When I entered Harvard, my background was mostly combinatorics and algebra.
As a kid, I dreamt of becoming a writer. My most exciting pastime was reading novels; in fact, I would read anything I could find.
As a graduate student at Harvard, I had to explain quite a few times that I was allowed to attend a university as a woman in Iran.
Most problems I work on are related to geometric structures on surfaces and their deformations.
I find it fascinating that you can look at the same problem from different perspectives and approach it using different methods.
I find discussing mathematics with colleagues of different backgrounds one of the most productive ways of making progress.
