A family joke around the Patterson household centers on the roots of eldest son Cody's love affair with mathematics. Like any young child, the story goes, Cody would grow impatient when forced to wait in line in a public place. In an attempt to distract her fidgeting son, his mother, Janalyn, would dig in her purse for her pocket calculator. Once in his hands, the calculator's blinking electronic numerals would mesmerize young Cody, and the wait was soon forgotten.

Shortly before his recent graduation with Foundation Honors after only three years at Texas A&M, Patterson, 21, laughed as he recalled the hours spent punching buttons on that little gadget. "A lot of guys grew up with G.I. Joes and action figures," he said with a smile. "I grew up with calculators."

Whether or not his mother's calculator did indeed encourage a life dedicated to mathematical pursuits, there is no doubt that Patterson was born with a gift for numbers. In February, Texas A&M's College of Science recognized him as one of two recipients of the 2001 John B. Beckham Award in Science, the college's highest mark of distinction. At the two most recent William Lowell Putnam national math competitions, Patterson led the Texas A&M team to its strongest finish ever, ranking in the top 20 out of more than 400 teams. And during last summer's annual meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), Patterson's research resulted in one of only 10 student-delivered papers awarded "outstanding talk" status.

A&M math professor Dr. Kirby Smith describes Patterson as "one who arrives on the scene once in about 20 or 30 years." Heavily recruited by Ivy League schools, Patterson decided in high school that he wanted to stay in Texas near his home and family in Weatherford. He was seriously considering Rice University when Texas A&M offered him a President's Endowed Scholarship, a top academic merit scholarship funded with private gifts. That scholarship "was one of the biggest factors in bringing me to Texas A&M," Patterson said. "If I hadn't received it, I probably would have gone to Rice."

Patterson's drive is evident in everything he does. He worked as a teaching assistant for an upper-level analysis course, a "math problem" writer for math competitions and a help session leader for advanced math courses, and has served as a Math Camp counselor and vice president of the Pi Mu Epsilon math honor society. In his third year of college, he was frequently cited as the top student in graduate-level math courses.

A theoretical mathematics major, Patterson's main interests lie in algebra and in number theory, a field with applications in such areas as encryption and computer security. In fact, the National Security Agency tried to recruit him for a spot in its 2001 summer program in cryptography, but Patterson had already made other commitments.

At A&M, Patterson said he has benefited from the personal interaction with faculty and fellow students, the plethora of opportunities and the well-rounded experience available through a relatively small math department. So sold is he on his Texas A&M experience that he has personally recruited several of his gifted Math Camp participants.

"I'd like to be a college teacher and help students like me who have had opportunities to hit the big time," Patterson said, "and find some other students who are trying to find their place in academics, get them interested in math, and make believers out of them."