by Alan Reid
Cameron and I both grew up in the Northeast of Scotland, the towns in question being Lumsden and Buckie, respectively, and are approximately 35 miles apart. Although Cameron is older, I was at least aware of his family, since his father had bakery stores: “Gordon’s Bakery” in Lumsden and “The Strathbogie Bakery” in Huntly, so I often tell people I “knew of Cameron’s buns before I knew Cameron”. Indeed, my parents also knew a family friend of Cameron’s parents (John Boyd) from singing in a choir in the Northeast of Scotland.
So perhaps it was written in the Scottish sands that I would land in Austin. Funnily enough, after I had just accepted my first job at Ohio State in 1987, Cameron called me (or rather called the phone number of the Department of Mathematics in Aberdeen and the office assistant came to get me), and asked if I would be interested in a position at UT. Thanks to Cameron and John Luecke’s financial support I did end up visiting UT for a year in 1992–93. This made a huge impression on me, both mathematically and personally, and I decided if I could come back to UT it would be something I’d like to do.
I arrived as an Assistant Professor in 1996 and it is fair to say this was amongst the most pivotal moments of my mathematical career. Simply put, being in the department with Cameron (and others too many to name, but a special nod to John Luecke) demonstrated in the clearest possible way to me what was needed for me develop as a mathematician.
Cameron’s relentless enthusiasm for mathematics, both for ideas big and small, and his absolute attention to detail and clarity of thought and writing are hallmarks of how he works. His energy, his personality and generosity, of both thought and financial, all helped foster an inclusive atmosphere for faculty, instructors and graduate students alike to be part of the topology group at UT, and this left an indelible impression on all that were fortunate enough to be part of this group.
I have written two papers with Cameron: the first is “Tangle decompositions of tunnel number one knots and links” and the second (also joint with Darren Long), “Surface subgroups of Coxeter and Artin groups”. We also wrote one more (with João Nogueira, a former student of Cameron’s) that remains stubbornly unfinished, although there does appear to be some glimmer of hope that it may get done soon! Without going into the details of these works, I can say working with Cameron up close was a privilege, and I learned (and continue to learn) so much from him whilst working on these papers. For example, I received “on the job training” in the combinatorial methods of Gordon and Luecke!
In 2011 I became chair of the department at UT Austin, and Cameron was immensely helpful, supportive, and always a source of kind words and sage advice. It was certainly a huge relief to be able to chat with him when things were difficult, and I always felt grateful, and the better for doing so.
Let me close by saying that, some of my happiest memories are being in the department with Cameron (we were often the only two faculty in the department on a Saturday/Sunday), or hanging out at Cameron’s house (or my house) with Cameron and Sue, my wife Mara, and usually others quite often Steve Boyer on one of his now legendary “Boyer breaks”) and enjoying a few drinks into the wee hours. In fact I met Mara at a Halloween Party at Cameron’s house in 1999, and fittingly Cameron was dressed as Elvis. How can you not be inspired by that! Thank you for everything Cameron.
Alan Reid received his PhD in 1988 from the University of Aberdeen. After a number of postdoctoral positions in the UK and USA, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at UT Austin in 1996 and remained on the faculty at UT until 2017 when he joined the Department of Mathematics at Rice University as the Edgar Odell Lovett Chair and Professor of Mathematics. He is at present Chair of the department.
