"I think that it’s very helpful that I was 30 when I started my PhD. I took time to do other things between high school and college, and college and my masters, and masters and my PhD. So it meant that when my initial committee said no, I thought, "Well, you’re not the boss of me. I’m here for my own intellectual path, and I’m going to figure out how to do what I want to do." I don’t think I would have had the confidence to do that at age 21—speaking just about myself at 21."