Quantum Maths Summer School Wk 1

Hello from Summer School

• We had this afternoon off, but we ended up hiking for around 3.9 to over 5 miles at over 2000 ft gain. The altitude is really something here.
• I’m in Park City, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I flew the entire way with my Maths advisor, and it was the first time in a while I have had the comfort of travelling with someone else going to the same workshop. It’s comforting, even though I had a bit of anxiety because I booked a chartered ride instead of the shuttle we were supposed to take by accident and it wasn’t flagged, so I ended up going straight to my place instead of to the conference first, as we were expected to do, to pick up our registration stuff, and then to the hotel. But it turned out fine in the end.
• Everyone is super nice here, and it’s been a mix of Mathematicians at all levels; from undergrads to grad students to professors to educators. I even found out today that there is a film school that needs Maths teachers with a film background, which is pretty hilarious because I check all those boxes, and even better; there’s a shortage! Haha.
• My peers are great. I got paired to room (and by room I mean we share an entire lodge with three bathrooms and four bedrooms and three fridges and an entire living room neither of us has even used yet!) with a postdoc from France who also does quantum-related cryptography, specifically on code-based cryptography, so it’s almost like they paired the quantum-related cryptography people together. And she’s great, and there are even people in her lab that I know from my being in the isogenies community, which is fantastic. As in, I literally saw some of her labmates last week in Rhode Island, and had dinner and lunch with them and whatnot. She was telling me about her experience in Europe for grad school and postdocs, which is great to consider in the future. Everyone has been so great in terms of sharing information in a friendly, collaborative way.
• We’ve had origami nights (because Pure Maths people do that) and we are even watching a movie a day before it comes out because of the connection to the institute, which is some cool bragging rights. And our conference centre is literally the home for the Sundance Film Festival, and I was able to get a tour of backstage, which was also cool as a technical theatre geek.

The Syllabus

• So every day, we have had lectures (three per day), interleaved with problem-set sessions where we work together and there are TAs, and the lecturer often hangs out, too. So it’s a lot. In the evenings, there are activities, and we also have a cross-session where everyone in the entire summer school (including undergrads, faculty, etc) attend a talk. And then we have meals (breakfast, lunch), and people will wander off in groups for social activities in the evening. We are all staying at various lodges and hotels throughout the city, which is fun to knock about and drop people off here and there. The other day, we all went for ice-cream, and just yesterday, we went on an 8.7 mile hike.
• The problem sets are challenging, but people are super nice and collaborative, and I’ve been able to crack a few, which surprised even me. It’s not uncommon to look at the questions and think that none are solvable, but that’s also why we have TAs and they encourage us to sit at tables and talk to each other about our approaches. My peers are respectful and it’s been a nice vibe.
• The educators are really a lot of fun, and they bring a sense of humility and joy to the summer school that I think would be unmatched if it were just say, grad students or students and faculty. On my first day, I found that it was so easy to chat with them, and they are happy to hear about what we are working on, and just bonded so quickly with each other, and as such, I ended up hiking with a group of them today.
• We were originally grouped by how slowly we wanted to hike, and I said “easy-going”, and somehow I ended up on the “fast and furious” track, which was pretty hilarious, but then I contacted one of the cars taking the “easy-going” people, and the person driving said that we don’t leave anyone behind, and we definitely have space for you, and so I was able to get that sorted out. And it was so lovely and worth it.
• Being here has given me such a clear head. It hasn’t been easy pursuing what I wanted to do in grad school, for so many reasons, and I’ve been surprised over the past couple of months by the outpouring of persons reaching out to me and saying that they thought this space was one I deserved to be in, and affirmed my being here in so many ways, that I’m happy, even though there can be degrees of toxicity in every space. I’m happy to fight through this one, and I’m really enjoying the experience of learning and growing, and feeling so supported. I know that there are some people who think I shouldn’t be in the space because it’s seen as a field that is rigorous or whatever, but I don’t care much anymore. I’m happy to keep going and for those who don’t think I should be there, they can move along, because I will continue to be. And I will be there with a smile, applying, researching in and making this the thing I am interested in innovating within, and growing within the community.
• Honestly, for a lot of those kinds of people, they would prefer that I do nothing in science or Mathematics, so they are just going to have to sit down. Because I am a scientist, researcher and mathematician, whether they like it or not, and I am enjoying each day.

Here are some photos

• Team “easy-going” stops to take a photo

• Really lovely group!

• I didn’t do these, but we did have an inevitable origami session last night.

• I worked on a different type of origami puzzle, but I want to (when the next one is held) make one of these! I will post a photo of mine when I do!

• Our walk from yesterday near the conference centre. We ended up turning back, going on another walk and ended up walking for 8.7 miles that evening! But we also went for tacos and whatnot afterwards, and I got an awesome horchata and tamarind jarrito!

• Sitting in the audience a day before Oppenheimer opens. We got to see it a day early because part was filmed at IAS.

• Sitting in on a lecture on tensor products for the Undergrad Summer School. I’m in the graduate Summer School, but we sat in on this class because the prof was very popular and we wanted to see how he taught things (we being my advisor and myself).

• My Maths advisor and I met at a restaurant called Sergio’s before I saw Oppenheimer, and I had a shrimp cocktail.

• From the immersive 360 storytelling session. 360 camera rig and 3d sound rig. In practice, many of the zoom audio devices would be used.

• The larger 360 spherical image camera.

• A Ukulele friend and myself took a stroll through a beautiful graveyard near where we were staying before heading in for the evening. There are birch trees everywhere, and most of the graves are from the 1800s.

And that’s it