By Payton Howell & Wietse Vaes
Over the course of the last year we’ve faced challenges and celebrated wins; we’ve hunkered down studying, researched together, and spent time socializing with everyone around us. This year was different for both of us, while this was Payton’s first year in Seattle, Wietse spent the fall quarter finishing his Master’s Thesis with professor Jingwei Hu. Despite the differences before we started the program, we quickly bonded through getting involved in the department and being an active part of the community. Whether that be through attending SIAM meetings, our biweekly Tea Times, or just saying hello when we pass by each other’s offices; we quickly found ourselves becoming a larger part of the department. Tea Time especially played a role in getting to know the department. Though most attendees are a consistent core group of active members, over the course of even just a quarter one will find themself interacting with a significant portion of the department as they find their way to a Tea Time or two. The regular scheduling of a break was very helpful in ensuring balance on at least two days of the week and allowed us to get to know many that we potentially would have never met otherwise.
This culminated in Wietse running for co-graduate student representative and Payton for the president of our SIAM chapter, positions which we now hold! Our hope is to work together to bolster the community in the department and encourage even more students to become active participants in the community building activities our department provides.
During the past year we took on the role of librarians and the responsibility of reorganizing & cataloging the 1000+ books the department has. This task, while fun at times, took a lot of hard work over the past 10 months. Luckily we were joined by two more librarians, Ellie Byrnes and the dumbwaiter, who were both essential in helping us move books between the 1st and 3rd floor. Cataloging the books one by one took days of us sitting in front of our laptops and typing in title after title and author after author. However it was only by doing that that we could truly see and appreciate the breadth of mathematics that our department has done and is currently doing.
Beyond our responsibilities throughout the year, we also had some fun. Our cohort has had many game nights, movie nights, and parties where we’ve been able to bond through shared activities. Saying these activities extended beyond Lewis Hall may be too generous given that these game nights often occur in the Masters’ Lounge between all the first-years offices; granting us a short commute after a full day of mathematics. As time went on however we managed to break out and began meeting up outside our building to explore the other locations Seattle has to offer. During the summer these explorations grew more frequent as we sought balance between work & relaxation. Doing research full-time over the summer was a stark change from the reading courses and coursework we’d had during the school-year. In addition to this lack of structure, we also enjoyed the ice cream socials and generally just socializing with the other PhD students in the building.
Payton: One of the biggest struggles I had this year was feeling like I deserved to be in the department. Coming from a small liberal arts college, the size and scale of even just our “small” Applied Math Department was overwhelming. That said, it wasn’t a hindrance at all due to the support and help the rest of my cohort and all of the other members of the department offered me. This intimidating size became an advantage because instead of only 3 other mathematics students in my year I had my cohort of 11 and all the cohorts above me as well! By becoming a member of the community so quickly I was repeatedly reminded that I had a place here almost every day. Without the relationships I made I don’t think I could have thrived as much as I feel I have in the past year I’ve been at UW. I hope to return the favor in making new students feel welcome through my role as president of SIAM this year and help the incoming cohort find their place in our department!
Wietse: Although this was my second year at UW, it marked the first time I actively engaged with the community, which greatly enhanced my experience. It even led to my current position as co-gsr. I was also able to focus more on research than on coursework. My Master’s thesis had already sparked my enthusiasm for research, but this first year reinforced my decision to continue into a PhD. Working with Heather and Tom in reading courses resulted in my choice of them as advisors. They, and Jingwei, have already been instrumental in developing my research skills, but I must also acknowledge the many research clubs within the department. These clubs have broadened my knowledge and improved my presentation skills through both formal and informal discussions of my work. The department—and my newly adopted cat, Chicken—make me excited about the years ahead.
We recommend that everyone takes the time to get to know people in their communities and check out the AMATH Library!