Bio
Academic appointments
(2017-) Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at IIT
(2013-2017) Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at IIT
(2011-2013) Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at Penn State.
(2008-2011) Research Assistant Professor (post-doc) at UIC.
2008 PhD, Mathematics, University of Kentucky, under the direction of Uwe Nagel.
Research interests
Mathematical statistics and algebraic statistics
Random graph (network) models
Computational algebraic statistics
Randomization in computational algebra
Combinatorial and algebraic methods in statistics and data science
Algebraic methods phylogenetics (computational biology).
Visiting positions
Fall 2023: long program organizer, Algebraic statistics and our changing world: new methods for new challenges, Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI), Chicago.
January-February 2023: program participant, Interdisciplinary and critical data science motivated by social justice, Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI), Chicago.
Fall 2016: long-term participant, Theoretical Foundations of Statistical Network Analysis Program at the Newton Institute (INI) in Cambridge, UK.
Spring 2011: Algebraic Geometry with a view towards applications at the Mittag-Leffler Institute.
2008/09: Research Fellow at SAMSI, Program on Algebraic Methods in Systems Biology and Statistics
Professional membership
Current:
International Statistics Institute (ISI Elected Member since 2015)
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and the Activity Group on Algebraic Geometry (SI(AG)^2), ~2008-present.
IIT students: check out the local SIAM student chapter.
American Mathematical Society (AMS), 2004-2020; 2022-present
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2022-present
Past:
Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), 2003-2016
IIT students: check out the local AWM student chapter
American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Chicago chapter, 2009-2020
IIT students: check out the local ASA student chapter!
Outreach
I am an alumni mentor for the University of Kentucky Graduate Scholars in Mathematics Program.
In 2020, while teaching online and developing a new graduate course in analytics, I have focused a good portion of my energy redefining what education and research mean to me in a post-COVID world. I've founded what's grown into a grassroots university-wide initiative at Illinois Tech on Socially Responsible Modeling, Computation, and Design (SoReMo).
If, for some reason, you'd like to see more text to read, visit my old page .