I first met Derrick Hart when he was a student in my Putnam
Preparation Class at the University of Missouri. I got to know him
quite well and a couple of years later he went to Georgia Tech
University to get his Ph.D. Due to family circumstances, Derrick
came back to Missouri and got a Ph.D. under my direction. This led
to a joint result with Derrick and Jozsef Solymosi on sum product
product inequalities, followed by my joint work with Derrick on
connections between sum-product inequalities and properties of
discrete Radon transforms. These results generated techniques and
ideas that continue to play an important role in my work to this
day.
After a postdoc at Rutgers and another at Kansas State, Derrick
decided to go into industry for family reasons. Before his
departure, he created a strong and influential body of work that
continues to influence the field of geometric combinatorics.
It is always wonderful to hear from Derrick and share stories and
reminiscences.