January 29, 2025
How did you decide to become a math major?
I took a gap year before coming to college and decided to try self-studying pure math, a topic I've always been interested in but never previously explored much outside of class. I started with Michael Spivak's \textit{Calculus} and found learning math very intellectually rewarding. I then took the undergraduate analysis sequence during my first year and thoroughly enjoyed the class too, after which I officially decided to pursue the math major.
Favorite math course(s) and why?
Oof, that's a difficult question because I've enjoyed so many math classes I've taken here, but if I have to choose, it will be any math class I've taken that covered manifolds (MATH20800 with Professor Rozenblyum; MATH27400 with Professor Sun; MATH31800 with Professor Looijenga), learning measure theory with Professor Neves (MATH20900), and learning about brownian motion and its connection with complex analysis with Professor Gwynne (MATH31400). I generally love describing geometric concepts using an analytical language. I find topics of this flavor very beautiful and well-motivated by physical phenomena, and Professor Looijenga, Professor Neves, and Professor Gwynne have all been great at answering students' questions and conveying deep intuitions in a way that's accessible to an undergrad.
Do you have any special story to tell that reflects your experience as a math major?
If I were to share any personal story, it'll be the fact that I never considered studying math seriously until after I graduated high school–––not for a lack of interest, but because I believed that I wasn't capable enough. I think math (amongst other STEM subjects) is shrouded in a lot of intellectual elitism, where we believe only those born with sufficiently high intelligence or have some natural talent will succeed. Growing up hearing this narrative (while having never excelled in math olympiads) led me to preclude myself from studying math, despite my (now looking back) obvious interest in mathematics. I'm not saying that talent doesn't matter at all, especially if your eventual goal is to succeed in the academia, but I do believe that this talent-centric narrative is flawed and has scared away many others like me, thus robbing the mathematical community of potentially strong students. Even for those who are already studying math, this narrative also promotes a fixed-mindset and isn't great for our mathematical growth and mental health.
Aside from challenging this focus on talent, I'd also like to question our definition of mathematical success. Perhaps one reason some people care about talent so much is that they don't want to pursue math unless they are sufficiently talented to become a tenured faculty at a top university or even win a Fields Medal. To them I'd ask: Why is that the only "successful" relationship one could have with math? To me, studying math in graduate school, undergrad, as a kid or even in your free time (while eventually pursuing another career) is not any less meaningful, as long as you found it genuinely intellectually rewarding. All in all, I believe a decrease in fixed-mindset and ego in our conception of math can benefit the math community by drawing in new students and helping existing students grow.
Lastly, I've found that women in male-dominated fields tend to underestimate ourselves, so to all the girls out there: you belong here, you're not any less than, and don't let underserving reasons stop you from doing what you want to do.
What are your aspirations?
I love math and would love to eventually join and contribute to the math academia, hopefully get tenured somewhere, do research, and teach; but I'm also open to the possibility of my intellectual interest / personal values shifting in the future. In that case, I'm not sure what I'll do, but hopefully it'll be something just as rigorous, creative, and intellectually stimulating.
What are you excited about doing after graduation? (If you know)
I'll be applying to graduate programs next year and plan to pursue a PhD in pure math after. I haven't decided on the specific field yet, but it'll be somewhere in the vicinity of dynamical systems, differential geometry, and probability. I'm very excited to attend grad school (fingers crossed that I get in somewhere) and get to know what math research is like.
