Eric Gottlieb was born and raised in Miami, Florida.  He first visited Chile in the summer of 1989, when he participated in an archeological dig in the Atacama desert.  After earning his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1998, he accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004.  He was inspired to apply for a Fulbright award by his mother, a two-time Fulbrighter to Nigeria.  He spent the academic year 2004-2005 on Fulbright at the Instituto de matematicas y fisica at the Universidad de Talca in Talca, Chile, where he taught and conducted research.  He and his family remember fondly their time in Chile and the warmth, generosity, and hospitality they were shown by the people they met.