Andrew Cousino, a fifth-year graduate student at Kansas State University pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics, is living proof that the formula for academic success does not have one right answer.

Cousino dropped out of high school, earned his GED and enrolled full time at JCCC at age 16.

"Johnson County Community College fueled my desire for learning," Cousino said.

While Cousino knew he liked mathematics and considered it as a college major, it was a defining moment in math professor Mike Martin's "pre-calculus" class that led to his passionate pursuit of math scholarship.

"I remember him (Martin) talking about fractals. He explained how one could construct an object with finite area but an infinite perimeter. I found it fascinating. That is what started my drive for mathematics - those types of counterintuitive math truths."

As a JCCC student, Cousino helped Martin and Steve Wilson, professor, mathematics, in the development of webMathematica, math software for the web, that went on to win an award at the 2004 International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics. He also worked as a Math Resource Center tutor.

Cousino received his associate's degree with honors at JCCC at the age of 18 in 2002. He continued at Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., graduating Phi Beta Kapa and magna cum laude in 2004. His senior honors thesis was Factoring Integers Using Circle Groups. Cousino explained how factoring integers is used in cryptography, especially now with the advent of business transactions on the web.

At K-State, Cousino completed his master's degree in mathematics in 2007 and is now working toward a doctorate under the tutelage of Dr. Andy Bennett, mathematics professor. Using data mining techniques, Cousino is categorizing students on their performance of online homework assignments - research to be used for his dissertation. He is K-State graduate teaching assistant, receiving a Timothy R. Donoghue graduate scholarship and serving as a recitation instructor for classes ranging from College Algebra to Calculus II.

Cousino is interested in both the theory and application of mathematics.

"There are a lot of abstract theoretical concepts in mathematics that one can manipulate in new and creative ways so that the concept has unexpected results," Cousino said. "That is where the paradoxes come in - the part of mathematics I really like."

Cousino is keeping his options open. Teaching is one possibility, but he has other interests like computer science. He plans to leave K-State with a master's degree in computer science as well as his math PhD, making it possible to work as a programmer in a large computer company. Right now at the age of 25, Cousino finds the study of a very old discipline to be its own reward.