Jeff may not solve the problem, but it will certainly lead to experimental work on tangential problems. He's very independent and creative. This work will help him to develop a deeper level of mathematical competence. To prepare for the thesis, Dumont tackled a high level technical paper beyond the usual undergraduate level of research. The only thing similar to it is some ideas I learned in my number theory class.
Every professor is extremely supportive.
There are also lots of opportunities to do research in the department that have allowed me to hone my research skills well before I began working on this problem. We had been a chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon for less than two years, which makes Jeff's achievement all the more impressive.