What's Next? (An Update)

Before introducing today's post, I'd like to first thank everyone who's reached out to me about my thesis and video posted last week. Thanks! I appreciate all the generous feedback. Now onto the topic of the day: I'd like to share an update about what's coming next, both for me and for the blog.

First, a word on the blog.

What's next for Math3ma?

I created Math3ma in early 2015 as an aid in transitioning from undergraduate-level to graduate-level mathematics. And it worked! The blog has been a sort of public math journal for more than five years, and I'm so glad I started it. My appreciation extends to all readers and to everyone who has contacted me through the site over the years. I'm always delighted to hear that the blog has been helpful for you, as well.

So since Math3ma has accomplished its purpose, my use for it will change. As you may have noticed already, I blog less frequently than I used to, and the content of my more recent articles is slightly different than the content in 2015--2017.

So what will happen to Math3ma going forward? I don't know, and I plan to be flexible about this. Of course I'll leave the website up, but going forward I plan to be flexible with how often I'll blog (not often, probably) and with what I'll blog about (my research, probably). I don't have any big plans for upcoming blog posts, so I may just take a break for a while. On the other hand, I do plan to post a paper or two on the arXiv in the near future, and I might decide to blog about it since I find sharing math irresistible.

See? Flexible.

Some closing thoughts.

Next, I'd like to close out this chapter by saying I had a really wonderful time in graduate school, and Math3ma played at big role in this. There were certainly some low points (math is hard!) but looking back, I'm immensely grateful for my experiences during the past six years. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first started graduate school. As some of you may know, I came into mathematics much later in life, so my background was pretty weak when I came into the program.

(I played NCAA basketball in college and had no interest whatsoever in mathematics until after my second year of college. In my third year, I quit the basketball team and began to major in physics. Two years later, I finally realized it was math that I found most interesting. So I stayed an additional two years to pick up a math major, as well. And then I decided to pursue a PhD. But I digress.)

So for me personally, a predominant theme throughout the past many years has been perseverance. I've written about this before, about my own experiences of learning that math is more than symbol-pushing and number-crunching. Math3ma was a tool I created to help in this learning process. Indeed, "mathema" is a Greek word that means a lesson, or something that you learn. (Not coincidentally, it is a root word of "mathematics.") So this website—and its name—are of great personal significance to me.

Anyways, I'm grateful to many of you for engaging with me over the years as I blog about mathematics. I'm also deeply grateful to my thesis advisor, who has wholeheartedly supported both me and my writings here on the site. Many of the "aha moments" on this blog come from conversations with John, and he has made the process of persevering both enjoyable and exciting. I decided against writing a blog post called "10 things I learned in graduate school" or similar, but I will share this with you: Having a such a phenomenal advisor has made a world of a difference in my own endeavors, and I am deeply thankful.

Alright, it goes without saying that Math3ma has been just one chapter in my life. I'm looking forward to turning the page. So what is that, exactly?

I'm heading to X!

I'm excited to share that in Summer 2020 I'll begin as a postdoctoral researcher at Alphabet's X (formerly Google X), the Moonshot Factory. X is located in Mountain View, CA, though I'll work remotely until the coronavirus outbreak dies down and travel becomes safe again. I'm really looking forward to continuing mathematics research while surrounded by the extraordinary engineers and experts that work there.

Graduate school was fun, but woo! I can't wait for what's next!

I'll close by extending my thanks once more to everyone out there who has come alongside me in the process of learning on the web. Cheers, all!

There's lots more to learn and more math to explore, and I'm really excited for what's ahead.

See you all in the future.