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After graduating from Florida State University in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in physics, Joe Alfred was searching for a graduate program geared toward applied math. The University of Florida stood out: It had a reputation for expertise in math for business, science and engineering, and its Department of Mathematics was home to the famed mathematician John G. Thompson, who won the prestigious Fields Medal in 1970. Luckily, the campus was just an hour and a half away from Alfred’s home in Jacksonville.

UF would become a home for Alfred — a place to cheer on the Gators football team, formulate strong study groups and build lasting friendships. His time at the university would also become first step in calculating his successful career pursuits, an opportunity he wants to ensure students continue to have today.

After two years of intensive coursework, Alfred completed his program and earned a master’s degree in mathematics from UF in 1972. He also gained experience approaching mathematics from the other side of the lectern by teaching calculus to architecture and business majors.

“We need many more minds trained in logical skills. I am glad to provide some level of inspiration for math students.”

With his graduate degree in hand, Alfred secured a job at the communications service provider Southern Bell. Over the course of a 41-year-career, which included a move to AT&T in 1984, Alfred was able to apply his education and skills towards work on traffic studies and standards for traffic engineering and routing.

Retiring from AT&T in December 2013 at the general manager level, Alfred formed his own company, Alfred Consulting LLC, to develop and license mobile telecommunications patents and provide consulting to large service providers and network vendors. He has four U.S. patents and one European patent which have all been tested as essential to 4G and 5G standards.

“Mathematics prepared me to think logically,” Alfred said. “My UF graduate courses in analysis, algebra, topology and number theory helped me to understand and work with experts in many aspects of communication technology.”

As a thank you to the university, he wanted to help students experience the same opportunities he gained from the UF Department of Mathematics. In 2018, Alfred contacted Douglas Cenzer, then the chair of the Department of Mathematics, to explore the possibility of a math scholarship for graduate students.

Today, this award is given annually to the students who have the highest score on three of the First Year Semester Exams. Each year, two prominent students are selected for the Joseph A. Alfred Mathematics Graduate Award. The variety of routes each student has specialized in ranges from pure mathematics to analytic number theory to data science.

Since starting the scholarship in 2018, Alfred has welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the next generation of leaders in the field of mathematics.

“I wanted to give back to UF Math for the opportunity those professors gave me not only to survive but to thrive in the in-depth technology world of standards and intellectual property,” Alfred said. “We need many more minds trained in logical skills. I am glad to provide some level of inspiration for math students.”

Asked about his biggest takeaway since launching the scholarship, Alfred said that it’s been most rewarding to learn about the stories of the scholarship winners and their ideas for the future.

“The letters I receive from Dr. Peter Sin and my yearly talks with Dr. Douglas Cenzer and Dr.  Kevin Knudson tell a story of great success,” Alfred said.