Current students
I advise Benjamin (Ben) Oltsik and Han Zhou.
Ben recently gave a poster talk .
Lena Ji’s advice for undergraduate students applying to an REU
Ravi Vakil’s advice for graduate students in Algebraic Geometry
See the General Advice section in https://math.stanford.edu/~vakil/potentialstudents.html
Disclaimer
I am not an authority in mentoring, or in diversity, or in mentoring diverse students. The opinions expressed here are my own. It is not my intention to offend anyone. There is a contact form at the bottom for anonymous feedback, or you can e-mail me directly with any comments.
Advice for mentors and mentees
Here you are side A and the other is B.
- Many mathematicians are socially awkward. Do not expect B to be an expert communicator.
- You do not know B's life story, do not expect them to think like you.
- Share some of your background. Make casual conversation to create a safe space for personal conversation.
- Ask questions.
- If advice is being offered, check that it is applicable.
Example: Mentee (B) asks a question. Mentor (A) identifies Person "C" as better qualified to answer it and advises B to reach out to C directly with their question. Here A could take a moment to check with B that they are comfortable with reaching out to someone that they do not know, and maybe offer to e-mail C for them with the question and cc B.
Advice for students seeking a mentor/adviser
- It's best to work in an area that you have a talent for.
- If you're not a lonewolf, you may want to have colleagues that already work in the same area or a very closely related area.
- Ideally your advisor researches in your intended area, is productive, known and respected in their field, and has access to grants.
- Different advisors have different styles: some teach independence in their students, make some broad suggestions and only meet when there is something to discuss. Some advisors will give you a problem, offer some idea, and suggest readings, then meet weekly to discuss your progress, or your ideas, or work some example out with you, have you present some important classical result to make sure that you at least read when you're not making progress. Most advisors are probably somewhere in the middle. It's better to ask the prospective advisor early about their preferred approach and your peers about their advisor interactions.
- Have a contingency plan. The graduate program is not easy, but the job market in academia is always very tough for both research and for teaching positions, and even more so if you have a two body problem. Industry is also not easy during a recession.
- If you are serious about staying in academia, try to become a member of the community for your field, not just at UConn, but in the North-East in particular and in the US in general. If your advisor has grants, ask if they can support your travel to summer schools and conferences. Once there, talk to the people around you. Look for online seminars/conferences, attend, ask questions. If they have a social component, try to participate.