Hari Pulapaka

Associate Professor of Mathematics

I was born and raised in Mumbai, India, and came to the United States in 1987 to pursue a graduate education and professional career in Mathematics. In 2004, in response to a professional midlife crisis, I enrolled full-time in culinary school while continuing my academic career, added professional chef to my resume and occupation, became a restaurateur and since then, have continued living this dual professional life.

  • PhD, mathematics, University of Florida
  • MS, mathematics, George Mason University
  • BS, mathematics, University of Mumbai (St. Xavier's College)
  • AAS, culinary arts, Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, Orlando
  • CEC, American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef

Contact

Hari Pulapaka

Biography

Hari Pulapaka is a full-time, tenured Associate Professor of Mathematics, joined the university in Fall 2000, making the AY 2021-2022 his 22nd year at Stetson University (DeLand, FL), co-founder of Cress Restaurant. In 2017, Hari launched a company - Global Cooking School, LLC with a mission: to offer a wide swathe of educational and consulting services aimed at making food more delicious, thoughtful, nutritious and inclusive. The Global Cooking School published Hari's 2nd book. Born and raised in Mumbai, Hari has been in the United States since 1987. After completing a PhD in Mathematics at the University of Florida in 1995, a professional midlife crisis led to fast-paced, top-of-the-class graduation with an Associate of Applied Science in the Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu-Orlando in 2004.

Hari has published many research papers in the areas of Graph Theory and Number Theory and is an award-winning chef with four James Beard Award semifinalist nods as Best Chef-South and multiple Food & Wine People's Best Chef recognitions. Hari won the inaugural Chefs Taste Challenge in New Orleans and his cuisine helped rate Cress Restaurant as the top-rated restaurant in the inaugural ZAGAT Orlando Guide with a food score of 29/30. In 2015, Hari published his first book: a memoir-food advocacy-cookbook of sorts titled Dreaming in Spice and is presently completing his second book titled Dreaming in Spice-A Sinfully Vegetarian Odyssey featuring 251 globally inspired recipes. Upon invitation, Hari has, by invitation, cooked at the James Beard House in New York City on many occasions and most recently, was a featured chef at the 2018 James Beard Awards in Chicago. In 2016, Hari was recognized as a GRIST 50 fixer for his innovative and active work in the area of food waste reduction. Hari has helped develop food waste reduction-related teaching materials for the James Beard Foundation as part of a full-use kitchen curriculum. Hari was an invited chef at the inaugural official JBF Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change and is an active leader and chef advisor for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program and the JBF Smart Catch Program.

Hari is a Worldchefs Certified Master Chef, Certified Executive Chef of the American Culinary Federation and qualified for and attempted one of the toughest culinary certification exams: The Certified Master Chef (CMC) Exam in 2017. When he is not cooking or writing about food, teaching Calculus, Abstract Algebra, Cryptology, Number Theory, or supervising Undergraduate Research, Hari writes and speaks frequently on food-related matters. Hari is a Strategic Advisor for Postelsia and a Chef-Partner for Enroot.

Hari is married to Dr. Jenneffer Pulapaka, a podiatric surgeon who specializes in diabetic limb salvage, is a certified sommelier, board certified in lifestyle medicine and wound care management, and co-founded Cress Restaurant. She is presently launching a new venture SokTek. They live in DeLand, Fl, with a few non-human family members.

More About Hari Pulapaka

Areas of Expertise

  • Sustainability in Food Systems
  • Graph theory
  • Number theory
  • Cryptology
  • Professional Cooking
  • Cookbook Writing
  • Hospitality Management

Course Sampling

  • Cryptology
  • Calculus
  • Linear Algebra
  • Graph Theory
  • Number Theory
  • Abstract Algebra

  • Sustainability
  • Traceability
  • Number theory
  • Problem solving
  • Gastronomy

  • Hari Pulapaka, "Dreaming in Spice: A Sinfully Vegetarian Odyssey", book, Global Cooking School, LLC, 2020
  • Hari Pulapaka, "Dreaming in Spice", book, 2015, 2018
  • Hari Pulapaka and David R. Gibson, "A Fast Algorithm and Software for Analysis of FT-ICR Data," Journal of Mathematical Chemistry, Volume 48, Issue 2, 2010, pp 381-394
  • Hari Pulapaka and David R. Gibson, "An Efficient Algorithm for Chemical Fingerprinting," Journal of Mathematical Chemistry, Volume 44, Issue 1, 2008, pp. 75-87.
  • Hari Pulapaka, "On Generalized Galileo Sequences", Missouri Journal of Mathematics, Volume 20, Number 3, 2008, pp. 178-185.
  • Hari Pulapaka, "Non-revisiting Cycles on Surfaces," Discrete Mathematics, Volume 207, Number 1-3, 1999, pp. 219-231.
  • Hari Pulapaka and Andrew Vince, "Non-Revisiting Paths on Surfaces with Low Genus," Discrete Mathematics, Volume 182, Number 1-3, 1998, pp. 267-277.
  • Hari Pulapaka and Andrew Vince, "Non-Revisiting Paths on Surfaces," Discrete and Computational Geometry, Volume 15, 1996, pp. 353-357.