When people think of mathematicians, they tend to imagine a lonely man with thick glasses scribbling away at equations. Many high school students complain to their teachers that what they are learning has no application in the real world. “What is the point to these equations I am wasting my time doing?” they ask. Math seems to be just textbooks and calculators, not a creative process or an applicable one.

“The creativity of math never fully sets in high school,” says Ben.

     The once abstract has offered Bennett new ways of understanding the world around him and impressing change upon it. While at CSJ Bennett became interested in mathematical modeling — a way that mathematicians can observe patterns in nature. From the patterns they see, they construct a mathematical statement (a type of equation) and use the statements to show the likelihood of an event happening.

     The applications of mathematical modeling are diverse, and directly challenge the whines of middle and high school students who say that there are no real-life applications of math. Models can show the likelihood of a bridge collapsing under certain circumstances, or the chances of a foreign disease entering the United States. Mathematical modeling is not a type of math restricted solely to the textbook and notebook — but a factor that can affect society in many ways.

     During the summer of 2007 Bennett was a student researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University helping to construct a model for Chagas Disease, a malady that affects 15-18 million of Latin America’s poorest people. By studying the spread and prevention of the disease, researchers will help government and non-government organizations consider Chagas in a quantitative way and allow them new ways of creating solutions for dealing with its devastating effects.

     To Bennett, “mathematical modeling is a method of solving problems in a real way.” He admits that “most math is abstract, and that is the reason why most people don’t like it. But modeling can solve real problems.”

     Solving problems off the page and in the world is important to Bennett. In the spring of 2006 he spent four months in South Africa and began considering the possible impact of his work in a country still living with the lasting implications of apartheid. In a continent suffering from AIDS and starving for resources, mathematicians like Bennett have the opportunity to use their smarts to propose solutions. Though none of the models he has created deal directly with Africa’s problems, he was able to see how similar models could be used.

     Bennett also spent time doing service work during a 2006 spring break trip to the San Lucas Mission in Toliman, Guatemala. As part of a diplomatic mission sponsored by the Colleges of St. Ben’s and John’s, students helped a struggling and impoverished community to construct a more sustainable city. Students and resident work together to build homes and other buildings. The two colleges have been working with the town for several years, and the work is beginning to blossom, as citizens become active participants in their community “No matter how smart you are,” Bennett says, “it is difficult to hammer a nail. It is a great equalizer.”

     Bennett has a distinct awareness of the inconsistencies in our world. Economically, socially and epidemiologically there are clear areas of need. Bennett has dedicated his hands and his mind to addressing these issues.

     “I amjust a simple man with a simple mission,” he says. “I have a good tool kit. It would be a shame to not share my abilities with others. I feel that what I am doing is what everyone should be doing.”

     At the core of his ideology is his belief of self-improvement through the influence of others.

     “I value that development of the person, I find to develop yourself fully you need to look to others,” he says. “Life is important to be lived with and through others as well as yourself.”

     Instead of a solitary mathematician scribbling away at an abstract equation, Bennett is a mathematician creating equations to solve real-world problems. “Math,” he says, “is everywhere.”

Update: In 2008 Bennett graduated from St. John's. for the next two years he will be working for Teach for America in Washington D.C. as a high school math teacher while working towards his master's degree in education.