Splitting Bandwidth Between Different Areas of Math

How not to be a one-trick pony

The job of a researcher — in any discipline — comes down to advancing the state of human knowledge. The capacity in which this knowledge is used can vary wildly depending on the subject matter and the motivation for carrying out the research in the first place. This is part of the reason why entrepreneurship contests are so well-received; they push the creative envelope by placing difficult constraints on teams of innovators, financial or otherwise. All that being said, sometimes people forget that part of the objective of the research is intellectual satisfaction; since research can be very time-consuming and demanding, people ought to enjoy doing it, lest they burn out very quickly. This is advice I’ve heard many times regarding whether to push through a doctoral program.

Now let’s talk about math specifically. Relatively early on in my days as an undergraduate, I knew I wanted to pursue a doctoral degree afterward; I had gotten a taste of research as an undergraduate (more on that later) and began prioritizing my time accordingly. However, my path wandering around different areas of math wasn’t quite linear, and this zigzagging has had some longer-term consequences for my career over the past five years. I also expect some of my earlier decisions to inform my research trajectory moving forward from here. I’ll tell you a bit more about what that zigzagging looked like, where I‘m at now, and how I’ve managed my time with my broader career and intellectual goals in mind.

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