Two Years Away from a PhD?

In August 2019 I enrolled at the University of Tennessee as a student in their mathematics PhD program. Nearly three years later, I realize that (with confirmation from my advisors) that I am about two years away from graduating. Over these three years I have picked up a lot of steam, carrying out multiple separate projects in parallel while being trained in the art (or science?) of doing mathematics research.

Before getting to what I still want to accomplish before I graduate, I want to take stock of what I’ve already done since I arrived in Knoxville. First, let’s look at the tangibles, that is, the very specific things that were added to my CV and/or indicated progress through my PhD program:

1. Had three papers published as the result of projects where I mentored undergraduate students (with a fourth under review)
2. Passed my program’s entrance exam, written preliminary examinations, and oral specialty examination, all on the first attempt
3. Given internal presentations on my thesis research, one of which was part of a competition where I won second place
4. Won an exclusive teaching award granted to teaching assistants in the math department
5. Written a large collection of blogposts documenting my grad school journey to date, and numerous expository articles related to the courses I’ve taught at the University of Tennessee and teaching pedagogy (see my profile for links to these)
6. Completed two consulting positions (one…