Freshman Scholars Institute

I am an instructor at the Mathematics Department. I try to teach according to the following quote (attributed to a former Princeton resident): "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Since graduate school, I have enjoyed teaching and running help sessions for courses such as Calculus, Differential Equations and Integration Theory. While mathematics is challenging, it is both a rewarding and beautiful subject of study.

My fields of study are Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems. In particular, I am currently working with Interval Exchange Transformations. These functions are very simple to define but require deep mathematics to analyze. My current work involves looking for interesting examples of IETs as well as finding new ways to approach known problems concerning the dynamics of IETs.

I was a graduate student at Rice University in Houston, Texas. My wife Amy (a Texas native) became parents for the first time earlier this spring.  Our son's name is Charlie, and he is awesome!  While he may be a New Jersey native, he will be exposed to all the great Texan food that his parents love.

I am a postdoctoral researcher in Neuroscience, although I obtained my PhD in applied mathematics here at Princeton.  At heart I am an applied mathematician, which means I am constantly looking for ways that mathematical tools and theory interact with real world experience and experimental data.  This passion drives both my teaching and research.   I've been lucky to teach a wide variety of math topics ranging from game theory to differential equations.  As a researcher, I work primarily with stochastic differential equations, and by using them I try to explain how humans and animals make simple decisions.

My wife Siyi and I live in Princeton.


 

I am a graduate student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. I am broadly interested in groundwater flow and contaminant transport modelling. My research is currently focused on the comparison of geologic carbon sequestration models. Prior to attending Princeton I received my B.S. in Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota:  Twin Cities.