I am a 5th year PhD candidate at the University of Washington, advised by Jayadev Athreya. Here is my thesis proposal.
Me on Arxiv: Extremal Property of the Square Lattice // Periodic Paths on 2n+1-gons
My current research interests lie in the intersections of Teichmüller Dynamics, Geometric Group Theory, Algebraic Geometry, and Number Theory.
I denounce military funding. I call for the complete separation of the military and academia.
A non-exhaustive list of my commitments, to myself and to you, is here.
I live on Coast Salish land and benefit from the ongoing harms of colonization and the displacement of the Muckleshoot and Duwamish Peoples.
Some local movements to support Indigenous sovereignty are Real Rent Duwamish and Protectors of the Salish Sea.
The following statements were made by Bill Thurston in 1986.
"When the military funds academic research, the most important thing they buy is access to the intellect and intellectual environment of the researchers."
"Military funding of scientific research by respected scientists and in respected academic institutions has a political effect, independent of its technological effect."
"Mathematics is a particularly international field. The military encroachment on US mathematicians will drain this international spirit."
"The needs of mathematicians for more resources are clear and are not in dispute."
1) There has been opposition within the AMS to discussion of the wider issues associated with military funding, with the explanation that they are political issues. Democracy is political; the issues are professionally and ethically of great moment, and we need to have a discussion in which all responsible points of view are considered.
2) Funding of basic research is an important societal need, and should be met through civilian agencies. Academia should be separated from the military. Military funding in universities, and of mathematics in particular, is bad for society, bad for universities, and bad for mathematicians.
Check out https://www.justmathematicscollective.net/The following Is pulled from the JMC's Initiative to boycot the NSA.
"Meaningfully disentangling the mathematical community from the NSA, and from the security state in general, will require sustained organizing and collective action. While there are many possible actions to consider, we suggest an initial frame of targeting NSA recruitment and researching mathematical-NSA ties as a step to identify and focus further action, as well as forcing our institutions to articulate concretely how they relate to the security state."