Aleksa Vujičić

The experience of working on something new is what drew Aleksa to the Master of Science in Mathematics at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

“I enjoy being lost and then finally making that break through where things click. Without that moment, you aren’t really researching.”

His Master’s thesis built on work from his Honours project. Aleksa found his Honours year allowed him to ‘deep dive’ into his area of interest, explore the work done in the field and reformulate it into his own words. His Master’s thesis allowed Aleksa to start exploring something new and try different approaches to the field.

In his thesis, titled “Characterisations of Pseudo-Amenability”, Aleksa drew parallels between the established field of amenability and the new branch of pseudo-amenability. Although Aleksa has found plenty of connections between the two areas, whether they are the same thing is still an open question.

Now he has completed his Master’s thesis, the next step for Aleksa will be completing his PhD at the University of Waterloo. His Wellington University supervisor Dr Hung Le Pham has helped Aleksa develop connections with academics around the world with similar research interests. “If I had not done my Master’s at Wellington University I would not have even considered applying for a PhD programme. My research will be super helpful when I go into my PhD. I feel prepared but still nervous, but I know I can do it. If the problem looks straightforward then I would probably not want to do it.”