Heres the full interview I had with Vittoria Cristante for BEYOND SC!ENCE magazine.
Personal Journey Into Math - As a kid, I was always very good at math and when I went for my Bachelor’s, I made math my minor so I could stay connected with it. It wasn’t really until the pandemic hit that I discovered pure mathematics and considered an academic career in it.
In the summer before starting my Master’s, I spent some time learning Galois theory, just because I had heard other people talk about it and thought it could be interesting. I ended up absolutely falling in love with the theory and eventually found myself super interested in the Inverse Galois Problem, which is a pretty big open problem in number theory. After meeting my advisor and explaining to him my interests, he suggested I look into the problem of counting number fields with a given Galois group. For my thesis, I focused specifically on counting number fields with Galois group the general linear group over a finite field, and through this project I discovered my love for the subject and, more generally, algebraic number theory.
Transition from Theatre - The transition from theatre to math was actually pretty out of the blue; it was a little bit of a surprise to a lot of people in my life. Towards the end of my time completing my Bachelor’s in Theatre, I started doubting whether or not I actually wanted a career in it. So when the pandemic hit and all theaters closed, I was left feeling pretty lost with where to go with my life. During that summer, I met my now-boyfriend who happened to be taking a Pre-Calc class. He would occasionally ask for help on his homework and one day he just said to me “Why didn’t you do math?”. I had been asked this in the past, but this was the first time I had stopped to really consider why I hadn’t pursued it in the first place. With everything closed, I decided to give it a second shot, and the rest is history!
Academia Advice - My greatest piece of advice for someone aspiring to pursue math or academia would be to stay true to yourself and really do what makes you happy. Academia is HARD, and it takes a lot of work to be a part of. If you choose to do research that doesn’t excite you, then the experience will not be enjoyable. But if you find what you’re really interested in, there is something really magical about getting to spend your time working on it (not many people get to do that!).
Another piece of advice I’d give would be to stay focused on yourself and your success. I’ve spent a lot of time feeling like I wasn’t good enough or “behind” in the math career, comparing myself to the students around me. As a result, I missed out on appreciating everything I have accomplished since starting math. Everyone’s academic path, regardless of discipline, will be different, so there’s no point wasting time comparing yourself to others! (I know it can be hard to stop comparing yourself, but the more practice you get with appreciating yourself, the easier it is to stop!)
Future aspirations - My main goal is to become a professor and continue research. Math is truly such a beautiful subject, but few get to see how wonderful it gets. If I could inspire more people in the future to look more into what math is or at least enjoy their math class through my teaching, then I’ll have been successful in my eyes.
