A small corner of my website for things that do not quite fit on my other pages. I am drawn to ideas that help make sense of how people move through the world, and I try to carry that perspective into my research, teaching, and daily life. This page collects a few of those ideas and will grow and change over time as I add more that resonate with me.

Not So Fun Facts About Me

  • Although I am not a mathematician, and my research is not in mathematics, I have an Erdős number of 5 through my PhD advisor Prof. Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed. Erdős numbers reflect collaborative distance to mathematician Paul Erdős.
  • My name, along with nearly 11 million other Earthlings, is on the Mars Perseverance rover! Our names are etched onto a microchip as part of the "Send Your Name to Mars" campaign.
  • I keep a private record of my “failures, rejections, and near misses” as a self-reminder that progress comes from many small attempts rather than the polished success stories we often read about. I have had my share of rejected papers, awards and grants I applied for but did not receive, and positions I pursued but never heard back from. Maybe I will share a few of them here one day.

Ideas and Concepts I Have Found Interesting

  • Cosmic Insignificance and Scaling as Perspective: A concept drawn from philosophy, cosmology, and systems thinking that encourages shifting between zoomed-in detail and a zoomed-out view of the world. Changing scale can reveal new ways of understanding a problem, ease the sense of urgency around it, and create space for clearer and more grounded decisions.
  • Oubaitori (桜梅桃李): A Japanese idiom, literally meaning “cherry, plum, peach, and apricot”, which reminds us that just like these trees, everyone blooms and grows in their own time. A simple yet grounding idea that growth is not a race, and comparison is rarely a helpful metric!
  • Rosenthal/Pygmalion Effect: Expectations are never neutral and can shape outcomes. When people genuinely believe in your potential, it changes how they interact with you and how you see yourself. As someone who teaches and mentors, this idea means a lot to me.

Quotes I Come Back To

  • You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. - Wayne Gretzky, also Michael Scott
  • Equality is not identical treatment, but balanced responsibility. - Unknown
  • We can’t wait for life to calm down. We learn to move with the chaos and grow through it. - Unknown
  • Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right - Henry Ford

Books That Stayed With Me

  • Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life by Leonard Mlodinow, Ph.D.
  • The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World by Prof. Jamil Zaki
  • An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Colonel Chris Hadfield
  • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
  • The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race by Prof. Neda Maghbouleh
  • Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil
  • Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by by Brian Christian, Thomas L. Griffiths, and Tom Griffiths