Current

I am a Ph.D. candidate and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at Indiana University, Bloomington, working with Professor Randall Beer. My work pulls on nonlinear dynamical systems, artificial life, and bioengineering to answer a single question: given a dynamical model of an agent (or many agents) and environment, how can we understand which conditions will lead to survival and which will lead to death? Answering this involves building a theory of viability that describes the principles that globally organize these outcomes. For more information about these topics, please explore the research page!

I am also currently a member of the Cognitive Science Society, Society for Mathematical Biology, American Physical Society, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and the International Society for Artificial Life. 

Previous Education & Work

I graduated with a B.A. in Cognitive Science with honors from Vassar College in 2021. While there, I engaged in various projects involving biorobotics, medicine, and the intersection of animal behavior and cognitive science under the guidance of Professor John Long Jr. My thesis, a critical analysis of the Integrated Information Theory of consciousness, was co-advised by Professor Josh de Leeuw and Professor Long. 

I also engaged heavily with Vassar's Science, Technology, and Society (STS) program, which emphasized the responsibilities scientists have to the world at large. In this context, I wrote critically on the ways in which different theories of behavior frame the lived effects of disability and chronic illness. 

Beyond academia, I spent two years working for Vassar's Office of Residential Life, focusing on building inclusive communities and student-led advocacy.