{"590283":{"#nid":"590283","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Get to Know the Math Prof: Christine Heitsch","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch3\u003EWhat is your research about?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI work at the interface of discrete mathematics and molecular biology. For instance, most viruses code their genomes in RNA rather than DNA, which is then packaged into a protein capsid. Understanding how this happens is a fundamental biomedical problem with important therapeutic applications. The \u0026quot;branching\u0026quot; of these large RNA molecules (much like a tree in nature) is a critical characteristic that I\u0026#39;ve studied using techniques from analytic, geometric, and probabilistic combinatorics.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat has been the most exciting time so far in your research life?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe most recent breakthrough always seems the most exciting. As one of my undergraduate researchers, who is now a PhD student in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and works at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute\u003C\/a\u003E, said: \u0026quot;It\u0026#39;s hard but rewarding. Half the time it feels like you are banging your head against the wall, but every now and then you get something to work, and it\u0026#39;s such a rush.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EHow did you find your way to mathematics research?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy father is also a mathematician, so by becoming an academic I was just going into the family business. However, I majored in both biology and physics before settling on mathematics as the common denominator among all my interests.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat advice would you give to a college freshman who wants to be a mathematician?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA degree in mathematics can be the gateway to any number of great career options - basically anything that values problem-solving and analytical skills including medicine, law, and business, as well as statistics, actuarial science, and computing. And of course, teaching, industrial research, or academia.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EIf you could not be a mathematician, in what line of work would you be now?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERecently, I\u0026#39;ve become interested in architecture, urban planning, and the physical environment\u0026#39;s effect on our psyches. It\u0026#39;s fascinating to be in downtown Atlanta and realize that it\u0026#39;s more obvious how to enter a building from a vehicle than on foot.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat is the most exciting thing about being a part of Georgia Tech?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe School of Math is on an amazing trajectory; the list of top math departments has been relatively static for decades, but we\u0026#39;re one of the few newcomers. That\u0026#39;s a testament to the value of investing in mathematics at one of the premier engineering schools in the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat are you most surprised about in your encounters with Georgia Tech students?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe students here are very smart and highly motivated, yet retain a sense of humor about the campus culture that resonates with my own geekiness.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHow many official bookstores sell the equivalent of our \u0026quot;North Avenue Trade School\u0026quot; T-shirts?\u0026nbsp; I gave my father one a couple of years ago, and he\u0026#39;s worn it so much that I had to buy a replacement.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat unusual skill, talent, or quality do you have that is not obvious to your colleagues?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs an undergraduate in Urbana, I took the opportunity to study Japanese tea ceremony.\u0026nbsp; Setting aside time each week to focus on the ritual of preparing and serving a bowl of matcha tea was a wonderful way to clear my mind.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat is your ideal way of relaxing?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESince I have two young children, I\u0026#39;m quite fuzzy on the concept of \u0026quot;leisure.\u0026quot; However, it\u0026#39;s great fun to do simple things with them, like going for a walk to see the outdoor sculptures around Midtown.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat three destinations are still in your travel to-do list?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy husband is from Australia, and we travel there to visit his family, but I have yet to see notable places like the Great Barrier Reef or Uluru\/Ayers Rock. Conversely, he\u0026#39;s seen relatively little of the United States, and there are so many natural wonders closer to home. This just means that we\u0026#39;re really looking forward to exploring the world with our daughters as they grow up.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EIf you won $10 Million in a lottery, what would you do with it?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat I really need is more hours in the day, but that\u0026#39;s not something you can buy.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Get to know Christine Heitsch, a school of math professor."}],"uid":"34469","created_gmt":"2017-04-12 15:13:01","changed_gmt":"2017-04-12 15:13:59","author":"nmcleish3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"590282":{"id":"590282","type":"image","title":"Christine Heitsch","body":null,"created":"1492009966","gmt_created":"2017-04-12 15:12:46","changed":"1492009966","gmt_changed":"2017-04-12 15:12:46","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224892","name":"christine.heitsch.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/christine.heitsch_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/christine.heitsch_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":53331,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/christine.heitsch_1.jpg?itok=CWfl3Su9"}}},"media_ids":["590282"],"groups":[{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}