I'm a fifth year mathematics PhD student at UT Austin studying the intersection between applied math and 3/4 manifold topology in the form of graph neural network topology and applications of topology to medicine with Maggie Miller and Colleen Farrelly.
I also work in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department at UT Austin under Ufuk Topcu studying graph neural networks and graph generation from a control theory perspective.
I believe there are many aspects of topology waiting to be applied and a lot of potential to translate well-established aspects of topological theory into useful tools for important problems in machine learning & data science.
I was awful at math when I was younger! As a very visual mathematician, I really struggled to turn the pictures in my head into words and put them onto paper. Only after starting my undergrad at UC Santa Barbara (on the pre-med track!) was I able to find guidance under the first topologist I'd ever met -- Daryl Cooper. He helped me see that there were others that saw math visually, and really changed my life.
3 years into my undergrad, I found topology was the type of math that expressed my inner brain language. I had never even taken calculus, but knew my life would never be the same.
In 2021, I came to study topology at UT Austin, and found applied topology in the middle of my second year. I have always loved pure smooth topology, but have also believed in its ability to be applied to every-day problems. After finding a flourishing field that allowed me to combine both, I have never been happier. I'm now working under Maggie Miller and Colleen Farrelly on a thesis that combines both sides of the math I love.
Aside from math, I have a passion for travel and hope to visit a new country every year. I'm always open to new experiences, cultures, and ways of thinking. I spend my time outside of math learning Latin dance, lifting at the gym, learning new languages, and enjoying the Austin sunshine.
Please feel free to ask me more about the struggles adventures along my path change!