I was a postdoctoral fellow at Oklahoma State University (OSU) from August 2024 until May 2025, and am now on the job market. Prior to that, I was a PhD student under the supervision of Ben Burton at the University of Queensland (UQ).
In rather fanciful terms, my research involves using computers to study alternate universes. In more precise terms, my research interests are in computational 3-manifold topology. In particular, I have spent a fair amount of time thinking about the computational complexity of working with objects like triangulations and normal surfaces, since such objects lie at the heart of many of the algorithms that are used to solve topological problems in practice (for instance, see the software package Regina).
Drawing pictures is one of the perks of studying topology. You can find some pictures of the objects that I work with in this introductory slide. More pictures can be found in some mathematical posters and postcards that I've created (see below).
I've found that I really enjoy collaborative research. You can find a list of my collaborators at the bottom of this page.
Email: alex.he@okstate.edu
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2189-4942
GitHub: https://github.com/AlexHe98
This website is usually contains more up-to-date information, but here is my CV.
Here is a poster that I created in 2022, which outlines a new algorithm for handlebody recognition:
Here are some mathematical postcards that I created for various editions of The Nearly Carbon Neutral Geometry and Topology Conference (NCNGT):
I have been lucky to collaborate with many other people, including:
Jack Brand, The Australian National University
Ben Burton, The University of Queensland
Zsuzsanna Dancso, The University of Sydney
Thiago de Paiva, Monash University
Connie Hui, Monash University
Adele Jackson, The University of Sydney
Joan Licata, The Australian National University
James Morgan, The University of Sydney
Eric Sedgwick, DePaul University
Jonathan Spreer, The University of Sydney
Em Thompson, Monash University