About me
I research the Earth’s ocean, its physics and motion, and its entangled eddies, turbulence, currents, and waves. I do a lot of math and write code that runs on supercomputers. In the distant past, I went to sea. I love to learn and to teach, to think about past and future, and to run, climb, ski, and explore the landscapes of Earth.
Long ago, I grew up in a Boston suburb. Later, I studied Aerospace Engineering and worked on on combustion in porous media, space propulsion, and wind energy in Ann Arbor before moving to San Diego to pursue a PhD in 2010. I worked with Eric Lauga on locomotion, with Bill Young on nonlinear waves, and with both on microorganism mixing. I received a PhD from UCSD in May of 2016 for a dissertation titled On the coupled evolution of oceanic internal waves and quasi-geostrophic flow. Along the way, I fell in love with running, climbing, backcountry skiing, and surfing.
An abbreviated curriculum vitae (pdf)
Work
- since 2019: Research Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2016–2018: Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2014–2016: Teaching Assistant and Graduate Research Assistant, University of California, San Diego
- 2009–2010: Research Engineer, Accio Energy
Teaching
- Fall 2015: Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Mathematical Physics
- Spring 2015: Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Mathematical Physics
- Winter 2014: Teaching Assistant, Fluid Dynamics II
Education
- PhD, University of California, San Diego (2016)
- MSE, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2010)
- BSE, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Magna Cum Laude (2009)
Awards
- NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016–2018)
- Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Dept of Mech and Aero Engineering, UCSD (Spring 2016)
- Focht-Powell Graduate Fellowship, UCSD (2010–2013)