The Homecoming ----- April 09

The Homecoming

I went back to the University of Connecticut on April 21, 2009 to in some way repay a debt. My graduate experience and MS degree from UConn laid the foundation for building a business based on a mathematical idea. I wanted to give something back.

In my graduate days, a visiting professor held up a book saying ‘if you know what’s in this book you can make a huge impact in industry.’ That image changed my DNA. I believed it and making a ‘huge impact’ became my mantra. And it played out -- bigger than I had ever imagined.

Forty three years later, I came back to Uconn to give a talk to the math department. I brought that same math book and my story. My dream was now to change some student’s DNA and sow a seed that would play out in a similar way.

I even retraced the same route I used to take, along Rt. 44 from Ri to Storrs. I wanted to recreate and revisit the whole experience. I wanted to bring it back -- same highway, same scenery, same feelings, hopes and trepidation -- all things that stirred me as a young man. The mission this time to really tell the story with impact and change a student’s DNA so he could recreate the entrepreneurial story.

Thomas Wolfe wrote ‘You Can’t Go Home Again,’ and I had the reservation that I’d be out of touch, that the place would be cold and stiff and aloof. Reservation aside, I kept myself open to the experience, however it would unfold.

Here’s how it went.

The Homecoming Trip

April 21 was a rainy day along Rt. 44. It was a light rain, like I remembered the trip 43 years ago. Back then, I wanted to stop at several scenic lakes and pastures but was in too much of a rush. I remembered the obsessive focus that let the beauty of youth pass by. But not now. I stopped and took it all in, and it was as beautiful as I had imagined as a young man. I appreciated it more now. The beauty passed by in youth was indeed recaptured. And it was magnificent!

Talk about time warp -- my consciousness went back and forth, in and out --- young man, old man. When young and too disciplined, I was seeing with an old man’s eyes. Now an old man was seeing with a young man’s eyes. The Rt. 44 lakes and meadows still held the same allure; this time I took it all in and rejoiced. George Bernard Shaw said that ‘youth was wasted on the young’ --- not on this trip. The retraced trip was my first of several homecomings.

The mathematician’s homecoming.

I had dinner that Tuesday, April 21, with two mathematicians and it was another homecoming, of a different sort. I had spent much of my career with computer scientists whose culture is to use theory; the mathematicians are about creating theory. And so am I, that is my true passion – creating mathematics, creating new theory. So dinner was a homecoming of blood brothers. I felt as if I had been away  much too long and was now at home with people of like mind and spirit, birds of a feather.

The student’s homecoming.

The on-campus Nathan Hale Inn was like any other hotel and it felt that way going to bed that Tuesday night -- until I opened the curtains to see the adjacent dorm with students studying at their desks. Do I ever remember those hours and days, struggling to understand math theory. And the occasional eureka when I got it. At the time, it just seemed like every day student life. It came to be my biggest passion.  I spent my career learning, applying, and creating math. It drove and stabilized me though the tumult of an entrepreneur’s career. I gave about 25 lectures a year over 25 years at conferences, universities, and board rooms, all explaining a mathematical invention. And that’s what carried me – the passion of the mathematical invention. The student’s passion for learning is deep-seated -- thank you Uconn.

The teacher’s homecoming.

The talk was scheduled for 5:30 that Wednesday evening; here’s the announcement:

University of Connecticut Department of Mathematics UConn Math Club Thomas J. McCabe (McCabe Software) A Mathematician's Dream: From Idea to Company - The Adventure of Following Your Dream CLAS 105 - Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 5:30 pm

As students were filling in, George Raney came up to the podium to reintroduce himself. Dr. Raney taught Abstract Algebra to us graduate students in 1964.  George, now 94, had a childlike enthusiasm for both his subject and his students. He was emphatic, respectful, and had this kind of magic – he made math discovery seem like revelation. When stating a conclusive math theorem, he had a wide-eyed, childlike excitement.

After the introduction, I went through the graph theory proofs establishing the properties of the cyclomatic complexity  --- a way to quantify the tests in a program that I built my business on. When I got to the conclusive theorem I looked at George Raney. He was seated in the lower left, and there it was -- he had that same wide-eyed, childlike wonderment. But this time for my work. Talk about role reversal -- the student became teacher, teacher became student. It was a student’s homecoming -- bringing something back.

To Dream.

Then I talked about the computer science applications of the math. And next talked about building my company, McCabe and Associates. And emphasized that the idea and math drove it; the company followed.

Finally I got to the reason I came, to get the students to dream. About their breakthroughs, their vision, their companies. I held up that same 43-year-old book and said ‘if you know what’s in this book you can have a huge impact.’ I concluded ‘that’s my dream, now build your dream and come back and give this talk.’

I asked George Raney to stand and told the students how much George had helped me; he got a standing ovation. Tears in my eyes.

I came back to Uconn a second time, 43 years later, to repay a debt, give something back. But just like the first time, I left with much more than I gave.

Thomas J McCabe,  May 09