Jenny Smucker

Why did you choose the Mathematics Department at Virginia Tech?

I was really impressed by the culture among the graduate students at Virginia Tech when I (virtually) attended reading day. People were super friendly, and it seemed as though the graduate students supported each other and weren't trying to out perform each other. When I was applying to graduate schools, I didn't really know what I wanted to do in math, so the great department culture really swayed me towards Virginia Tech.

Tell us about your research project.

My research is in Harmonic Analysis, and my advisor is Dr. Eyvi Palsson. I look at averaging operators that are well  known in the continuous setting and see how they behave in the discrete setting.

Congratulations on your 2024 COS Jean Ann Russe Skiles, Ph.D. '87 Graduate Fellowship! What are some of the ways that you've become involved as a graduate student?

I am president of the Virginia Tech chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics. I am also a Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant, and I'm on the oversight committee for the Directed Reading Program. When I started grad school, I realized that I truly knew nothing about how the process worked, what expectations were, what different areas of research were, and how I fit in to the whole picture. My goal with all these things is to use the things I know now to help others who are in a similar situation as me to have a smoother transition.

What advice do you have for math grad students?

My advice is to decide as soon as possible what your priorities are, and then stick to that. It is easy to let math and graduate school take over your entire life, especially when you are teaching, taking classes, and working on research all at once. If you go into it knowing where your priorities lie, you have more tools to allow yourself some time to rest, do the things you enjoy, and (hopefully) avoid burnout. This helped me a lot during my busiest semester when I had almost no free time. Because I knew that I prioritized my spiritual life and my closest relationships over academics, I was able to step away from the work I was doing and think about something else for a bit. However, I recognized that I still prioritized classes and teaching more than a lot of other fun things I had to do, and I was willing to give those up for a bit. If I hadn't known going into it what my priorities were, I would have tried to do everything or given up everything, neither of which would have been healthy.

What are some of your favorite memories as a graduate student?

Some of my favorite memories have been in office hours with my students. It's when I get to know them a bit better and learn what their personalities are. The best thing about it, though, is that I get to see them start to grasp the concepts that we talk about in class. I love observing the wheels turning in their brains, and then suddenly it all clicks and they finally understand the idea. Office hours are also the time when they start to form friendships with each other. It's so fun to watch students meet each other at the beginning of the semester during office hours, and by the end of the semester they're close friends.

What is a fun fact that most might not know about you?

My best friend and I have a monthly newsletter where we send out math-related puzzles for a general audience, and we give a little reward to the person who submits the best answer. It's a fun way to engage with math outside of the classroom and give the people I know outside of math a little window into my world.

What are you doing when you aren't working on research?

I love to play volleyball with friends, and I'm on a team in the Blacksburg Rec League. I also enjoy going to the Blacksburg Farmers Market on Saturday mornings and grabbing coffee at Bollos.

Do you have a favorite quote?

If you go through life pretending to understand, you will always be a slave to the things you don't understand. - From Francis Su's book Mathematics for Human Flourishing

I tend to be scared of asking questions for fear of looking stupid, but this is a reminder that I can't learn and progress if I'm not willing to admit that I don't understand something.