Stuart Anderson Department:  Science-Physics Years with Upward Bound: First year I was born at home because my mother didn't want to wake my father.  By the time I was 4, I knew I wanted to do mathematics, but I had to wait 16 years to get off the farm and meet people who knew what mathematics is.  I learned physics in my father's barn and on his tractor, by looking at stuff.  I always wrote poetry and I still do.   Now I teach physics and engineering and work on math and poetry in my spare time.

Tell one funny event that happened in your life.

I was driving through South Dakota and came to a national park with caves.  Before you were allowed to go in the cave, the ranger made you crawl through a hole to be sure you wouldn't get stuck.  Everyone else made it, but my butt got stuck, and instead of letting me out, the ranger called all the other tourists to take pictures of me.  My friend wanted to take a picture too, but I said if she did, I was driving away and leaving her in South Dakota.

Why did you decide to join the program?

It was an accident.  The Upward Bound staff asked Barry, me, and our boss Emile Pitre about what we thought college students had the hardest time with.  I shot off my big mouth and said that they had trouble in physics because they had never been shown how to see the physics in everyday things.  Karen Morell said " It sounds like a good idea for a class. You're teaching it."

What do you like most about the program?

I like getting to make silly classroom demonstrations.

What do you think about the students in the program?

The students here all seem so much smarter than my old classmates when I was in high school, that I'm always surprised.  They are very energetic too (unless I've been talking physics too long...).