In this episode, I converse with Dr. Maggie Miller, an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Mathematics at MIT. Maggie obtained her Ph.D. in 2020 at Princeton University advised by David Gabai and earned her Undergraduate degree in Mathematics with high honours at the University of Texas at Austin, completing a thesis under the auspice of Cameron Gordon. Beginning in July 2021, Maggie will be joining the distinguished Stanford Science Fellows and also hold the prestigious Clay Research Fellowship. 

Maggie's research interest lies in low dimensional geometric topology where she has tremendously advanced the understanding of manifolds in dimensions 3 and 4, powerfully wielding a wide range of creative techniques -- algebraic, combinatorial, geometric and topological. We chat about her early interests in mathematics and art while being homeschooled; early explorations in topology in an attempt to understand the old joke about a donut and coffee cup being equivalent; attending grad school at Princeton, working with terrific mentors like Gabai, and participating in the Noetherian Ring; interests in knitting, rubik's cubes, crosswords, and acrostics; diversity and representation of underrepresented groups in mathematics; and many more things!