Curiosity and Tenacity

Farhad Jafari isn’t what you’d call a planner — which may sound odd, considering his five degrees from UW-Madison. But two other characteristics, he believes, are far more important than planning when it comes to academic success.

“I think it’s really the curiosity to want to know, backed by the tenacity to stick it out when the going gets rough,” he says.

A native of Iran, Jafari came from a well-educated family — his father holds a PhD in economics from Britain’s Cambridge University, and his mother holds a PhD in Persian literature from Teheran University — and he spent much of his childhood in Geneva, Switzerland, soaking up a cosmopolitan attitude. But when it came time for college, he wasn’t sure which direction his future lay in.

“I had some friends who were from Milwaukee,” he says, “and I was seventeen then — being close to friends seemed important.”

And so he came to UW-Madison, where, he says, he expected to study medicine — an ambition that didn’t last long. “Biology was my worst subject,” he explains. “I don’t memorize well. I have a very analytical brain, and I felt I’d probably prefer to study math or physics.”

Instead, he ended up majoring in chemistry. And physics. And studying a lot of other things, too.

“I guess I was kind of naïve then,” he says. “I was twenty-one, and I liked Madison. I knew I wanted to go to graduate school and study medical physics, but though I applied to several institutions, Madison was so well regarded. I guess I could have gone somewhere else for the experience, but I’d lived all over the world, and I didn’t want to move just for the scenery.”

Over the next dozen years, Jafari racked up post-graduate degrees in medical physics and then in mathematics before departing to launch a faculty career, first at Maine’s Bowdoin College and now at the University of Wyoming.

But curiosity and tenacity still guide Jafari, as he continues to pursue learning — though perhaps not additional degrees. After taking up an interest in skiing, he trained to become a ski instructor, and he also follows a lifelong interest in languages, having become fluent in Farsi, French, and English, with some skill in German and Arabic, and a little bit of Spanish.

“I’m a complete learner,” he says. “I totally enjoy learning new subjects.”

J. A.