Alison Ockasi photo: Keshav Pokhrel, Ph.D., hails from Nepal.

Many changes have come to campus this year, including new professors.

The newest member of the math department, Keshav Pokhrel, Ph.D., hails from the southeast Asian nation of Nepal.

Pokhrel primarily teaches statistics, although he has expressed interest in offering a probability theory or biostatistics course, to give students a more in depth experience of his first love, statistics.

He obtained his undergraduate degree in math from Tribhuvan University in Nepal, and a master’s degree in statistics from Marcel University in West Virginia.
Recently, Pokhrel earned his Ph.D at The University of South Florida Tampa this past May.

Pokhrel claims that being a professor is “just where I belong,” and Mercyhurst and the City of Erie have been very welcoming to him.
He has enjoyed teaching the students, and is happy that most have been able to understand him through his thick accent.

Not every aspect of Erie living has been ideal for the new professor. He claims that although the education and facilities are overall better than those in Nepal, the roads here are less than what he expected.

“They’re the only roads I’ve ever seen without dividers,” making the adjustment a little more difficult to navigate.

Regardless of the road conditions, Pokhrel enjoys teaching all forms of mathematics, especially statistics, to our campus, and recommends that students and faculty alike all learn more from the subject.

“Math is everywhere you look,” Pokhrel said, “and if you look deep into a subject, that’s all there is.”

Welcome to Mercyhurst Pokhrel, we’re excited to gain from your experience for years to come.