"You can neither love nor hate what you do not yet know." --Katie Oliveras
On this page you will find information about doing undergraduate research with me. Projects will generally require at least one semester of learning background material through a directed reading, followed by at least two semesters of independent and collaborative research. That being said, please expect to spend at least one full school year + summer working with me. Current projects involve developing algorithms to efficiently solve time-dependent partial differential equations. Particular topics of interest are low-rank tensor decompositions, kinetic models such as the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equation, and structure preserving discretizations.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding undergraduate research, please do not hesitate to send me an email.
The Team
Dylan Jacobs '27 (Jan. 2024 -- present)
Zoe Tang '27 (starting Sept. 2024)
Paolo Bosques-Paulet '27 (starting Sept. 2024)
Qualifications and Expectations
Required Qualifications
Successful completion of at least one of the following courses: MATH27 / MATH28 (preferred over MATH27), MATH43 / MATH44. If you've only taken one of these courses, then I will expect you to take the other one while starting to work with me.
Solid understanding of multivariable calculus and vector calculus.
Although I do not require a minimum GPA, I generally want to see a grade of B+ or higher in all mathematics, science and engineering courses.
Preferred Qualifications
Moderate fluency in either MATLAB, Julia, or Python. Other languages are acceptable, but we will mostly code in MATLAB and Julia.
Successful completion of upper-level mathematics courses: numerical analysis, partial differential equations, modeling and nonlinear systems, real/complex analysis.
Successful completion of physics and engineering courses: electromagnetism/electrodynamics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, signal processing/linear systems.
Fluency in LaTeX. I will teach you LaTeX if you do not already know it.
Expectations
Roughly 5 hours of work per week during the school year depending on the pace at which you're comfortable working.
Weekly meetings.
Occasional written reports and (short) presentations on your progress and results.
Perseverance! Research can be quite frustrating and slow-moving at times. However, I completely understand this and am very patient so long as I see you working hard. I care much more about your effort and believe that results will then follow naturally.
Undergraduate Research Projects
If you are interested in starting a research project with me, then please send me an email with the information below. I will try to get back to you within a week. Please make sure you first read the "Qualifications and Expectations" section above.
Name + pronouns and major(s)/minor(s).
List of mathematics/physics/engineering coursework.
Brief description of your programming experience, if applicable.
Short paragraph (3-5 sentences) describing why you want to do undergraduate research with me, as well as your future career goals if you already know them. (It is OKAY if you do not know what you want to do after college).