Math graduate school

topgun70009
Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:28:38 +0000

Terence Tao was a bit of a stretch, just trying to mention a recognizable name. I’m sure he doesn’t respond to those emails for obvious reasons. But there are still many well-cited, less-famous, non-fields-medalist professors who would be great advisors and would probably respond to emails.

My main advice would be to find someone in your own department who is involved in number theory and ask them who to contact. The math community is pretty close-knit, and if you’re at a top 5 university, then I bet someone at your school could find a way to get you in contact with a number theorist at Princeton, Harvard, or wherever else you might want to go.

As for an opening email to initiate communication with them, once again you’d be best off to ask your advisor, another professor (particularly in number theory) or your research advisor if you’re doing a senior thesis. My general advice would be to read some of their relevant publications, find questions to ask about them, maybe research further on part of one of their papers…basically get an excuse to show them you’re interested in number theory and might want to work with them. But ask your professors first.