Page 11 - CIMAT_MSSG_brochure

About the professor:
Dr. Manuel González Villa taught the Modeling with Linear Algebra course
this year and he has taken the time to share with us his perspective on the course, MSSG and teaching in general.
Dr. González attended Universidad Complutense de Madrid as an undergraduate and graduate student. Later, he enjoyed a three year-long postdoctoral position at the University
of Heidelberg (Germany), a nine month position at CIMAT and then another three year position at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison. From there he returned to Guanajuato and joined CIMAT as a tenure-track professor and researcher in 2018. His research is focused on Singularity Theory and he is collaborating on a variety of different projects with CIMAT colleagues, like Edwin León Cardenal, Xavier Gómez Mont, Luis Núñez Betancourt, and Pablo Portilla, as well as with some colleagues from Spain, like Enrique Artal Bartolo from University of Zaragoza, and Pedro González Pérez from Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Dr. González’s thoughts on teaching and on the MSSG Program:
I try to create an informal and friendly atmosphere in the classroom that promotes the participation of the students during the lectures and office hours. I
try to be as accessible to my students
as possible. I always aim for a balance between intuition and motivation on
one side, and technical skills and rigor on the other side. I also believe that a deep understanding of basic concepts and ideas is more valuable for the students in the long run, as they will experience faster progress later on.
II find the approach of MSSG, focusing
on topics as modeling and data science, very appealing and I felt attracted to learn more about these things myself! Also, during my postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I greatly enjoyed teaching for such a diverse community of students. I believe that the MSSG adds to the diversity of students at CIMAT.
Tips for students entering the Modeling with Linear Algebra Course:
I would advise them to get their own copy of the textbook (Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 5th Edition, David C. Lay, Steven R. Lay, Judi J. McDonald, 2016, Pearson), and read it during the semester. It is a superb textbook. For a course such as Modeling with Linear Algebra, I think it is important to teach the students to carry their own computations on, either on a piece of paper or on the computer.
11