Education
B.S., Yale University
Ph.D., Cornell University
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland College Park and EPFL
Courses I tend to teach
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Math 118 (Calculus: Dynamics and Integration)
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Math 210 (Linear Optimization)
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Math 222 (Scientific Computing: Continuous Systems)
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Math 317-318 (Real Analysis)
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Math 392 (Complex Analysis)
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Math 397 (Advanced Topics in Applied Math, sometimes covers PDEs, sometimes Dynamical Systems and Chaos)
Research Interests
- Equilibrium problems for elastic rods, including incorporating the effect of nontrivial intrinsic shape, and considering a broad range of boundary conditions, especially those relevant to DNA cyclization or looping
- Stability theories in the calculus of variations, generalizing the classic "conjugate point" results to a broader class of problems, including those where the Euler-Lagrange and Jacobi equations are integrodifferential equations (e.g., elastic rods with self-contact)
- Computation of the end-to-end probability density function for an elastic rod and its application to DNA cyclization and looping experiments (collaboration with John Maddocks' group at EPFL); both "exact" (Monte Carlo) and approximate theories, and within rigid-base, rigid-basepair, and continuum models of DNA
- Collaborative projects with biological scientists (has included AFM analysis, aggregation modeling, and epidemiology of viral hemorrhagic fever)
- (Ph.D. topic) Semiclassical approximations in quantum mechanics