The history of every major galactic civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question ‘How can we eat?’, the second by the question ‘Why do we eat?’ and the third by the question, ‘Where shall we have lunch?’
(Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy“)
Hello, my name is Anakin1. In terms of mathematics, I am interested in both algebraic combinatorics in an algebro-geometric flavor as well as computational commutative algebra. In terms of theoretical computer science, I am interested in algebraic complexity theory. I am currently working with Dave Anderson and Zeyu Guo respectively in these interests.
However, I do try to make time to do things outside of research and taking classes. Currently, I am the vice president of the Math Graduate Student Association. I am attempting to maintain a blog commutative.group. While at UIUC, I founded a math and TCS club SIGma, helped run the cybersecurity club SIGPwny, and brewed expensive coffee for the Coffee Club. To this end, I am also a fan of talking about all things math pedagogy. When I'm not talking about those things, I love spending time talking about coffee and motorsports (F1, INDYCAR, WEC, IMSA, FE, you name it). You can also find me at my personal site.
CV
- In the spirit of the quote, I’d say I’m currently asking "why do we eat?"