About

I am interested in understanding life at small scales because it connects our own bodies with the rest of the natural world. I focus on biological molecules like protein, DNA and RNA. They are simple and also complex enough to be a feasible mystery for a large breath of my formal and informal training: biological physics, math bio, optimization, digital signal processing, computational statistics, evolutionary biology, philosophy of nature, semiotics. At the small scale of biomolecules we can observe and intervene through experimental techniques like microscopy, spectroscopy, biochemical assays, molecular biology, sequencing, mutagenesis, and chemical design.

By expressing the measurement process itself in the form of mathematical relationships, including numerical simulators, we can put scientific models in dialogue with data and refine our knowledge in a semiotic spiral. My research to date applies mostly to health and medicine, but more broadly I am interested in opportunities to use our wisdom and foresight to care for our common home and live in harmony with the cosmos.

If you are curious about how I experience and engage with the world, I invite you to read some of my writing:

• “Meet our students” interview at the beginning of my graduate program
• The virtue of studiousness
• How we can experience awe and wonder through a scientific habit of mind.