Hello! I’m a PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton advised by Simon Levin and Lars Hedin. I’m also a recent graduate of Columbia University, where I studied Applied Mathematics. My research is supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Straubel Fellowship.

The kind of ecological theory I enjoy most is:

• low-dimensional: what is the simplest description of this problem that explains the most variance?
• cross-disciplinary: where different fields interface and new applications arise
• meaningful: provides fundamental insight into animal welfare, vulnerable biogeochemical stocks, and other neglected problems

I am particularly interested in using tools from mathematics and computer science to examine:

1. resource acquisition strategies in plant community assembly, especially in nutrient poor soils
2. resource allocation strategies in wild animals, especially phenotypic plasticity in life-history strategies on short evolutionary time scales.

Previously, I worked with Erwan Monier (UC Davis) on carbon and nitrogen cycling in biocrusts. I was also at the Santa Fe Institute developing a model of resource competition in biocrusts with Mingzhen Lu and Chris Kempes.

Miscellaneous Written Work

Here are a few things I've written—they tend to touch on learning/productivity techniques, ethics, epistemology, math, and ecology. I primarily write for myself, but I find that I produce my best work when I work with the garage door up.

Digital Bookshelves

Books past, present, and future 🤞. Read completely = **, see links for notes or excerpts.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.

To Read

Fiction

• Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• A Short Stay in Hell by Steven Peck
• The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
• Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Science and Philosophy

• A First Look at First-Passage Processes by Sidney Redner
• The Energetics of Computing in Life and Machines by David Wolpert
• From Darwin to Derrida by David Haig
• Suffering-Focused Ethics: Defense and Implications by Magnus Vinding
• Minimalist Axiologies: Alternatives to ‘Good Minus Bad’ Views of Value by Teo Ajantaival
• Time: A Very Short Introduction by Jenann Ismael
• Dancing with the Devil: Why Bad Feelings Make Life Good by Krista K. Thomason