CV

Education

• Ph.D in Applied Mathematics (Mathematical Biology), University of Alberta, 2017
• B.S.H in Applied Mathematics with First Class Honors, University of Alberta, 2013
• B.S. in Physics and Mathematics with Distinction, University of Alberta, 2012

Other-Education

• Math Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW), UBC, 2018.
• Graduate Teaching and Learning Program Level 3, University of Alberta, 2017.
• Industry Canada Basic(+) Certificate of proficiency in Amateur Radio, 2011.
• Project Management Principles and Practice Level 1 & 2, University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension, 2011.

Research experience

• 2022 - present: Assistant Professor University of Massachusetts Amherst

• 2018 - 2022: NSERC Post-doctoral Fellow
  • University of British Columbia
  • Supervisor: Drs. Leah Edelstein-Keshet and Michael Ward
• 2014 - 2017: Doctoral Researcher
  • University of Alberta
  • Supervisor: Dr. Thomas Hillen
• December 2015 - June 2016: MITACS-Internship at the Multicellular Systems Biology group of Dirk Drasdo
  • INRIA-Paris: Team MAMBA
  • Supervisor: Dr. Dirk Drasdo
• May 2013 - August 2013: NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Student
  • University of Alberta
  • Supervisor: Dr. Thomas Hillen
• 2011: UA-HAB (University of Alberta High Altitude Balloon)
  • University of Alberta
  • Supervisors: Dr. Ian Mann and Dr. Laura Mazzino

Publications & Teaching

For a complete list of publications, please see my Publications page.

For teaching experience and course materials, please visit my Teaching page.

Service and leadership

• Organizer of the PIMS @ UBC Math-Bio seminar.

• Organizer of the BIRS workshop “Bridging Cellular and Tissue Dynamics from Normal Development to Cancer: Mathematical, Computational, and Experimental Approaches” (19w5080).
  • Co-organizers: Dr. Elisabeth Rens, Dr. Leah Edelstein-Keshet.
  • Details can be found on the BIRS webpage.
  • Videos from the event can be found here.
• 2018-2020 Chairman of the “Cell and Developmental Biology” SMB-subgroup and CDEV-Twitter. I organized three minisymposium at annual meetings of the Society of Mathematical Biology.
  • Chair of the scientific committee and main-organizer for the four day CDEV stream at eSMB2020.
• 2014 - 2017 Member of the Society in Graduate Mathematics and Statistics:
  • 2017 president.
  • 2014-15, 2016-17 Applied Mathematics student department council representative.
  • 2014-2017 webmaster.

Conference organization

• Data-driven, modeling, and topological techniques in cell and developmental biology. July 2023. Minisymposium. Society of Mathematical Biology Annual meeting, OSU, Columbus, Ohio.
  • Co-organizer: Alexandria Volkening, Veronica Ciocanel.
• Shapes, patterns, and forces in developmental biology. August 2020. Minisymposium. Society of Mathematical Biology Annual meeting, online.
  • Co-organizer: Alex Fletcher.
• Understanding development through theory and experiment. August 2020. Minisymposium. Society of Mathematical Biology Annual meeting, online.
  • Co-organizer: Alex Fletcher.
• Shapes, patterns, and forces in developmental biology. Part I, Part 2. June 2020. Minisymposium. SIAM Conference on the Life Sciences. Postponed due to Covid-19.
  • Co-organizer: Tracy Stepien.
• Contemporary mathematical approaches in developmental biology. July 2019. Minisymposium. Society of Mathematical Biology Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada.
  • Co-organizer: Alex Fletcher.
• Organizer of the session “Mathematical and Computational Modeling from Sub-Cellular to Collective Behaviour in Cells” at the Canadian Mathematical Society Winter Meeting (2018), Vancouver, Canada.
  • Co-organizer: Dr. Leah Edelstein-Keshet.

Awards

• Faculty of Science (University of Alberta) Dissertation Award, 2018.
• Poster Award at the annual meeting of the Society of Mathematical Biology, 2017.
• Dean’s Excellence Award, 2017.
• Queen Elizabeth II Award, 2017.
• Best Poster Award at the Graduate Summit in Mathematical Biology and Applied PDE, 2017.
• Outstanding Poster Award at the MMBS workshop Dublin, 2015.
• FGSR Travel Award to present to YRC 2014.

Languages

• English, German, French (B1), Italian (B1).

My own software packages

For a complete list of software projects, please see my Software page.

Computer skills

• Computer languages
  • Extensive experience in C/C++11, and Python.
  • Experience in MATLAB, Swig, Xml, SQL, and Shell scripting.
• Hardware Skills
  • Built a dozen, including a few highly reliable workstations and servers (based on professional hardware, and powered by Gentoo). These machines power my computational research.
• Software packages
  • Databases using MySQL, and SQLAlchemy.
  • Administration of Gitolite, apache, samba, bind, dhcp, oscarcanada.
• Operating Systems
  • Administration of Linux (Gentoo, Fedora, Ubuntu, IpFire).

Funding & Scholarships

• NSERC post-doctoral fellowship, 2018.
• Dr. Josephine M. Mitchell Scholarship, 2017.
• Alberta Innovates Technology Futures Graduate Student Scholarship, 2015.
• PIMS Graduate Scholarship, 2015.
• MITACS Globalink Research Award Abroad - INRIA, 2015.
• Alberta Innovates Technology Futures Top-Up Award, 2014.
• Walter H. Johns Graduate Fellowship, 2014.
• NSERC Graduate Scholarship Master’s, 2014.
• Queen Elizabeth II (Masters) scholarship, 2013.
• Phi Gamma Delta Education Foundations’ Graduate Fellowship, 2013.
• NSERC Undergraduate Research Award, 2013.
• Dean’s Honor Roll, University of Alberta, 2010-13.
• T4K Undergraduate Scholarships, 2012.
• Phi Gamma Delta Educational Foundation, $1000 annual scholarship for leadership, community involvement and academic achievement, 2012.
• Jason Lang Scholarship (Government of Alberta), 2010, 2011, 2012.
• A University of Alberta Undergraduate Scholarship, 2010, 2011.
• Phi Gamma Delta Ed. Foundation, Academic Achievement Award (AAA), 2011.
• A University of Alberta Academic Excellence Scholarship, 2009.
• A Faculty of Science Academic Excellence Scholarship, 2009.