Students

For potential thesis students

If you are a master's student at SF State and you think you might be interested in working with me on a thesis project, please contact me as soon as possible. Together, we'll work out a program of study best suited to your background, your mathematical interests, and your professional aspirations.

As you get started on the process of working on a thesis, I recommend taking a look at this webpage for a useful discussion of guidelines and recommendations for thesis students and their committee members at SF State.

For letters of recommendation

If you would like me to write a letter of recommendation for you, please contact me by email at least two weeks prior to the first deadline. In this email, tell me about what you're applying for, include a complete resume and/or transcript and/or anything else that you think would help me write a strong letter, and provide me with directions for submission and all relevant deadlines.

Current thesis students

Alexander Low Fung (M.A. expected 2026)

Former thesis students

Pamela Gray (M.A. 2026)

On the tropical rank of polygons

Rebeca Hernandez Valdez (Transferred to Georgia Tech in 2025)

New perspectives on the chromatic polynomial

Currently a graduate student at Georgia Institute of Technology

Jordan Guillory (M.A. 2025)

A geometric interpretation of the characteristic polynomial

Currently a PhD student at Texas State University

Jupiter Davis (M.A. 2023)

Toward an algebra of normal complexes

Now teaching mathematics at Gateway High School

Patrick O'Melveny (M.A. 2023)

A volumetric proof of the log-concavity of characteristic polynomials of matroids

Thesis led to the paper Mixed volumes of normal complexes

Currently a PhD student at University of Washington

Ian Wallace (M.A. 2023)

Minkowski's theorem for incomplete fans

Currently a PhD student at University of Oregon

Lauren Nowak (M.A. 2022)

Mixed volumes of normal complexes

Thesis led to the paper Mixed volumes of normal complexes

Currently a PhD student at University of Washington

Anastasia Nathanson (M.A. 2021)

Geometric volume of rank three matroids

Thesis led to the paper Tropical fans and normal complexes

Currently a PhD student at University of Minnesota

Vanessa Aguirre (M.A. 2021)

A classification of weight one partitions

Now teaching mathematics at Crystal Springs Uplands School

Jeshu Dastidar (M.A. 2021)

Computing volumes of permutahedra via moduli spaces of curves

Thesis led to the paper Matroid psi classes

Continued to University of California, Davis, completing a PhD in Mathematics in 2026

Now an assistant professor at Foothill College

Brandon Van Over (M.A. 2020)

An investigation of Mumford's formula for pseudostable curves

Thesis led to the paper Pseudostable Hodge Integrals

Currently a PhD student at Colorado State University

Rose Johnson-Leiva (M.A. 2020)

Realizing graphs as curve-incidence graphs

Currently a PhD student at University of California, Riverside

Katie Waddle (M.A. 2020)

Incidence graph statistics for curves in projective space

Continued to Unversity of Michigan, completing a PhD in Mathematics in 2026

Now a postdoctoral fellow in Hannover, Germany, and soon to be an assistant professor at St Thomas University

Elzbieta Polak (M.A. 2019)

Simple Hurwitz theory of complex reflection groups

Thesis led to the paper Polynomiality of factorizations in reflection groups

Continued to University of Texas at Austin, completing a PhD in Mathematics in 2025

Now a data scientist at Travelers

Joel Gallegos (M.A. 2018)

Computations in the moduli space of cuspidal curves

Thesis led to the paper Pseudostable Hodge Integrals

Now teaching mathematics at American River College

Deborah Castro (M.A. 2018)

Computing Betti number of equivariant Hilbert schemes

Thesis led to the paper Topology of Z_3-equivariant Hilbert schemes

Now teaching mathematics at San Francisco State University

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