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.