Dan Gerber

Class Year

’11

Hometown

Onalaska, Wis.

Major(s)

Mathematics, Neuroscience, Chemistry

With three tough majors, Dan Gerber’s days could be a blur of labs, classes and studying. Instead, he’s determined to experience everything Carthage offers. Including swing dancing, Frisbee and ping pong.

“Everyone at Carthage is very involved, and they are all enthusiastic about what they do,” Dan says. “I am in a lot of very different activities that I would most likely not be able to participate in at a different school: Math Club, Frisbee Club,Residence Life Council, Swing Dancing Club, Tutoring, Research, Ping Pong Club, etc.” He’s also taken a J-Term trip to India.

Back when he was researching colleges, Dan attended a math class at Carthage. “I loved how much the students were interacting with the professor, and how small the class was,” he says.

“To me, what you get out of college is very dependent on what you’re willing to put into it, so I paid more attention to the general environment and attitudes at the schools I was considering.” At Carthage, “the professors are very enthusiastic and intelligent. If you don’t do well in a math class here, it’s your own fault, because the professors will do everything they can to help you understand.”

He decided to major in mathematics because of its relevance. “I’ve been interested in math for as long as I can remember,” he says. “Every scientific discipline is in some way related to math, which is something you can’t say about any other subject.”

How have Carthage faculty had an impact on your life or Carthage career?

“I have had only two math professors thus far — Dr. Snavely and Dr. Trautwein — and I’ve worked with Dr. Klyve on other projects. I have liked all three of them. They’re all very helpful, they’re fun, and they’re also interested in how I’m doing outside of class as well as inside.”

Favorite class

“My favorite class at Carthage in general was the J-Term trip to India I took last year. It was very eye-opening and was an amazing experience I may never have the opportunity to do again. My favorite math class thus far wasProbability. Even more so than other math classes, Probability is directly related to real life. It’s sometimes a struggle to relate what you learn in a math class to what you experience every day, but with Probability, this was not the case.”

Toughest class

“My hardest class at Carthage so far was not a math class (surprise!). It was Analytical Chemistry, mostly because it was very time-consuming and some of the concepts take a while to understand.”

Favorite moments and memories at Carthage

The first math conference he attended. “I gave my first real talk, helped Carthage dominate the ‘Math Jeopardy’ contest, and wrote a proof on the drive back home,” he says. Outside of his experiences in his major, Dan says his favorite moments at Carthage have happened when he’s with his friends. “The people I have met here provide so many great moments that I can’t even come up with the greatest ones.” He also mentions his J-Term trip to India: “We climbed a mountain, and from the top we could see China … It was about 14,000 feet tall, and the feeling was just incredible.”

Favorite spot on campus

“The beach and the Ultimate Frisbee field. The beach is a great place to relax, especially in the few minutes you have in between classes. If it’s a nice day, I’ll just stop down at the beach for a few minutes and forget about everything. I love Frisbee, and the Ultimate Frisbee Club here is fun. We have games a couple times a week and just go out and run around.”

Biggest surprise so far

“Definitely the amount of interaction between students and professors. Class sizes are about perfect, especially in math and science classes. They are large enough to have a good amount of discussion, and small enough to still know your professor and many of the students in your class personally.”