I’m thrilled for so many reasons to serve as the new editor-in-chief of DS Magazine! It was hard to limit myself, but below are the top 10 reasons why I’m happy to be in this position.

10. It’s a great motivation for me to get to know a broader array of researchers in dynamical systems. I look forward to getting to know many more of you—and introducing you to each other!

9. It’s a terrific opportunity for me to learn more about the inner workings of SIAM. Our professional society works hard to serve us, its members, well.

8. I’ll get to help preside over the implementation of the new DS Web portal, which will make it easier for us to expand the content, make it more user-friendly, and increase its reach to an even wider audience.

7. I get to lobby with a louder voice in favor of the possibility of rotating the Snowbird meeting location to other venues including places closer to sea level, so that many of us who experience constant headaches, nosebleeds, and other unpleasant side effects from the altitude can experience the DS meeting more fully.

6. This position gives me the chance to give more back to SIAM, which has been such a significant part of my professional life. The first conference I attended was a Snowbird conference, and I have attended a SIAM conference an average of once a year since the end of my graduate studies. I received a student travel award as a graduate student and since then I have helped other students receive travel awards to afford them the opportunity to attend SIAM meetings. I also appreciate the opportunity SIAM gives us as members to organize our meetings as we wish by allowing us to propose minisymposia easily, and doing so has helped me to shape my career. For all this and so much more, I’m grateful to be able to give back.

5. I can use this opportunity to include even more the voices of a broader community in our DS magazine—researchers in the field in all career stages from students to retirees, US-based and international groups, industrial and academic mathematicians, and members from a diverse array of backgrounds.

4. Having this opportunity encourages me to make more time to keep up with the latest in dynamical systems and to reflect on our field.

3. Working with DS Magazine is allowing me to combine my passion for mathematics and dynamical systems in particular with my interests in writing and editing, which have tended to be sidelined since my undergraduate days.

2. I get to work with some fantastic people, including James Haines at SIAM and Dave Uminsky and Peter van Heijster, all of whom have been great sources of information and material. I hope I’ll be able to match their contributions one day.

1. I truly love dynamical systems! From my first exposure to the area in an undergraduate class on discrete dynamical systems (thanks, Jim Sandefur!) and my personal discovery of pattern formation in graduate school (thanks, Henry Greenside!), I have had a passion for dynamics, especially when mixed with computation and biological applications. It still amazes me that the same types of equations can describe cardiac and neural cell electrical behavior, nonequilibrium chemical reactions, and the aggregation of slime mold. I know that many of the same questions motivate all of you as motivate me, and it is truly a pleasure to be able to pursue these shared interests together in this forum.