News!
Recent updates, conferences, and highlights.
2026
I've been invited to give a talk at the AMS Southeastern Sectional Meeting.
Fall 2026
Joint Society for Mathematical Biology and European Conference on Mathematical & Theoretical Biology
July 2026 · Graz, Austria
I gave a contributed talk on my work modeling the feeding dynamics between a Lion's Mane jellyfish and plankton in a 2D fluid environment. I also met many great mathematical biologists and explored Austria, too!
Caption: View over Graz.
Caption: View from Fortress Hohensalzburg in Salzburg.
Caption: View from a hike at Jenner Mountain.
Cassiopea (upside-down jellyfish) Workshop
June 2026 · Key Largo, Florida
Presented a talk on the Planktos framework and illustrated its utility with my work on modeling small organisms behavior in fluid environments with a swimming jellyfish.
Dye Visualization Tutorial: In the video, black dye is used to visualize the flow as the Cassiopea pulses. The pulsing generates vortex shedding which is apparent in the black swirls, or vortex rings.
Snorkel Excursion: Snorkeling at coral reefs!
I was awarded 2nd place in the UTK SIAM Graduate Research Showcase!
March 2026
2025
I was selected as the graduate student member of the advisory board for an NSF funded project.
Fall 2025
The project is titled Advancing and Sustaining Innovation in Science Teaching: Using a Collaborative Multidisciplinary Model to Transform Graduate Student Teaching.
2024
I was awarded the GTA Teaching Excellence Fellowship!
Spring 2024
This award was established in 2019 to recognize excellence in teaching, as well as significant contribution to the undergraduate education mission of the Department of Mathematics. The award is designed to encourage Math GTAs to deepen their involvement in the educational mission of the department. The fellowship application includes writing a proposal for improving their teaching in some way (e.g., a redesign of a part of their course, or some professional development they want to complete) and/or contributing in some way to the department's commitment to teaching excellence.
I was awarded the University of Tennessee Graduate Student Senate Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award.
Spring 2024
The Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award is presented to graduate teaching assistants and associates for extraordinary performance in teaching.