"I remember the first time that I got really excited about solving problems, and that happened during a mathematics class. I very much associated solving problems with doing mathematics. It was in sixth grade and my math teacher would do these puzzles. I remember not knowing the answers, and I remember the process of thinking hard to try to figure it out. It taught me that mathematics was more than formulas and plugging and chugging. From very early on I thought of mathematics as problem solving and that is what I enjoyed."