly every subject, including computer-generated art. At Dartmouth, I hope to continue exploring new ways to utilize math through applied math courses and research.

Hi, I am Andrew Xu from Montville, New Jersey, planning to study economics at Dartmouth as well as a potential minor in mathematics and/or computer science. On campus, I am a part of the club tennis team as well as the Jack Byrne Scholars program. I also serve on the West House executive board as treasurer. Outside of homework and classes, I enjoy going on DOC trips and hanging out with friends. I enjoy watching tv shows, sports, and playing video games. I also love physical activity like playing frisbee, spikeball, and football. You will probably find me at Foco or the library because those are my two most favorite places on campus.

I’ve been the math kid since I was ten, when solving a tough problem sent me running across the street to celebrate with my confused neighbor. I stayed for the elegant simplicity, like with number theory: are there infinitely many prime numbers? Yes. Why?

At Dartmouth, I intend to study computer science and applied math — particularly, complex systems and mathematical modeling in the social sciences. For fun, I read and write fiction, hike, sing, and needle friends and family with puns. I’m thrilled by this opportunity to learn from my brilliant peers and mentors as a Byrne Scholar.