Hannah Meit ’25, who is pursuing a mathematics major and a Russian minor, recently presented her pure math research at the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Math, marking her fourth conference presentation. Throughout her time at Rhodes, she has published research, pursued an Honors Project, and found new passions. Now, she encourages other Rhodes students to step outside of their comfort zones.
The Johnson City, TN, native didn’t start out sure of her major but decided to take math courses to push her academic boundaries. What started as a personal challenge quickly turned into a sincere passion for the subject as she began taking upper-level classes. “The more advanced you get, the more it feels like an art rather than a science,” Meit says. “Pure math provides a unique blend of rigor and creativity.”
A professor took notice of Meit’s knack for proofs during her sophomore year and invited her to sit in on his weekly research meetings. When the semester ended, he offered her a paid fellowship for the summer of 2023 to assist in his computational invariant theory research—a blend of group theory, topology, and geometry. She initially felt out of her depth. “On homework and exam problems, you know you’re working towards an answer. With research, there’s no guarantee that your questions are answerable,” she says.
Meit persevered, and her work resulted in a publication in the Journal of Singularities. She is credited as a coauthor along with former Rhodes professor Dr. Chris Seaton and his Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Carla Farsi of the University of Colorado Boulder. Their research builds upon centuries of math dating back to Euler’s original polyhedron formula published in 1748. Fittingly, their paper, “Euler Characteristics of Linear Symplectic Quotients and O(2)-Spaces,” was the joint effort of three generations of mathematicians. Meit is proud that many of her proofs and theorems, which were essential to the authors’ findings, were published verbatim. She says, “It still feels surreal that my work has not only been verified, but also considered important enough to publish by leaders in the field.”
After submitting the paper, Meit dove into new research with Dr. Eric Gottlieb, associate professor of mathematics, this time investigating combinatorial game theory. After being awarded the Robert Allen Scott Award in Mathematics to fund her research the summer of 2024, she worked closely with Gottlieb and Dr. Matjaž Krnc of the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia, to solve one game in its entirety and prove various results for a more complicated version.
With the help of departmental funding and a National Science Foundation grant, Meit has traveled across the country to present two posters and two talks. “Though sometimes overwhelming, conferences have been the single best way to network within the mathematical community and get my research out there,” she says. “I’d encourage every student to attend a conference just to see what’s currently on the frontier of your field and make invaluable connections.”
Along with presenting, Meit is pursuing an Honors Project to share her combinatorial game theory research. Students participating in the Honors Program have their work permanently housed in the college’s Barrett Library and receive special designation at commencement. She says, “I love that I have the opportunity to leave a piece of myself and my effort at Rhodes forever.”
Meit has also cultivated another academic passion during her time at Rhodes: Russian language and literature. She credits the Foundations Curriculum’s language requirement with putting her on this unexpected path. Although she didn’t speak a word of Russian prior to her junior year, with the guidance of Associate Professor Alexandra Kostina, Meit is now a top Russian student and loves reading classic Russian literature.
Outside of the classroom, Meit serves as the mathematics chair of Rhodes’ chapter of Women in STEM and is a student associate in the Office of Marketing and Communications. She is also an avid weightlifter and has become a leader in the gym, frequently accompanying newcomers who feel too intimidated to go alone. “I’ve ended up being a woman in a lot of male-dominated spaces, most notably math and the gym,” she says. “I’ve made an effort to bring other women into those spaces, whether it be encouraging first-years to major in math or inviting other girls to join me in the gym for their first lift.”
Meit, who will graduate this May, plans to pursue a Ph.D. in pure math and has already received offers from multiple programs. She's eager to continue expanding her comfort zone and is glad she pushed her boundaries while at Rhodes. “Do it scared,” she says. “You may never feel completely sure of yourself but achieving something difficult or remarkable doesn’t require 100 percent confidence—all it takes is grit, effort, and a strong support system. At Rhodes, the support system is a given, so you may as well put yourself out there.”
