About me
I am a 6th year mathematics graduate student at Stanford University. I'm being advised by Ciprian Manolescu. In May 2018 I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and physics from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. A year later, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in mathematics at the same institution.
To me, mathematics is a language and toolkit for studying shapes (manifolds). I'm particularly interested in understanding surfaces embedded in four dimensional manifolds, and have investigated these objects in the smooth and symplectic categories, typically through the lens of trisections. I've also done a lot of teaching, including starting my own class to teach undergraduate students about preparing and presenting maths talks. I've also published in the spheres of mathematics education and mathematical art.
In addition to mathematics, I enjoy baking, backpacking, making puzzles, playing go, and making art (typically sculpture).
Feel free to get in touch for any mathematical or non-mathematical advice if you feel like my advice might help!
Friends and Collaborators
Laura Wakelin - maths postdoc at Bonn, friend and collaborator.
Peter Huxford - maths graduate student at The University of Chicago, friend and collaborator from The University of Auckland.
Mason Ng - physics postdoc at Louisiana State University, friend from The University of Auckland.
Utsav Patel - PhD, Duke University, friend from The University of Auckland.
Grad school application advice
As an international student, the graduate school application process was very confusing! I've compiled a short document here which contains some advice based on my experiences. Hopefully you find it useful! I suggest looking for advice from other sources as well. The aforementioned advice together with many of my raw application materials can be found in this zip file.
