About

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Cornell University. My research sits broadly in numerical analysis, scientific computing, computational physics, and the theoretical aspects of deep learning.

My current work focuses on spectral methods, low-rank approximation, operator learning, the mathematics of deep learning, and dynamical systems. I am especially interested in problems where rigorous mathematics and effective algorithms sharpen one another.

Background

I received a DPhil in Numerical Analysis from the University of Oxford in July 2014, where I was supervised by Lloyd N. Trefethen. My thesis was titled Computing with functions in two dimensions. Before joining Cornell, I was an Applied Math Instructor at MIT from 2014 to 2016.

At Cornell

I joined Cornell as an Assistant Professor in July 2016 and became an Associate Professor in February 2022. I work with students and collaborators across applied mathematics, scientific computing, machine learning, and related areas.

Selected honors

• SIAM best paper prize in linear algebra, 2024
• SIAM best paper prize in computational science and engineering, 2023
• Stephen H. Weiss award for excellence in teaching and mentoring, 2022
• Simons Fellowship in Mathematics, 2022
• SIGEST award from SIAM Review for “The singular values of matrices with displacement structure,” 2019
• Junior Faculty Teaching Award from the Cornell Mathematics Department, 2018
• SIAM Activity Group on Linear Algebra Early Career Prize, 2018
• Mentor of national Regeneron Science Talent Search winner, 2017
• Leslie Fox Prize (1st place), 2015
• Leslie Fox Prize (2nd place), 2013
• SIAM UKIE Prize for the best student research talk, 2011

Grants

• DARPA grant, Phase I, July 2025 to July 2026
• NSF grant with LBNL, Aug. 2025 to Jan. 2026
• NSF grant with LBNL, Jan. 2025 to May 2025
• DOE grant with Livermore, Dec. 2024 to May 2025
• DOE grant with Livermore, Aug. 2024 to Dec. 2024
• Active Learning Initiative grant (lead faculty organizer), 2024 to 2027
• ONR grant for SciAI Center, Sept. 2023 to Feb. 2025
• Stephen H. Weiss award grant, Sept. 2022 to Aug. 2026
• DOE grant with LLNL, Jan. 2023 to July 2023
• DOE grant with LBNL, Sept. 2021 to Aug. 2022
• NSF CAREER DMS-2045646 (sole PI), July 2021 to June 2026
• NSF DMS-1952757 (lead PI), July 2020 to June 2023
• Data Science Curriculum Initiative grant (lead PI), Sept. 2019 to Sept. 2021
• FACE Foundation (lead PI), Sept. 2019 to Aug. 2021
• NSF DMS-1818757 (sole PI), June 2018 to July 2021
• Engaged Cornell curriculum grant (lead PI), Sept. 2018 to Aug. 2020
• NSF DMS-1645445 (sole PI), Aug. 2015 to July 2018

Selected activities

I chair Cornell’s Engineering Liaison Committee and the Cornell Mathematical Modeling Committee, co-organize Cornell’s undergraduate math modeling competition, and help organize Math+AI labs at Cornell.

I also helped lead an Engaged Cornell curriculum grant, co-organized the online e-NLA seminar and CMC seminar, and co-organized the Householder Conference at Cornell in June 2025.

I have also served as a mathematics consultant for the PBS Infinite Series episodes “Why Computers are Bad at Algebra” and “How to Generate Pseudorandom Numbers”.

For a full academic record, see the CV.