Former Whangārei schoolboy Shintaro Fushida-Hardy graduated with a Doctorate (PhD) in Mathematics from Stanford University, California.
Former Whangārei schoolboy Shintaro Fushida-Hardy graduated with a Doctorate (PhD) in Mathematics from Stanford University, California.
From the quiet beaches of Whangārei to the halls of Stanford University: Shintaro Fushida-Hardy’s journey has been shaped by talent, curiosity and drive.
The former Whangārei Boys’ High School student recently earned his PhD in mathematics from one of the world’s top universities and says he’s only just scratchedthe surface.
Fushida-Hardy attended Ngunguru School from Year 1, and Huanui College for Years 9-12. He moved to Whangārei Boys’ for Year 13 and excelled in all his subjects. He was named school dux at the end of 2014.
Fushida-Hardy sat the NZ Scholarship exams that same year and gained a Premier Scholarship Award, reserved annually for 10 outstanding students nationwide.
“As an undergrad studying maths at the University of Auckland, I remember feeling that the world of maths was so vast that I struggled to imagine being a researcher as opposed to just a student,” he said.
“Now I’m a researcher, and I know what maths research entails. The world of maths still feels extremely vast though.”
Fushida-Hardy said he was fortunate to have been able to succeed in the various phases of maths.
Former Whangārei schoolboy Shintaro Fushida-Hardy pictured with his father Graham and his mother Mari at Stanford University.
“I was generally good at maths growing up, but I think a question that isn’t asked enough in schooling is ‘what is maths?’.
“I think maths consists of three distinct phases throughout schooling: in primary school you learn how to calculate things with numbers. In high school the introduction of algebra turns maths into a language that can be applied to other things. In university and beyond, the goal of maths changes into writing proofs,” Fushida-Hardy said.
He recently published a paper in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics that introduces a diagrammatic framework for studying four-dimensional shapes.
“My paper aims to introduce methods of ‘drawing’ four-dimensional shapes as an alternative to directly visualising them.”
Last month Fushida-Hardy took up a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, but said he could definitely consider coming back to Northland to teach.
“Teaching is my favourite part of the job, and it’s been a huge privilege teaching other students throughout my career so far.”
Fushida-Hardy said returning home now would probably mean he would never live abroad again.
“For now I’d like to continue living in different countries and seeing more of the world.”
His achievements had made father Graham Hardy proud.
“We are happy, of course, not just for his academic achievements, but perhaps even more so because he has grown up to be a good person, as has his twin sister Natsuko, who is a medical doctor in the Wairarapa,” Hardy said.
